Victor and Victoria (Schünzel, 1933) + Victor/Victoria (Edwards, 1982):
Cinema Museum, 2.30pm
Cinema Museum introduction: A musical double bill featuring the rarely seen original German version, followed by the Julie Andrews classic. Two gender-bending classics that inspired many imitators, but that have rarely been equalled. Victor And Victoria (1933), not screened in the UK for decades and not officially available in this country in any format, is the original movie that inspired not only the Julie Andrews remake, but also the British comedy First a Girl (1935).
Chicago Reader review of Victor And Victoria (1933):
If you’re a consumer of queer and transgender cinema, you may already be
familiar with Blake Edwards’s Julie Andrews-fronted musical Victor/Victoria
(or the 1995 stage musical also fronted by Andrews). But the original
1933 version from German filmmaker Reinhold Schünzel—which tragically
did not get much circulation in the United States at the time—is just as
delightful as its sequin-clad remakes. Susanne (Renate Müller) is an
aspiring entertainer, but can’t seem to get any work despite her
burgeoning talent. Her opportunities explode, however, when she pretends
to be a man doing drag as a woman, but juggling her personal life, her
career, and her various identities becomes overwhelming, especially when
she finds herself falling for her producer, who has only seen her as a
man. Victor and Victoria is charming as a musical comedy, but it
is also a remarkably poignant commentary on the performance—and
illusion—of gender far before the likes of Judith Butler and other
feminist scholars would do the same.
Cody Corrall
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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Chicago Reader review of Victor/Victoria (1982):
Blake Edwards's 1982 sex comedy has the most beautiful range of tones of
any American film of its period: it is a work of dry wit, high
slapstick, black despair, romantic warmth, and penetrating intelligence.
A tale of transvestism in the Paris of the 1930s is used as a study of
socially fixed identities turned gloriously fluid, which Edwards sees as
the only way of surviving in a churning, chaotic world. It is a direct
thematic and stylistic sequel to 10, with the shallow, telescoped
images of the earlier film giving way to deep-focus compositions and a
corresponding shift in interest from beautiful surfaces to soulful
interiors. Very personal and very entertaining, with Julie Andrews,
James Garner, and a brilliant Robert Preston.
Dave Kehr
Here is the trailer.
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