Der letzte Walzer (1927)

This week's film special is about that typical German phenomenon, a silent film musical. The Ufa production Der letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Arthur Robison, 1927) was a successful example. The stars were Willy Fritsch, Suzy Vernon, Liane Haid, Hans Adalbert Schlettow and Ida Wüst. In France, ACE published a series of postcards for the French release, La dernière valse.


French postcard by ACE, no. 10. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still of Suzy Vernon and Willy Fritsch in Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Robison, 1927).


French postcard by ACE, no. 23. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still of Suzy Vernon and Willy Fritsch in Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Robison, 1927).

A Viennese operetta in Berlin

Der letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Arthur Robison, 1927) was based on a Viennese operetta, composed by Oscar Straus and with a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald.

The original operetta had opened at the Berliner Theater in Berlin on 12 February 1920 and starred Fritzi Massary. It was a huge success, and soon followed international adaptations.

In Vienna it was first presented at the Theater an der Wien on 5 October 1923, with Betty Fischer, Max Hansen, and Richard Tauber in the leading roles.

On 10 May 1921, an English adaptation for Broadway was prepared by Harold R. Atteridge and Edward Delaney, with additional music by Al Goodman. The Last Waltz, directed by J. C. Huffman, opened at the Century Theatre in New York and ran for 185 performances.

Another English adaptation was prepared for the West End by Robert Evett and Reginald Arkell. This version opened at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 7 December 1922 and starred Jose Collins. This adaptation ran for 240 performances.

The next logical step was a film version.


French postcard by ACE, no. 25. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still of Hans Adalbert Schlettow in Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Robison, 1927).


French postcard by ACE, no. 26. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still of Liane Haid, Sophie Pagay, Hans Adalbert Schlettow and Ida Wüst in Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Robison, 1927).

Foolhardy Swains

In 1927, the Ufa studio produced the German silent film Der letzte Walzer, directed by Arthur Robison and starring Liane Haid, Willy Fritsch and Suzy Vernon.

At AllMovie, Hal Erickson summarizes the plot: "Hans von Schlettow plays the caddish Crown Prince of a mythical European country. Eve willing to sacrifice his honor in favor of a good wine or a pretty girl, the Prince is publicly chastised by his aide, the Count (Willy Fritsch). The two men prepare to fight a duel, whereupon their respective sweethearts, the Princess (Liane Haid) and the Countess (Suzy Vernon), conspire to knock some sense into their foolhardy swains."

The New York Times reviewed the film positively at its US-premiere in 1927: "there is some successful tilting at satire, fun, melodrama and the inevitable romance. This film has a certain charm because it never has to be taken seriously, not even for its type of story, a Teutonic Graustarkian sketch."

The anonymous reviewer adds: "The stage settings and the scenic effects are quite good, especially the sleigh episodes. The players acquit themselves with no little skill, notably Hans von Schlettow as the Crown Prince, Sophie Pepay (sic, Sophie Pagay) as the Queen, Willy Fritsch as Dimitri and Suzy Vernon as the Countess."

Der Letzte Walzer was filmed again as a sound film in 1934 by Georg Jacoby and starring Iván Petrovich, Camilla Horn and Adele Sandrock.

After the war followed two more German screen versions: Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1953) with Eva Bartok, Curd Jürgens and O. E. Hasse, and the TV version Der letzte Walzer (?, 1973) starring Jürgen Feindt, Ivan Rebroff and Marika Rökk.


French postcard by ACE, no. 31. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still of Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Suzy Vernon, Liane Haid, Willy Fritsch and Ida Wüst in Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Robison, 1927).


French postcard by ACE, no. 33. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still of  Hans Adalbert Schlettow and Willy Fritsch in Der letzte Walzer (Arthur Robison, 1927).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), The New York Times, The Guide to Musical Theatre, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Ida Wüst

German actress Ida Wüst (1884 - 1956) was a popular Ufa star in the 1920´s and 1930´s. Die wüste Ida appeared in almost 150 films mostly as cheerful middled-aged women, aunts and intriguers. During the Second World War she only rarely played in films or in the theatre, and in 1945 her career seemed to have reached its end. 


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3528/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick / Terra.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2900/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Endemann / Ufa.

