Burgtheater

Unknown outside the German speaking world, this is one of the great Willi Forst's major works and one of the best films of it's day.

It's a toss-up whether the Vienna Burgtheater or it's about to retire star (anything but about to retire Krauss) has the lead here but we get the ambitious costumed movie staging of the German cinema, still a major world force, and Forst's trademark Viennese gentleness, irony and detachment.

Plot has to do with a girl giving Krauss' stolen reception invitation to a young actor, boosting his status, and Krauss mistaking her interest for something more personal while baroness Tschechowa does her most elegant number, making a duel imminent.

Admire rumor spread to music, the dissolve from the target, the staging of "Don Carlos" paralleling the film's action with the great theater climax, managed by Krauss in one of his best outings.

The film craft is impeccable.