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Universum Film recently released a Blu-ray "Deluxe Edition" of the 1931 German operetta, DER KONGRESS TANZT aka THE CONGRESS DANCES. A major production from Weimar Germany, this film was made in three languages: German, French and English, and became an international box office success. The production was the brainchild of Erik Charell who would flee Germany two years later due to the rise of the Nazi regime. The film was something of a coronation for Lilian Harvey, who had been attracting attention since the arrival of sound films. She continued making hit films for the next few years in Germany, interrupted by an unsuccessful year in Hollywood, until she ran afoul of the Third Reich. They discovered she was assisting gay men to flee the country and overnight Lilian became persona non grata. Exiled from Germany and her wealth confiscated, her career never recovered.

But I digress. The Blu-ray is evidently taken from 35 mm material, original but rather worn. Various scratches and specs abound though the image is sharp and crisp. There seems to have been no digital restoration and I can't say it's much of an improvement over a previous DVD release that was just OK. The extras consist of a trailer and an eight-page booklet entirely in German. There are no English subtitles nor are there any excerpts from surviving material of the English language version. But the film has its compensations.

The main reason is the cast, specifically Lilian Harvey, Willy Fritsch, Lil Dagover, and most especially Conrad Veidt as the wily Metternich. They are a delight to watch and Charell's direction keeps things moving at a brisk pace. The story (with music by Frederick Hollander, among others) takes place during the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, due to the recent victory over Napoleon. A celebratory mood reigns in the city as representatives of the victorious Allies convene to draft a peace treaty. There's lots of intrigue and hanky-panky (as they used to say). The highlight of the picture is Lilian's song, "This Time For Always," filmed with a seemingly never- ending tracking shot as she rides in a carriage through the streets of Vienna. It's an ambitious sequence for an early talkie and it still has a wow factor.

I was hoping this "deluxe" edition had a digital restoration and in that sense I'm disappointed. English subs would also have been nice but I'm familiar enough with the story not to need them. If you've never seen this film, then this is the edition to get - until something hopefully better comes along.

How did you buy this? Amazon.de isn't shipping to the US these days.

nolisome wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:42 pm

How did you buy this? Amazon.de isn't shipping to the US these days.

I purchased it from Amazon.fr at the end of last year.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. This is clearly aimed at the German market if there are no subtitles.

Regarding the English language version DER KONGRESS TANZT, a nitrate print survives in the National Film Archive in London but it is too fragile to be screened. Nobody has the money to make a digital scan of the whole thing for a new print so I doubt we shall see a Blu-ray anytime soon unless the German government deems it a worthy project and coughs up some Euros.

BTW I would also love to see Lillian Harvey's two English language films make it to DVD - I AM SUZANNE and INVITATION TO THE WALTZ, both of which survive intact.

Archive.org is a surprisingly good resource for restored German films of the 1930s and 40s. Many have English subs and are in large files. The catch is that one has to be clever in searching for them. I found the recently restored 2K transfer of GLUCKSKINDER (1936) with Eng subs, among other films. For whatever reason, these titles are mixed in on a pro-Nazi group that sort of returns these movies to the milieu in which they were originally made. Creepy but I suppose that's history.

Bob