Viktor und Viktoria

Viktor und Viktoria is a witty musical comedy of errors: The core idea is that a girl plays a man who plays a girl. Aspiring actress Susanne Lohr (Renate Müller) meets out of work actor Viktor Hempel (Hermann Thimig) while queueing at an agency. Viktor initially boasts about his success on stage, but Susanne pretty quickly sees through him, and from then on they develop a more honest friendship. When Viktor develops a sore throat and can't do his drag act at a vaudeville, Susanne steps in and becomes a huge, international sucess. Complications ensue... 'Viktor und Viktoria' is perfectly charming. It gives us a glimpse of how German cinema might have developed if it had not been taken over by the Nazis - a process that began in the year when this film came out. No wonder it proved influential over decades, inspiring several remakes (none of which I have had a chance to see so far). The plot is fast paced and the gender bending issue is handled with a lot of charm. Dialogues are mostly sung; amazingly, this sounds perfectly natural after a few minutes. Acting is excellent; Müller and Thimig have great comic timing. So have the other actors, of whom Adolf Wohlbrück deserves special praise (he changed his name to Anton Walbrook a little later and emigrated to Britain, where he had a great career). Still, for me the discovery of this film was Renate Müller, whom I had not seen or heard of before. She is simply fantastic as 'Mr Viktoria'. I read up on her and found that while the Nazis courted her for her looks, she refused to seperate from her Jewish boyfriend and to appear in propaganda films. In 1937, she died under suspicious circumstances, falling from an upper floor window soon after the Gestapo had entered the building. I don't know why she did not leave the country like Walbrook did - perhaps she did not trust her English, perhaps she had family in Germany. If she had emigrated, I am sure today she would be as well-known as Marlene Dietrich.

"Viktor und Viktoria" was directed by Reinhold Schünzel and came out at an unusual time period in Germany. Had it come out just a few years later, the Nazi government surely would have labeled it as degenerate and censored it. After all, the plot has a lot of elements of tranvestism and possible homosexuality--subjects the new Reich would never allow in theaters. But, in 1933, the Nazis just came to power and were slowly consolidating their power and were not yet a dictatorship-- so such a movie was released to theaters and was a success. In fact, the director ALSO filmed a French language version--with the same sets but with different leading actors. In fact, the film worked so well that the Brit made their own version, "First a Girl", just two years later--and of the three, I definitely prefer the British remake. And, speaking of remakes, Hollywood remade this decades later as "Victor/Victoria".

"Vikor und Viktoria" is a musical--but not in the way the British film was made. Instead of having a lot of kitschy musical numbers (which I loved) like the British film, much of the song consisted of sung dialog. It worked okay--but the lyrics lacked the humor of the British ones. Additionally, the gay aspects of the film were REALLY de-emphasized (perhaps to kiss up to the new Nazi regime)--making Viktor, somehow, more 'butch'.

The film begins with Susanne trying unsuccessfully to get a job as a singer. Though she has a lovely job, it doesn't seem to mater. And, after she and Viktor both lose jobs the same day, they meet up and become friends. Unfortunately, soon Viktor loses his voice--and this is a serious problem since he had another interview. So he has an idea-- Susanne should try out in his place. What's the role? He's trying out as a man who dresses and pretends to be a woman---only Susanne now has to pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman! It's all confusing...and rather cute. But, the characters and plot, to me, were missing something. It wasn't only the music, but the British version was just more likable and sweet. This one, in contrast, looked a bit flat. Still, it IS worth seeing--clever and unique for its time.

The startling thing about the original "Victor and Victoria" is its operetta-like form with significant dramatic interactions presented in rhyme, either sung or in recitative. Reinhold Schunzel (who later appeared to outstanding effect in such American films as "Hangmen Also Die" and "Notorious") directs stylishly with sometimes over-obvious flair, milking laughs from the physical comedy of the leads—namely, the energetic Hermann Thimig as the female impersonator who catches cold and persuades an ambitious young performer (Renate Muller) to sub for him. She becomes a huge hit overnight. The dashing Adolf Wohlbruck (later Anton Walbrook of "Red Shoes" fame) is the gentleman who falls in love with her after discovering "he" is a "she."

One odd bit: when Wohlbruck takes Muller to a barbershop for a shave and she removes her jacket it is very clear from her anatomy that she is a female, but no one notices. Why then did the filmmakers do nothing to flatten her chest?

What surprised me most about this film, since it's famously the inspiration for the 1982 Blake Edwards/Julie Andrews musical "Victor/Victoria," is that it's so CLEAN. The fact that its release date is 1933 may mean it was produced under Nazi censorship, or on the other hand it might be an example of how innocent and yet sophisticated filmmaking could be in Weimar Berlin. Notably, there's absolutely no homosexuality in it; the Robert Preston character (a wonderful piece of clowning by Hermann Thimig) is straight, and the James Garner guy (the incredibly sexy Anton Walbrook) suspects all along that Viktoria is really female, and his courtship of her consists of teasingly playing up to her pretensions of maleness while tweaking her feminine tendencies. The through-line of this version is the charming reactions of the skittish young Susanna-Viktoria (an endearing performance by Renate Mueller that's a poignant reminder that it's possible for actresses to be both beautiful AND skilled performers--a point usually lost on Hollywood) to the strange and excellent adventures of passing as a man, and then falling in love while trying to pass as a man with the man she loves.

Many are aware that Viktor and Viktoria was remade in the U.S. as Victor/Victoria, but an English-language remake was made the following year in the U.S. starring Jessie Matthews and Barry McKay. The film follows the German script closely including the scene with the geese, but allows McKay to be in on the impersonation much earlier. Intriguingly, neither the German nor UK version contain a single hint of homosexuality -- female and male impersonation were simply accepted theatrical forms. No nudge-nudge wink-wink. One of the more poignant and droll scenes in the German film is when the ambitious thespians descend several flights of stairs in a seedy theatrical booking building, singing to a joyous martial melody that they will climb ever higher and higher-- as they descend and descend.