The Congress Dances (1955)

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Movie
Original title The Congress is dancing
Country of production Austria
original language German
Publishing year 1955
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Franz Antel
script Kurt Nachmann
production Erich von Neusser
for Neusser-Film, Vienna
music Werner R. Heymann
camera Georg Bruckbauer
cut Arnfrid Heyne
occupation

Der Kongress tanzt is an Austrian historical film by Franz Antel from 1955. It is a remake of the film of the same name from 1931.

action

The highest-ranking statesmen gather in Vienna for the Congress of Vienna . Prince Metternich regularly organizes lavish balls and other events to keep statesmen away from political business. He plans to implement the division of Europe according to his ideas. One danger for this project is the Russian Tsar Alexander I , who is expected for the next day, but who is considered a womanizer. Metternich not only ensured a lavish reception for the tsar, but also for female distraction through Countess Ballansky: the dancer Lydia is supposed to turn the tsar's head.

When the tsar arrives, the little glove seamstress Christl Weinzinger wants to make the tsar happy with a bouquet of flowers. When the carriage drives past her too fast, she throws the bouquet after the tsar. His personal bodyguard Bibikoff believes the ostrich is a bomb and has Christl arrested. Tsar Alexander I is rather amused and visits Christl in his cell. Believing that she was dealing with the actual bomb thrower, she escaped from the unlocked cell with him. Meanwhile, on the balcony of the Tsar's palace, Alexander's doppelganger, the drinker and watch lover Uralsky, receives the ovations of the people in place of the Tsar. Christl brings Alexander into her room and wants to hide him there from the police for the next few days. At first Alexander accepts her treatment. When he realizes that she is serious, he sends a messenger to the palace with the request to have him arrested at Christl. Bibikoff takes Alexander personally "into custody" and thus causes a lot of whispering in the street.

Christl fears that her guest will now be banished to Siberia. Through her friend Babette, whose lover works as a cook at the court, she lets ask for the stranger. The tsar now sends to Christl in a carriage, which must now recognize the tsar himself in the alleged bomber. She thinks he's only mocking her and runs away. Only when Alexander visits her in her shop and confesses that he loves her because she made him feel loved for his own sake do they both find their way back together.

When Bibikoff asked Alexander one day to cancel an appointment with Christl for the most important decision-making session of the Congress, Alexander remembers his duty as a statesman. He cancels Christl, who, however, learns from Metternich's confidante Pepi Gallinger that the tsar will be staying with Lydia. In reality Uralsky is with Lydia, but Christl believes that the Tsar has betrayed her and flees to the country. She returns to Schönbrunn to dance with other women in front of the tsar, but it is Uralsky again who attends the dance and does not recognize Christl. Only now does Alexander intervene and Christl sees that it was always the doppelganger and not Alexander who did her injustice. Christl and Alexander go out together, while Metternich triumphs, since he is now alone in his decision-making meetings. Just as he is about to take the decisive decisions, it is announced to him that Napoleon has landed. The statesmen are now leaving in a hurry. Christl also learns about Napoleon's landing and spends one last evening with Alexander. When he heard the news from Bibikoff, he said goodbye to Christl. Even if he promises her to come back, Christl knows that she saw him for the last time and looks after him crying.

production

Der Kongress tanzt is a remake of the film of the same name from 1931. As in the original, in the remake the title That's only sung once . The film was shot in the film studios Wien-Sievering, Wien-Schönbrunn and Wien-Rosenhügel . The outdoor shots were taken in Vienna and the surrounding area and in the Wachau .

Two years after its introduction, the complex Cinemascope widescreen format was used for the first time in Austria. The camera and a corresponding lens are now in the Rollipopp Museum in Eggenburg. The film had its premiere on December 19, 1955 in the Metro im Schwan in Frankfurt am Main and was shown for the first time in Austria on January 13, 1956 in Vienna.

criticism

Der Spiegel called Der Kongress tanzt "considerably more dragged-footed than once at Ufa. The revue liveliness and waltz bliss has been stretched into sluggishly painted sheets of pictures [...] Hannerl Matz takes off heartily, but heartily, against the fragile blondness of Lilian Harvey".

"The film tries to copy the charm of its predecessor with considerable expenditure on equipment, but only achieves mediocrity in terms of play and direction," wrote the film-dienst .

For Cinema , the film was a "tired new edition of the famous film from 1931. Conclusion: a young girl's dream of yore".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Bauer : German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 530
  2. New in Germany: The Congress is dancing . In: Der Spiegel , No. 1, 1956, p. 33.
  3. The Congress is dancing. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. See cinema.de