Slideshow
VICTOR AND VICTORIA
(Original 1933 German Version)
Now Streaming
MUST END THURSDAY, AUGUST 27
FILM FORUM EXCLUSIVE: PIONEERS OF QUEER CINEMA
Leontine Sagan’s MÄDCHEN IN UNIFORM
VICTOR AND VICTORIA (ORIGINAL 1933 GERMAN VERSION)
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s MICHAEL
Rent all 3 for $15 from Kino Now. 10-day rental.
MUST END THURSDAY, AUGUST 27
Director Reinhold Schünzel
Cast Renate Müller, Hermann Thimig
Screenplay Reinhold Schünzel
Cinematography Konstantin Irmen-Tschet
1933 | Germany | Approx. 84 min. | German, with English subtitles
(1933) In writer-director Reinhold Schünzel’s musical comedy, out-of-work music hall singer Renate Müller partners with down-and-out thespian Hermann Thimig to revamp her act. Pretending to be a man performing in drag, “Monsieur Victoria” becomes the toast of the international stage. But she soon finds that her playful bending of genders entangles her personal and professional life.
Produced in the final days of pre-Nazi Germany, Victor and Victoria received limited exposure in the U.S., and is today best known by Blake Edwards’s 1982 remake with Julie Andrews and the 1995 Broadway production. Schünzel’s original version is every bit as charming and outrageous, reminiscent of the sly sex comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder.
Presented with support from the R.G. Rifkind Foundation Endowment for Queer Cinema.
A KINO LORBER RELEASE
Reviews
“Delightful German original… light-hearted, atmospheric.”
– Brian Baxter, Radio Times
“Economic desperation and queer deception duet in Reinhold Schünzel’s Weimar-era musical comedy… a must-see for drag and lieder enthusiasts alike.”
– Caroline Golum, Screen Slate