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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
You should watch this if you really like the feeling of old cities and people being polite to each other. It is a very sweet movie, almost too sweet, like eating a giant piece of cake for breakfast.
If you hate movies where nothing much happens for twenty minutes at a time, you will probably hate this. It is very much a 'vibes' movie before that was a thing people said.
The whole thing is about the Prater park in Vienna. The title basically tells you that the trees are blooming again, which is a big deal if you are a romantic in 1929. 🌸
Lilian Ellis is in this and she has such a strange, bright energy. She spends a lot of time looking slightly to the left of the camera, which makes her feel like she is actually thinking about something else.
Werner Fuetterer plays the lead guy. He has that very specific 1920s hair that never moves, even when he is walking through a breeze. He's fine, but sometimes he looks like he's trying too hard to be a 'movie star' instead of just a guy in a park.
There is a scene where they are just sitting and looking at the water. It goes on for a long time. I think I checked my phone twice, but then I realized the point was to just sit there with them.
It isn't like The Enemy where there is all this heavy drama and war stuff. This is just... people. Living. In a park.
The director, E.W. Emo, seems really obsessed with the trees. There are so many shots of branches. I get it, they are blooming, but maybe we didn't need the tenth shot of a leaf? 🍃
I did like the way the light hits the costumes though. Everything looks very textures and real, even if the acting is a bit 'big' because it’s a silent film.
There is this one bit with a carriage ride. The camera just sits there on the back of the carriage. You can see the horses' heads bobbing up and down in the corner of the frame.
It feels very personal, like you are actually sitting in the back seat and eavesdropping. It reminded me a bit of the outdoor stuff in Sirens of the Sea, but with more clothes on.
The crowd scenes are actually pretty good too. You see these old ladies in the background who aren't even actors. They are just there, wondering why a camera is pointed at a man in a fancy suit.
One guy in the background of a cafe scene is eating soup and he looks so miserable. I spent about five minutes just watching him instead of the main characters.
The movie gets much better once they stop trying to be 'dramatic' and just let the city be the main character. Vienna looks like a dream here.
Since this was right at the end of the silent era, it has this weird feeling of wanting to be a sound movie. You can almost hear the music they are talking about in the titles.
It’s not as intense as something like The Solitary Sin which is all about morals. This movie doesn't care about morals. It just wants you to feel happy about springtime.
Some of the editing is a bit clunky. A shot will end about three seconds after it should have, leaving the actors just standing there waiting for someone to yell 'cut'. It makes it feel human, though.
I noticed a dog in one scene that looks very confused. It just wanders across the path while the leads are having a 'moment'. I hope that dog got a treat.
Is it a masterpiece? No. Probably not. It’s more like a nice lunch that you forget about a week later but enjoyed while you were eating it.
It feels a bit like Social Ambition in the way people are trying to climb up the ladder, but it’s much more relaxed about it.
The ending is exactly what you think it will be. There are no surprises here. But sometimes you don't want a surprise; you just want to see some trees bloom and some people kiss.
If you have some time to kill and you want to feel like you've traveled back to 1929 without the jet lag, give it a go. Just don't expect a thriller. 🎡
It’s a fine way to spend ninety minutes if you’re in the right mood. If you're tired, you'll probably fall asleep, but you'll have very nice dreams about Austria.
IMDb 6.5
1928
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