Victoria and her hussar (1931)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Victoria and her hussar |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1931 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Oswald |
| script | Fritz Friedmann-Frederich |
| production | Richard Oswald |
| music | Paul Abraham |
| camera | Reimar Kuntze |
| cut | Else Baum (sound editing) |
| occupation | |
| |
Viktoria und ihr Husar is an early German sound film operetta based on melodies by Paul Abraham , which Richard Oswald directed a year after the operetta premiere (1930) with the singers Michael Bohnen and Friedel Schuster . Iván Petrovich took on another leading role as Hussar Rittmeister Koltay.
action
When the First World War broke out in August 1914, a pair of Hungarian lovers, the Hungarian Hussar Rittmeister Stefan Koltay and Countess Viktoria, had to part ways. Koltay and his boy Janczi are drafted and sent to the Eastern Front. For years, Viktoria and her hussar did not hear from each other, even at the end of the war in 1918, Koltay was not allowed to return to his Hungarian homeland, as the enemy accused him of espionage. Finally the hussar captain frees himself from captivity and flees through revolution-torn Russia. Meanwhile, Viktoria believes that her loved one has either fallen or forgotten her, and so she accepts the US diplomat Cunlight's proposal to marry her. When her new husband was transferred to Beijing as ambassador , Victoria followed him.
On the run from his captors, Koltay also ended up in China, and he found refuge in the US embassy in Beijing, of all places. With the ambassador there he wants to negotiate the modalities for a safe journey home to Hungary under a false name. The re-encounter with Viktoria is subdued, she doesn't want to show anything to her husband. The next day, Koltay joins Cunlight's business trip that is to take him to Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Koltay is supposed to play Cunlight's secretary on this diplomatic mission. When he is about to start his journey home to Hungary after arriving there, Koltay refuses: he does not want to go without Victoria. Soviet guards soon surround the US embassy.
Koltay reveals his true identity and faces the Russian military. Ambassador Cunlight realizes that he married a woman who never loved him. And so he releases her for Koltay. Since this is in Soviet hands and she finally believes him dead again, Viktoria returns to Hungary with a heavy heart. There she meets Koltay's boy Janczi, who, however, cannot comfort her in her great pain. In the meantime, the American is selflessly committed to the release of Koltay in Petrograd and has managed to get him to leave for Hungary. Here Victoria and her hussar finally find each other again and sink into each other's arms.
Production notes
Viktoria und her Husar was created in August 1931 in the UFA Ateliers in Berlin-Tempelhof and was premiered on October 14, 1931 in Stuttgart. The Berlin premiere took place on December 15, 1931 in the Primus-Palast in Berlin.
Paul Abraham also took over the musical direction. The lyrics were written by Fritz Löhner-Beda and Alfred Grünwald . The Curt Lewinnek orchestra played . The film structures were designed by Franz Schroedter , the sound was provided by Hermann Birkhofer, and Walter Zeiske was in charge of the recording .
Else Elster repeated the role she had already played in a stage performance at the Theater an der Wien .
music
The following music tracks were played:
- I like to say: Igen!
- You are my happiness, my only happiness
- Yes, such a girl, Hungarian girl
- Mausi, you were sweet tonight
- Pardon Madame, I'm in love
- Shake hands with me once more in parting
- Hungary! Danube country!
These titles were published by Alrobi-Musikverlag in Berlin
Reviews
“The author Fritz Friedmann-Frederich made it easy for himself; he simply copied the Grünwald-Löhner-Bedasche libretto of the operetta, stretched the beginning, rushed to the end, also let ... his characters resign and perform with the conscientiousness of the staging. (…) Well… the director Richard Oswald could have intervened to mitigate this. Apparently that was not what he cared about. He made the sorcerer that he is sing, languish, dance. He is the undisputed master of this. (...) What gives the film its glowing colors, its swing and its magic (compare figures from the provinces) is the music. There's sweetness and blood in there. She pulls away, she beguiles, she reconciles. "
“This is a strange evening. A film that is extremely mediocre in itself has the greatest success. Proof that sometimes the material itself or the music can have a decisive, lasting effect. (...) Oswald reworks the story. Provide them properly with a prelude and relocate all the effective hits in this operetta to a new milieu. That is certainly original. And it might have increased the effect of the original libretto had it not been for a hopeless mess. The decorations are either too full or too poor. When it comes to the cast, the game master, who is otherwise so exemplary and skilful in this regard, completely abandons his sure instinct. "
Web links
- Victoria and her Hussar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Viktoria and her hussar at filmportal.de