Die Fledermaus

Actually "Die Fledermaus" is a wonderful operetta by Johann Strauß. The work of a musical genius, with unforgettable melodies.

It really would have deserved a good director. Just like Lehár's "Die lustige Witwe" was turned into a congenial movie by the great Ernst Lubitsch ("The Merry Widow").

But what we have here is a cinematic disaster. It's useless to think about the art of photography or lighting or editing. You won't find any of that in this movie. It was made as if no D. W. Griffiths or Alfred Hitchcock or Josef von Sternberg or Lubitsch or Busby Berkeley or Vincente Minnelli had ever existed. The total lack of knowledge about what film means is astonishing and annoying.

If anybody claimed that the director and the whole crew had been asleep during the making of "Die Fledermaus" I would go for it immediately.

Even worse is the fact that the original musical and its richness was destroyed by a simplified and very silly arrangement adding elements of German Swing and Schlager (!). Even new and very bad songs were introduced. Terrible, just terrible. Obviously this was done by the Austrian producers to please the audience in neighboring Germany where they probably hoped to earn more money than in Austria alone. It remains inexcusable.

And the opportunity to document the inimitable Hans Moser's rendering of one of his legendary performances - as prison official Frosch, that is - was completely missed. Instead the character was reduced to a caricature. And Moser got wasted in this uncreative mess and even had to participate in a very dull musical number. One can't help but feel pity for him.

The rest of the cast consists of some well known actors which on other occasions have shown their talent. But here nobody acts convincingly. It is not even routine that the actors are providing but plain non-acting.

The whole movie could be dismissed as a parody of "Die Fledermaus". But it is definitely not a parody. It is the destruction of a piece of art. And as it has no subtlety and is not at all interested in atmosphere this movie can't even looked upon as campy. It is just a bad, boring movie that makes you wondering why on earth it was produced to start with.

Then why two stars and not just one? Because at least one gets the feeling that the filmmakers did not pretend to produce an important cinematic masterpiece. This sincerity shouldn't go unrewarded.

Die Fledermaus is one of the greatest of the operetta genre so of course any film or performance of it raises high hopes. This 1962 film was incredibly disappointing, and in my mind only the awful and downright distasteful 2001 Salzburg production was worse. There are some brownie points here with Boy Gobert's sparkling Orlofsky, Peter Alexander's poignant rendition of Bruderlein und Schwesterlein and the athleticism of Marika Rokkh, but everything else doesn't work. As wonderful as Strauss' music is, it is very difficult to appreciate it when the way it is arranged comes across as very simplistic and done to the extent that it doesn't sound like Strauss at all. The playing of the score could have sparkled much more and been much more lush in sound, here it was rather plodding and bland-sounding. The story also disappoints, also simplified and very crudely. Thankfully it is not as distasteful as the Salzburg production, but the fun, endearing silliness, heart and charm of Die Fledermaus' story is lost here, at best there is only one or two mild laughs and no emotional investment at all. Of the performances only three are halfway decent, the rest are forgettable and the waste of Hans Moser is unforgivable. Even visually it doesn't appeal, the costumes and sets are rather cartoonish, the colours garish instead of lavish and the camera work suggestive of a complete lack of experience behind the camera judging from the lack of finesse. To conclude, truly disappointing and poorly done film version of an operetta masterpiece. It is not quite as awful as the Salzburg production but every other performance of Die Fledermaus is a million times better than this. 3/10 Bethany Cox

The story is a comedic soap opera: We have a husband (who expects to be imprisoned shortly for tax fraud), his wife (who has a mysterious twin sister) a house maid, her boyfriend, a police inspector (and his assistant, played by Hans Moser)... And all of them take on false identities, without the knowledge of each other's actions, to be allowed into a festival for the high society. And to convince some foreign prince attending that ball to give them money / oil-rich land / fame / love. Of course, they all quickly recognize each other, trying at first to avoid, later to confuse all the other present parties....

The story is bollocks, in short. And the humour is thinly spread (I can only remember 1 mild laugh during the entire movie). The music is typical Schlager-fare that belongs firmly into the 60s. And there is no excitement or delight in this movie.

I think not even kids will enjoy this one. Avoid.

True Die Fledermaus lovers might be offended at the cha-cha-ization of the classic Strauss operetta, and the story has been crudely simplified and updated to the pre-World War I years, but there are some good things here. Boy Gobert is a perfect Prince Orlofsky and his version of "Ich lade gern mir Gäste ein" is tremendous fun. Peter Alexander makes for a very enjoyable Eisenstein, perhaps a little more innocent than the original. His rendition of "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein" is beautiful and touching. Marika Rökk, slightly past her prime here, plays Adele and there are a few too many dance numbers thrown in to showcase her very athletic style. Costumes are gloriously cartoonish, and so are the performances. The great Viennese actor, Hans Moser, reprises here the role of Frösch, the jailer--a role he played in the 1937 version of Die Fledermaus.

The updating of the score will either strike you as tremendous fun, or a horrible desecration. For me this is a wonderful, guilty pleasure.

A very good film. The humor may only be understandable for people who are familiar with this kind of film and may be lost on others but it is an entertaining movie with excellent actors. Personally, I laughed a lot during watching this film.

Its plot is inspired by a famous operetta of the same title. The story itself is harmless and contains no violence whatsoever; for me it was nice to watch it because I liked the songs very much and admire the talent of the actors. It's always nice to watch a film where you can recognize and marvel at the scenery. It's a very special feeling to see people acting in an environment one knows only of books and paintings, and believing their role.