Der Kongress Tanzt
Tit. It.: “Il Congresso Si Diverte“; Scen.: Norbert Falk, Robert Liebmann E (Non Accr.) Hans Müller, Paul Frank; F.: Carl Hoffmann; M.: Viktor Gertler; Scgf.: Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig; Cost.: Ernst Stern; Trucco: Emil Neumann, Maria Jamitzky, Oscar Schmidt; Mu.: Werner Richard Heymann; Liriche: Robert Gilbert; Coreografia: Boris Romanoff; Su.: Fritz Thiery; Effetti Speciali: Theodor Nischwitz; Ass.R.: Paul Martin, Basil Ruminow, Kurt Hoffmann; Int.: Lilian Harvey (Christel Weinzinger), Willy Fritsch (Zar Alessandro Di Russia/Uralsky, Suo Sosia), Otto Wallburg (Bibikoff), Conrad Veidt (Metternich), Carl Heinz Schroth (Pepi), Lil Dagover (Contessa), Alfred Abel (Re Di Sassonia), Eugen Rex (Ambasciatore Di Svevia), Alfred Gerasch (Ambasciatore Di Francia), Adele Sandrock (Contessa), Margarete Kupfer (Contessa), Julius Falkenstein (Ministro Delle Finanze), Max Gülstorff (Sindaco Di Vienna), Paul Hörbiger (Cantante), Ernst Stahl- Nachbaur (Napoleone), Sergius Sax, Hermann Blaß, Trude Brionne, Franz Nicklisch, Kurt Brunk. Prod.: Erich Pommer Per Ufa; 35mm. L.: 2673 M. D.: 98’. Bn.
Film Notes
Made in German, French and English versions by UFA’s premier production unit headed by Erich Pommer, the film represents the technically brilliant pinnacle of the kind of celluloid-operetta/musical with which European cinema aimed to fend off Hollywood’s hegemony on the international market. It was the company’s most expensive feature of the 1931-32 season. The film is deeply rooted in the conventions of popular German stage operettas and the then fashionable genre of Wien-Filme. Not at all interested in History or the musical traditions of the early 19th century, its attraction and enormous success rests on spectacle, popular stars and catchy tunes, which have subsequently become true classics – as has the film itself, particularly with older German tv-audiences.
Horst Claus – Brighton University