lchadbou-326-26592 Review of Burg Theatre

Burg Theatre (1936)

Romantic Misunderstandings In Charming Vienna Theater Piece

[28 September 2013]

Burg Theater, made in Austria in 1936, is a fine example of the work of underrated director (also writer and actor) Willi Forst, who at his best had the stylish, charming touch of a Lubitsch or Ophuls. The film opens with scenes actually taken in that famous Viennese court theater of a fictitious veteran actor Mitterer (Werner Krauss) doing Goethe's Faust. Despite his popularity, Mitterer leaves the building after and wants to be by himself. Krauss is best known today to film buffs as Caligari in that landmark German silent, but had other strong roles such as this.During the play there had been a dissolve up to the peanut gallery where an aspiring actor Josef (the young Carl Esmond) yearns for such a role. Mitterer in a scene reminiscent of Faust itself sees a young woman, Leni, in church and is taken with her. She is his tailor's daughter and the girlfriend of the youth we'd just seen. Josef tries out as Romeo (in German translation) but is interrupted as the elegant Baroness(Olga Tschechowa) sweeps in. She is known for her "jours", a Friday salon at which the elite of Vienna's theater scene gather. Leni steals a salon invite the Baroness had sent the aloof Mitterer,to give Josef an opportunity to advance.When the youth shows instead, the guests think Mitterer deliberately gave his invite to another as a snub, but the Baroness turns it to her advantage to avoid embarrassment.At this point a nice song written for the film, "Servus," about the special Austro-Hungarian word for goodbye, is performed by the salon pianist and then passed along to different scenes: a coffee at the tailor's to which Mitterer and his prompter have been invited, and an outdoor cafe. Josef is happy he now has a small role in "Don Carlos," where Mitterer will play Philip.The youth is described several times as "stuermisch" (ardent) but Esmond overdoes it somewhat. The Baroness to whom he expresses thanks finds herself attracted to him, setting up a romantic rivalry. It's her he goes to in her period horse drawn carriage after the play, leaving Leni to go with the increasingly smitten Mitterer to hear a military band in a coffee garden (where two accordionists play "Servus" at their table.)Mitterer, thinking he's found happiness, now wants to retire. Meanwhile Josef is announced for the part of Ferdinand in Schiller's "Kabale Und Liebe," leading to a false rumor that he got the role because of a liaison with the Baroness (which makes the usually absent Baron husband jealous.)The Baron accuses Josef of cheating at cards.There's also an amusing in joke when the prompter, played by character actor Hans Moser who was notorious for his mumbled mutterings which even those fluent in German have trouble getting, tells the youth to speak more clearly! Meanwhile we see several scenes from the ongoing "Don Carlos," in which the elderly Krauss as a Spanish king about to be abandoned, displays a theatrical dignity worthy of Louis Jouvet or John Barrymore. After the play though he laughs taking off his makeup at the mirror when he sees a ring he'd given the prompter to seal a wedding engagement with Leni has been returned.Josef also has a disappointment when he loses his acting job due to the scandal. In the climax he goes to an upper level to kill himself, accidentally drops a charm with Leni's name on it that had brought him luck before, and is recognized by the lonely Mitterer in the darkness. The rivals finally meet and Mitterer encourages Josef by reciting lines from famous plays about the beauty of life. As the theme music returns, the jaded old actor slips out so the young lovers can reunite.The last scene is the camera moving in to a poster of Faust and we see Mitterer acting it once again as the lovers watch in the upper gallery. As a side note to this review, for those who want to learn more about the striking Tschechowa, whose closeups here are beautifully lit, check out the book on her by military historian Anthony Beevor. (Beevor's argument is that the actress, though a favorite of Hitler at the time, was actually a Soviet spy.)