This last film of director Willi Forst is his melancholy view on a modernizing Vienna and his longing for a more gracious world. He mocks the tourist industry in the Vienna-in-24-hours sequence including a reference to Carol Reed's "The Third Man". There are some other nice ideas in the script, but most of them take too long and/or are not elaborated well-enough; as a whole the writing is mediocre. Fortunately Forst had a fine cast that makes the best of things, although Adrian Hoven's presence is non-descript.
More importantly the film misses the old Schwung,the Forst style, the former light touch of Forst. It is a very uneasy film of a tired and disillusioned man who had lost interest and in whom the audiences had lost any interest. As Forst himself said after completing this film: my style is not wanted anymore, it is better to go than to be asked to leave. The film is a sad Servuß of a very fine director.
More importantly the film misses the old Schwung,the Forst style, the former light touch of Forst. It is a very uneasy film of a tired and disillusioned man who had lost interest and in whom the audiences had lost any interest. As Forst himself said after completing this film: my style is not wanted anymore, it is better to go than to be asked to leave. The film is a sad Servuß of a very fine director.
