The Congress Dances

In 1931, Hollywood was cooking up escapist musicals to take America's mind off the Depression. In Berlin, they were doing the same thing, and this one is as escapist as they come.

The idea of setting a musical in the Congress of Vienna seems a bit alien, but it's an excuse for some lovely sets and delirious costumes. The music is pleasant, if forgettable, and the story is silly, but the execution is great fun to watch, with more than a whiff of Lubitsch.

The principals are pleasant, the character bits are worth a giggle or three (I swear I saw an uncredited Siegfried Rumann briefly as a Russian), and the technical experimentation is worth a viewing by itself.

At a time when sound cameras were generally nailed to the floor, the director brings the fluidity and swooping camera movements of the silent era to a musical. Herr Charell apparently escaped to Hollywood, where he became a writer, but this was a visually free and exciting film for 1931.

Congress Dances is highly recommended for jaded palates who think they have seen it all. It's a feel-good picture that will leave you smiling.