In 1992, the German director Helmut DIETL remembered in his global success SCHTONK! (ACADEMY AWARD nomination 1993) not only to the fake Hitler diaries, but also to the operetta bliss of the large German film company UFA. "It only happens once, it won't happen again," sang the unforgettable Lilian HARVEY in the opulent operetta film THE CONGRESS DANCES by Erik CHARELL from 1931.
Christel Weinzinger (Lilian HARVEY) is an ordinary Viennese girl who happens to meet Tsar Alexander of Russia (Willy FRITSCH) at the Heurigen at the time of the Congress of Vienna (1815) and spends a few nice days in Vienna with this world ruler. An inconsequential story, but one that is told in such a sensual and sparkling way that it is still one of the classics of German-language entertainment films. The romantic banter includes a mysterious Tsar double (of course also Willy FRITSCH), a jealous fiancé (Carl Heinz SCHROTH) and of course the legendary Prince Metternich (Conrad VEIDT). It's wonderful how the busy prince has installed a listening system so that he is always well informed. The gentlemen from Silicon Valley seem to have apprenticed with him. Other roles include Lil DAGOVER, Adele SANDROCK and Otto WALLBURG, who was murdered in the Auschwitz extermination camp in 1944. What a shame!
Paul HÖRBIGER has a particularly beautiful appearance as a Heurigen singer in Grinzing. Tasting a glass of wine there should be part of the standard program of every visit to Vienna to this day.
This classic, shot at the STUDIO BABELSBERG, should be familiar to every film lover, even if it will be able to celebrate its 100th birthday in a few years. By the time Lilian HARVEY begins her triumphal procession through Vienna to the tunes of "That only happens once," not a single eye will remain dry.
Carl Heinz SCHROTH (1902 - 1989), who plays her neglected fiancé, experienced a wonderful television comeback from Christmas 1982 to 1989 when he filmed several episodes of the series JAKOB AND ADELE on the then West German television station ZDF alongside Brigitte HORNEY (1911 -1988).
After his escape from Nazi Germany, Conrad VEIDT (1893 - 1943) also became a superstar in the Anglo-American world. He played in the classics THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1940) and CASABLANCA (1942).
And Lilian HARVEY was the biggest star of the 1930s in German-speaking countries. EIN BLONDER TRAUM and GLÜCKSKINDER are other films that she made alongside Willy FRITSCH.
