| Victor and Victoria | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| German | Viktor und Viktoria |
| Directed by | Reinhold Schünzel |
| Written by | Reinhold Schünzel |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Konstantin Irmen-Tschet |
| Music by | Franz Doelle |
| Distributed by | Universum Film AG |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
Victor and Victoria (German:Viktor und Viktoria) is a 1933 Germanmusicalcomedy film written and directed byReinhold Schünzel, starringRenate Müller as a woman pretending to be afemale impersonator. The following year, Schünzel directed a French-language version of the film titledGeorge and Georgette, starringMeg Lemonnier and a French cast.
In 1935,Michael Balcon produced an English version titledFirst a Girl, directed byVictor Saville and starringJessie Matthews andSonnie Hale.
AWest German remake byKarl Anton was released in 1957.[1]
In 1982,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer releasedVictor/Victoria, an English-language remake byBlake Edwards.[2] Edwards later based a successful stage musical on the film. Both the film and the musical starredJulie Andrews.[1]
Susanne, an aspiring singer, steps in to replace Viktor, a mediocre actor, at a small cabaret in Berlin where he performs as a female impersonator.[3] She catches the attention of an agent, who mistakenly believes that she is actually a man. As a result, Susanne rises to fame, but her situation becomes complicated when she finds herself falling in love with Robert.
Max Hansen was originally considered for the role of Viktor, butUfa managers had some reservations about his "background",[a] but were willing to ignore their suspicions provided "they were not shared by theReich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda." After an inquiry by the Ministry,Joseph Goebbels refused to give the part to Hansen, and the role went to Hermann Thimig instead.[6]
German songwriterBruno Balz, who was arrested several times by the Nazis for being gay, wrote the lyrics for the music, and also some of the dialogue that was sung in the film.[7]After the film was released, Adolf Wohlbrück, who played the part of Robert, and was also gay, fled Nazi Germany for England, where he changed his name to Anton Walbrook.[8]
American scholarLaurence Senelick opined that the film:
was the swan-song of a polymorphously perverse society on the verge of obliteration; for the last time the homosexual subculture of Weimar Berlin pervaded a mass-market movie; meant as light entertainment, the film nevertheless manages to undermine conventional notions of appropriate objects of desire; when men and women both cast lustful glances at Viktoria in her male drag, not quite sure of her essential gender, the film reminds us how arbitrary are the choices of our passions.[8]
In a comparison between the music from the 1995broadway musical, and the music in this film, American scholarRichard Traubner wrote Schünzel's "hilarious comedy has a completely different, more integrated score byFranz Doelle, and offers nary a whiff of overt gayness; the songs in the film are not meant to be important but add to the frivolity, while in the musical, they do mean to be very important but wind up for the most part utterly useless or incidental, through sheer mediocrity or inappropriateness."[9]
The film was well-received in the German-American community of New York.[10] American film criticMordaunt Hall wrote that "admirers of well-mounted musical comedy carrying the proper amount of romance, embodying several tuneful songs and presented by an excellent cast are likely to fall in love with this German language film; using first class actors, the director has made the old theme of the life of a female impersonator the foundation for a delightful combination of humor and music."[11]
Film critic Malcolm Johnson wrote the film "generates appeal with its operetta like feeling, and its exhilarating technique of dialogue that turns quite suddenly and naturally into song and its richly atmospheric German and English milieus." He went on to say "the production values are not opulent, but they give a fine sense of the gloss and spirit of the German musical film in the post-Weimar era, and Schünzel proves a stylish director with a light, almostLubitsch touch."[12]
Wanda Hale of theNew York Daily News observed that "between the first reel and the last the scenarists try a bundle of tricks to keep the romance running on two wheels and the interest on four; the result is not altogether a smooth ride for the audience." She further stated that Mueller has a "native flair for comedy", and Wohlbrück is "properly handsome and at ease."[13]
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