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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Viennese nights 1930 - "You will remember Vienna"

Vivienne Segal in Viennese Nights (1930)

Director: Alan Crosland
Main Cast: Vivienne Segal, Alexander Gray, Jean Hersholt, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Fazenda, Bela Lugosi



"This sentimental Romberg-Hammerstein operetta was made late in the first cycle of movie musicals, and the glut of product at the time crowded it out at the box office. Which is too bad, because it's excellent of its kind - well-crafted, well-cast, and in handsome two-tone Technicolor.
The authors steal from all over the place: The two-generation love affairs (one happy, one unhappy) recall Romberg's own 'Maytime', and the poor musician and wealthy officer fighting for the fraulein are right out of 'Bitter Sweet'. But the story matters less than the songs ('You Will Remember Vienna', 'I Bring a Love Song', etc.) and the authors' sincerity. It's an unusually full score for a movie musical, with comic numbers, ensembles, and even a show-within-a-show - one senses that Hammerstein and Romberg wanted their screen work to be as good as their stage work.
Vivienne Segal, a prized stage comedienne/soprano, doesn't really get to demonstrate the dry wit and winking innuendo that made her a theater favorite, but she's sweet and direct (at times, she looks like Bette Midler!). Her leading man - Alexander Gray, also from the stage - is stiff in the Nelson Eddy mode, but like Eddy, he gives his all when he sings.
Walter Pidgeon and Bela Lugosi have minor roles."

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(the title is wrong, but it is the right movie)


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