The Blue Danube (1932 film)

1932 British film by Herbert Wilcox

The Blue Danube

Original French poster

Directed by| Herbert Wilcox
Written by| Miles Malleson
Based on| story
by Doris Zinkeisen
Produced by| Herbert Wilcox
Starring|

* Brigitte Helm
* Joseph Schildkraut
* Dorothy Bouchier

Cinematography| Freddie Young
Edited by| Michael Hankinson
Music by| Alfred Rode

Production
companies

* Gaumont-British Picture Corporation
* British & Dominions Film Corporation

Distributed by| Woolf & Freedman Film Service (UK)

Release date

* 11 January 1932 (1932-01-11) (London)

Running time

| 72 minutes
Country| United Kingdom
Language| English

The Blue Danube is a 1932 British romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Brigitte Helm, Joseph Schildkraut and Desmond Jeans.[1] Its plot, based on a short story by Doris Zinkeisen, concerns a Hungarian gypsy who leaves his girlfriend for a countess, but soon begins to suffer heartache.[2][3] The Blue Danube was made in both English and German-language versions.

## Plot

[edit]

In a Hungarian gypsy encampment, carefree Sandor ives with his beautiful sweetheart Yutka. Into their lives rides a blonde countess, with whom Sandor becomes infatuated.

Yutka soon flees from her faithless lover. Sandor roams the country, searching for his lost love, but finds her too late — she now wears furs and has her own aristocratic love—and Sandor returns heartbroken to his Romany encampment.

## Cast

[edit]

* Chili Bouchier as Yutka
* Brigitte Helm as Countess Gabriella Kovacs
* Joseph Schildkraut as Sandor
* Desmond Jeans as Johann
* Alfred Rode and His Royal Tzigane Band as Gypsy Band
* Patrick Ludlow as Companion
* Léonide Massine as Dancer (credited as Masine and Nikitina)
* Nikitina as Dancer

## Production

[edit]

Herbert Wilcox later wrote in his memoirs that he made the film because he was frustrated from making a series of photographed stage plays. He wanted to make a "talking that did not talk - and without subtitles. Music, of course, was to be a dominant substitute for words or text".[4] He decided to make a film with minimal dialogue.

## Critical reception

[edit]

Wilcox claims the reviews he received were among the worst of his career. However he said the film recovered its cost from screening in Australia alone.[5]

In contemporary reviews, Frank Nugent in The New York Times wrote, "The chief merit of "Blue Danube," a British film now showing at the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse, is its presentation of Alfred Rode and his Royal Tzigany Band, a group of eighteen Hungarian gypsy musicians. They play the famous Strauss waltz, some melodies by Liszt and a guitar song of Mr. Rode's composition. Not being a music critic, nor possessing one's technical vocabulary, this corner must be content to report that the selections are played in a manner that sets one's blood to pounding. But Mr. Rode and his band are not all the story of 'Blue Danube.' To be exact, they are little of it, and the rest is a sorry tale of poor editing, incoherence and an overwrought performance by Joseph Schildkraut." The critic concluded that "there is nothing in the film's acting, direction or tempo to arouse enthusiasm."[6]

The Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as "very dated" and that it "must not be looked on as a typical example of Herbert Wilcox's production". The review concluded that neither the sound or photography were "up to modern standards".[7]

More recently, TV Guide called it a "plodding Gypsy musical."[8]

## References

[edit]

### Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Review: 'The Blue Danube'." IMDb. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.
2. ^ "Film details: 'The Blue Danube, A Rhapsody' (1932)." BFI, 16 April 2009. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.
3. ^ Low 1997, pp. 145, 296.
4. ^ Wilcox p 138
5. ^ Wilcox p 139
6. ^ Nugent, Frank. "Movie review: Romany Romance." The New York Times, 6 November 1934. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.
7. ^ Y.M.D. "Blue Danube, The." Monthly Film Bulletin| (British Film Institute), Volume 5, Issue 49, 1938, p. 196.
8. ^ "Review: 'Blue Danube'." TV Guide. Retrieved: 30 August 2016.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Low, Rachael. The History of British Film, Volume VII. London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 978-0-4156-0493-2.

