Vittorio e Vittoria

An operetta of dramatic interactions in rhymes, sometimes sung, sometimes in recitative form. In short, fantastic fun. If the critic Moniz Vianna's favorite musical was "Love Me Tonight", (1932), and the critic J. L. Grunewald's favorite musical was "Maytime", (1937), I'm led to believe that neither of them got to watch "Viktor und Viktoria", whose premise is complex and certainly funny: a real woman falls into Skittish Susanne Lohr (Renate Mueller, adorable ) falls in love with one of the men she tries to pose as a man in front of vaudeville. ... him!

A sweeping musical - full of melodies sung in rhyming couplets. A reminder of the spirit of freedom and joy enjoyed in pre-III Reich Germany. The date of production, 1933, means that it passed through Nazi censorship, and yet it is still an example of innocence, mischievousness and high cinematic sophistication. There is absolutely no homosexuality there. Hermann Thimig's character, with all the quirks and for all intents and purposes, is straight. The gallant Adolf Walbrook (who would soon change his name to Anton to stop being the namesake of the Nazi dictator) has suspected all along that Viktor is really Viktoria. The film is seen as a time machine trip to the era of the Weimar Republic. Like contemporary René Clair's comedies, it's full of slapstick scenes. And specialists who appreciate cinematographic language will be especially delighted with the montage based on (technically so called) curtains (instead of cuts, fades or lightening, just like as in, for example, Kurosawa's 7 Samurai)

"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.

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.

I saw this film a number of years ago at a gay film festival at the Tel-Aviv Cinemateque. I knew that it existed -- I think there must have been a credit for it at the end of the Julie Andrews film and just ran to see it while I had the opportunity. The audience seemed to be evenly divided between the gay lesbian community and German/Austrian old timers.

Everyone seemed to have a really good time, despite the poor quality of the copy and the lack of Hebrew subtitles. And, it was quite delightful to overhear two elderly ladies talking about how "Mama" wouldn't let them see the movie when it first came out, and here the were seeing it today!

Viktor Hempel (Hermann Thimig) has played many parts; one of which is of a woman. He crosses paths with Susanne Lohr (Renate Müller) at an opportune time when he has a cold and can not go on. She goes on in his place and when she reveals herself to be a man by taking a wig off, is an instant success. The story gets complex when she falls for a man and can not tell him that she is a woman. Little does she know he found out. So he has fun leading her on. Will she ever find out that he knows?

The movie shows many interesting things about the Weimar era such as an automat. The singing is from the 30's so they have that warble that you heard in Disney's Snow White. And the movie has a lot of slapstick filler. Many times Viktor is unnecessarily a dufus. I have a sparse German vocabulary and am lucky most of the characters spoke slowly or at least used basic statements. There is also a smidgen of English including a song about Spain. The film would have been easer to follow if Deutsch sub-titles were available.

The DVD I Watched is region 2 from Black Hill Pictures GmbH. You may need a multiregional player or do a little ripping and converting to play.