Une soirée à Vienne

I finally managed to acquire a copy of this almost forgotten film, chiefly because of my interest in John Barrymore. The film has never been shown on TV in Europe and is unavailable on video or DVD, so it was a delightful surprise to discover how very good it is.

1933 was perhaps John Barrymore's best year in films, just before the slide into alcoholism reduced him to infrequent supporting roles. As well as Reunion in Vienna, he made Topaze (another delightful film) Counsellor at Law (perhaps his greatest screen performance) and Dinner at 8 (a close second).

If you want proof of Barrymore's sheer star quality and presence, take a look at Reunion in Vienna. He dominates the screen in every scene he is in, and when he is on screen, it is difficult to look at anyone else. His wonderfully mellifluous voice is particularly well recorded in this film and his performance is so full of delightful details, and many ad lib physical touches, that one can see how superb he must have been on stage.

Equally surprising here is the subtle performance by Frank Morgan before his familiar bumbling, stammering persona took over almost every performance he gave at MGM. He was a much better actor than remembered today.

The supporting cast is a delight, although not populated by the many émigrés that would shortly arrive from Nazi Europe and become a regular part of Hollywood's scene. Compare this film with THE GREAT WALTZ (1938) to see what I mean.

As a result, the Hapsburg aristocrats are mostly played by Americans (the exception being Eduardo Cianelli who is genuinely touching, giving an excellent portrayal of a devoted servant to his old master).

The music score is credited to William Axt, even though it is really a pot-pourri of themes by Johann Strauss. The exception is a main theme which is a direct steal from Romberg's NEW MOON, then a fairly new work and filmed 2 years before by MGM with Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett. Possibly Dr Axt decided to borrow the waltz "One Kiss" and vary it slightly for this film.

As others point out here, the art direction is beautiful throughout and Ms Wynyard never looked more radiant.

In all, a delightful and superbly acted film that should be on DVD. Why isn't it? The print I have looks as if it has never left the vault in 80 years.

I must admit till last night while searching through a list of movies on line. I found this one that I had not heard of before. But, with a good looking cast in it, I thought I would give it a try. And I'm so glad I did because this movie from 1933 really is something of a forgotten treasure.

John Barrymore's larger than life portrayal of the banished Archduke Rudolf from Austria, now reduced to driving a taxi, is a scintillating performance by any standards.

I have seen quite a few of Barrymore's movies now and he has never disappointed me, and this one is definitely one of his most memorable.

Diana Wynyard is radiantly beautiful as Elena Krug, Rudolf's former love who is now married to a famous psychoanalyst played by Frank Morgan. Barrymore and Wynyard have great chemistry together. But the real surprise for me was Frank Morgan giving a wonderfully deft and understated performance.

The movie takes us through a variety of emotions all of which are played out beautifully. It really is a wonderful movie, and from somebody who is very hard please when it comes to films, I highly recommend this one as a glorious piece of old fashioned movie entertainment.

Diana Wynard is married to Frank Morgan, a psychiatrist who is clearly a stand-in for Freud. Twenty years earlier, she was the mistress of Prince John Barrymore. Now, like all the Habsburgs, he is forbidden to enter the country. Even so, he stalks through their marriage, a ghost at an uneasy feast. This doesn't stop him from showing up at Princess May Robson's hotel, and commanding Miss Wynard's presence.

Based on Robert Sherwood's play that originally starred Lunt and Fontanne, Barrymore offers himself as a gigantic, self-mocking sociopath, playing the role as he would later play Oscar Jaffee in 20TH CENTURY, magnificently mad, and ultimately aware of it. He overwhelms everyone in his brashness, his assumptions of rights and privileges; Miss Robson may dominate scenes, and Henry Travers, in his first movie appearance, as Morgan's father, likewise, but it is all they can do to hold their own when Barrymore swaggers onto the scene. It's a lot of fun to watch Barrymore. Perhaps that's why the ending is so flat. Morgan makes a rare decision to underplay his role, and this makes Miss Wynard seem less sure of why she makes the decision to stay with him. Has she grown up and come to care for a man who has made his own accomplishments, or is she simply making the safe choice? I'm sure that couples taking the midnight train back to Scarsdale wondered the same thing, with the wife assuring her husband that, yes, it is love.

John Barrymore as a Habsburg Archduke reduced to driving a hack, fifteen years after "the Revolution," towers over this rarely shown movie that had a welcome screening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York today. Other pleasures included seeing familiar actors playing against type: Eduardo Ciannelli as the sweet and loyal former valet of the Archduke, Henry Travers as Frank Morgan's dotty but perspicacious father, May Robson as a crude, cigar-chomping hotelier with a heart of gold and red drawers. The premise that the love of one's life can return and the affair will resume even decades later is examined wittily and touchingly in this cinematic version of Robert E. Sherwood's play. The former lovers, Barrymore and Diana Wynyard, are funny, sexy and heartbreaking. Frank Morgan, as the husband, is fine in a thankless role. And the music which contributes to the emotionality of the work is terrific. This little-known film deserves to be released on DVD.

The first fifteen minutes of Reunion in Vienna is confusing, but compared to the rest of the movie, it's much better. Diana Wynyard is shows attending a tour of a grand Viennese palace, and she slips away from the rest of the group and imagines herself in a royal gown meeting the prince from long ago. Then, at home, she's bored with her husband Frank Morgan and father-in-law Henry Travers. It makes the audience think the movie is a fantasy about a bored housewife who wishes she could meet a prince.

Instead, the prince is not only real, but he's her ex-boyfriend. He was exiled after a change of power, and then Diana married Frank. Frank is a famous psychologist who carries the theory to his patients, including Una Merkel, that a woman's first love is glorified in her mind and that if she saw him again as he was, he'd topple from his pedestal. So, putting his money where his mouth is, Frank tells Diana to go to May Robson's party because he knows Prince John Barrymore will be in attendance. He believes she'll come running home with open arms. However, as soon as John graces the screen, he slows the tempo down and makes everyone think they're watching him onstage. His performance is very exaggerated, and he and Diana don't seem to have any shared history that would make her doubt her happiness at home.

This story isn't very interesting, since the majority of the movie tries to show tension between Diana and John, rather than the psychology behind Frank's theory. No one is at his or her best acting, so if you're a fan of the cast, try renting one of their other movies tonight.