Hosenrollen
Ida Wüst was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1884. There is little known about her childhood. She discovered the world of the theatre quite early and after visiting the lyceum of Frankfurt, she took acting classes from Thessa Klinghammer. At 16, she already had her first theatre engagement at the Stadtheater (City Theater) of Colmar. Later she worked in Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz in Poland) and from 1904 on in Leipzig. In 1907 she became a company member of the Lessing-Theater in Berlin. She developed into a popular actress in comedies and in ´Hosenrollen´ (roles impersonating men in trousers). She had success in the original production of the play Kammermusik (Chamber music) by Heinrich Ilgenstein. Here she met actor Bruno Kastner, who would become her husband from 1913 till 1924 and with whom she started to write screenplays in 1919 for such films as Nur ein Diener/Just A Servant (1919, Erk Lund) and Der König von Paris/The King of Paris (1920, Erik Lund).


German postcard by NPG, no. 821. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


With Bruno Kastner. German postcard by Rotophot, no. 220/1. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

Bruno Kastner
Ida Wüst played her first big film role in the silent serial Tragödie der Liebe/Tragedy of Love (1922-1923, Joe May). One of her next films was a film adaptation of Kammermusik/Chamber Music (1925, Carl Froelich) opposite Henny Porten. Many other roles in silent productions would follow. With her husband Bruno Kastner she starred in Die vertauschte Braut/The Exchanged Bride (1925, Carl Wilhelm) and in Ledige Töchter/The Single Daughters (1926, Carl Boese) she appeared as the mother of Jenny Jugo and Charlotte Ander. Many of her roles were supporting parts or small roles, but she appeared in bigger roles in Heimweh/Homesick (1927, Gennaro Righelli) with Mady Christians, the operetta adaptation Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (1927, Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck) with Harry Liedtke, and Das brennende Herz/The Burning Heart (1929, Ludwig Berger) with Mady Christians.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 165/3, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Wie sag' ich's meinem Mann?/How Shall I Tell My Husband? (1932, Reinhold Schünzel) with Renate Müller.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 492. Photo: publicity still for Fräulein Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1933, Carl Lamac) with Anny Ondra.

Die Wüste Ida
After the introduction of the sound film, Ida Wüst continued her film career successfully. Her nickname in the 1930´s was Die wüste Ida. She appeared in dozens of popular entertainment films like Der Walzerkönig/The Waltz King (1930, Manfred Noa) with Hans Stüwe as Johann Strauss, Zweierlei Moral/Different Morals (1931, Gerhard Lamprecht), Bomben auf Monte Carlo/Bombs Over Monte Carlo (1931, Hanns Schwarz) with Hans Albers, and Man braucht kein Geld/You Don´t Need Money (1932) with Hedwig Kiesler aka Hedy Lamarr. One of the liveliest of these films was the musical Das Lied einer Nacht/The Song of Night (1932, Anatole Litvak) starring Jan Kiepura. Also interesting were Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht/I by Day, You by Night (1932, Ludwig Berger) which featured The Comedian Harmonists, and Lachende Erben/Laughing Inherits (1933, Max Ophüls) starring Lien Deyers. She continued her career successfully during the Third Reich in films like Der Biberpelz/The Beaver Coat (1937, Jürgen von Alten) opposite Heinrich George, and Hauptsache glücklich!/Essentially Happy! (1941, Theo Lingen) with Heinz Rühmann. Meanwhile she also had a stage career which was equally successful. The Second World War broke her career. During the war she only rarely played in films or in the theatre, and in 1945 her career seemed to have reached its end. Her application for denazification was rejected, because she seems to have denounced colleagues like Eduard von Winterstein to the Gestapo. Only in 1949 she received a working permit and in the 1950´s she played some film roles as cheerful middled-aged women, grandmothers and intriguers. She also returned to the theatre, but not as a company member. Ida Wüst died of the effects of a stroke in 1958 in Berlin.


German postcard by Das Programm von Heute / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Cando-Film. Collection: Miss Mertens.


German photocard.


Paul Godwin's Orchestra recorded in 1926 the one-step Meine Tante, deine Tante (My Aunt, Your Aunt). This clip is a tribute to the two most famous aunts of the German cinema: Adele Sandrock and Ida Wüst. Source: Plattensammler88 (YouTube).

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.