Das Land des Lächelns

I have always adored opera and operetta, and a few of the best operettas(The Merry Widow especially)come from Franz Lehar, Johann Strauss II is also a giant in operetta. Das Land Des Lachelns is not one of the best operettas, but it has its charm and the music is lovely, especially Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz. This film version is very good, okay some of the photography is a little awkward and Birgit Pitsch-Sarata is too smug for my tastes though she looks fabulous. The costumes and sets though are sumptuous in detail and colour, and the staging has charm and humour with the odd affecting moment too. The choreography looks easier than it is and I found it technical yet elegant and witty, and is splendidly danced. Lehar's score is performed with a beautiful sound by the orchestra with lots of style in the mix, and the conducting is sensitive to musicianship, phrasing and nuances. Rene Kollo gives one of my favourite performances of his, he is handsome and dignified and his voice is more youthful than it would become in the hefty Wagner roles he took on. Dagmar Koller is charming, very beautiful and she sings and dances wonderfully. In conclusion, I did have a smile on my face after watching this. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I was motivated to comment by reading the first comment posted about this show. I have loved the music and songs from this operetta for years, but had never seen it performed before I watched this on DVD. It brought me great pleasure and enjoyment. All principals are excellent singers. The singing is dubbed but that is the case for almost all dramatizations of operas, operettas and musicals that are not being filmed live on stage. Rather than looking for the flaws, viewers should look to the strengths of this production. Top notch singing, handsome cast, reasonable acting and wonderful dancing by the Korean ballet. If your tastes run to Viennese operetta, watch this. You won't regret it.

I generally hesitate to employ these two rather ill-defined words, but numerous moments in "Das Land des Lächelns" could serve as exemplary illustrations of the former, if by 'camp' is meant theatrical and exaggerated. The definition of kitsch is 'sentimental, pretentious, or vulgar tastelessness'. Viewers unsympathetic to operetta would likely apply it.

The 1974 film is a moderately faithful adaptation of the 1929 operetta, composed by Franz Lehár. Much of the camp and kitsch is right there in the original. I have mixed feelings about the late operettas of Lehár. For all their musical merit, they surely display the decadence of the genre. Vestiges of traditional operetta frivolity sit very awkwardly alongside (or underneath) effusions of almost morbid Romanticism. No longer content as an operetta composer, Lehár aspired to be the Puccini of the German-speaking world. Just how seriously should these works be taken? Are they comedies or tragedies? It is hard to say, and "Das Land des Lächelns" presents more problems than most, given the centrality of racial issues to its plot (the doomed love of an Asian man and a European woman in 1912).

The film adds a thick layer of 1970s kitsch to the 1920s kitsch. The adaptation from stage to screen is half-hearted. A straightforward recording of a stage performance might have been more successful. Here theatrical sets, choreography, and acting are subject to merciless close-up. Worst of all, the singers are clearly miming to a studio recording of their own voices. They sing excellently, it must be said, but the effect is alienating. So is the ill-advised casting of genuinely Asian supernumeraries alongside European principals pretending to be Asian. For no obvious reason, the film switches Prince Sou Chong's homeland from China to fictional Buratonga, apparently meant to be part of Indonesia or Malaysia (though the Asians in the cast are Korean!).

René Kollo, better known for Wagnerian roles, gives a dignified performance as the Prince (though without the inscrutable smile that justifies the title of the work). Dagmar Koller sings and dances energetically as his sister Mi, and she cannot really be blamed for having such an exceptionally unBuratongan face. Birgit Pitsch-Sarata is less satisfactory, her acting being limited to 'leading lady' clichés. What facial expression should a soprano assume while the tenor indulges in prolonged declarations of passionate love for her? Pitsch-Sarata opts for smug, and the result is hilarious.

A fine performance of a good operetta. The singing of Rene Kollo is especially good, and he looks great, even in fake oriental makeup. His rendition of "Dein ist mein Ganzes Herz", the hit tune from the show, is far better than the version recorded by Giuseppe di Stefano. Dagmar Koller as Princess Mi is delightfuly athlethic, with some amusing and faintly erotic dance numbers. The rest of the cast is OK. Birgit Pitsch-Sarata looks fabulously Viennese as Lisa, but is not quite the singer she ought to be as the female lead.

The camera work is not quite up to the standards of US musical films of the era and the direction by Authur Maria Rabenault is occasionally awkward, but the photography is crisp and colorful and the setting in a pseudo-Siamese country is visually appealing, if not authentic either to the operetta or the period.

Lehar's story of the clash between oriental and western culture may have resonated with audiences of post-WWI Vienna, but today, it seems a bit dated. Still, much of the music is wonderful, and if you like this sort of thing, it is worthwhile just to hear Rene Kollo at his youthful best.