## External links

[edit]

* The Blue Danube at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films by Herbert Wilcox

As director|

* Chu-Chin-Chow (1923)
* Southern Love (1924)
* Decameron Nights (1924)
* The Only Way (1926)
* Nell Gwyn (1926)
* London (1926)
* Tip Toes (1927)
* Madame Pompadour (1927)
* Mumsie (1927)
* Dawn (1928)
* The Bondman (1929)
* The Woman in White (1929)
* The Loves of Robert Burns (1930)
* The Chance of a Night Time (1931)
* Carnival (1931)
* The Blue Danube (1932)
* Goodnight, Vienna (1932)
* Money Means Nothing (1932)
* The Little Damozel (1933)
* Bitter Sweet (1933)
* Yes, Mr Brown (1933)
* The Queen's Affair (1934)
* Nell Gwyn (1934)
* Peg of Old Drury (1935)
* This'll Make You Whistle  (1936)
* Three Maxims (1936)
* London Melody (1937)
* Limelight (1937)
* Victoria the Great (1937)
* Sixty Glorious Years  (1938)
* Nurse Edith Cavell (1939)
* Irene (1940)
* No, No, Nanette (1940)
* Sunny (1941)
* They Flew Alone (1942)
* Forever and a Day (1943)
* Yellow Canary (1943)
* I Live in Grosvenor Square  (1945)
* Piccadilly Incident  (1946)
* The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947)
* Spring in Park Lane (1948)
* Elizabeth of Ladymead  (1948)
* Maytime in Mayfair (1949)
* Odette (1950)
* Into the Blue (1950)
* The Lady with a Lamp (1951)
* Derby Day (1952)
* Trent's Last Case (1952)
* Laughing Anne (1953)
* Trouble in the Glen (1954)
* Lilacs in the Spring (1954)
* King's Rhapsody (1955)
* My Teenage Daughter (1956)
* These Dangerous Years (1957)
* The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1958)
* Wonderful Things! (1958)
* The Lady Is a Square (1959)
* The Heart of a Man (1959)

Producer only|

* The Wonderful Story (1922)
* Flames of Passion (1922)
* Paddy the Next Best Thing (1923)
* A Peep Behind the Scenes (1929)
* When Knights Were Bold (1929)
* Black Waters (1929)
* Splinters (1929)
* Rookery Nook (1930)
* Wolves (1930)
* Warned Off (1930)
* On Approval (1930)
* Plunder (1930)
* Tons of Money (1930)
* The Speckled Band (1931)
* Almost a Divorce (1931)
* Up for the Cup (1931)
* Mischief (1931)
* A Night Like This (1932)
* Life Goes On (1932)
* The Mayor's Nest (1932)
* Thark (1932)
* The Love Contract (1932)
* Leap Year (1932)
* The Flag Lieutenant (1932)
* Say It with Music (1932)
* The Barton Mystery (1932)
* The King's Cup (1933)
* Discord (1933)
* One Precious Year (1933)
* The Blarney Stone (1933)
* Lord of the Manor (1933)
* It's a King (1933)
* Summer Lightning (1933)
* Purse Strings (1933)
* That's a Good Girl (1933)
* Up for the Derby (1933)
* Just My Luck (1933)
* Trouble (1933)
* Night of the Garter (1933)
* Sorrell and Son (1933)
* Faces (1934)
* Lucky Loser (1934)
* It's a Cop (1934)
* General John Regan (1934)
* Girls, Please! (1934)
* Up to the Neck (1934)
* The King of Paris (1934)
* Lilies of the Field (1934)
* Brewster's Millions (1935)
* Escape Me Never (1935)
* Come Out of the Pantry (1935)
* Fame (1936)
* The Frog (1937)
* The Rat (1937)
* The Return of the Frog (1938)
* A Royal Divorce (1938)
* No Parking (1938)
* Blondes for Danger (1938)
* The Beggar's Opera (1953)
* Yangtse Incident (1957)
* The Navy Lark (1959)

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