Once I Loved a Girl in Vienna Review: Sweet, Dusty, and Very Goofy

If you love dusty, crackly operettas where people sing about pastries and heartbreak, Once I Loved a Girl in Vienna is a weirdly charming watch. But if old-school melodrama makes you cringe, you should definetly skip this one. 🥐

The plot is pretty simple. It starts in the sunny, pre-war Austro-Hungarian empire where everyone is happy and dancing.

Then the Great War happens, and everything gets sad and gray.

It is basically a story of two halves, separated by a giant historical mess.

The main guy, played by Erwin van Roy, has this incredibly intense stare. Honestly, sometimes it feels like he is trying to hypnotize the camera rather than act.

There is this one scene in a Vienna cafe where he sings to the heroine, Gretl Theimer.

The song is sweet, but the audio quality is so old-school. It literally sounds like they are singing into a tin can underwater. 🎶

Also, keep an eye on the background extras during this scene.

There is a guy in a big hat who spends about three minutes trying to cut a very tough piece of strudel. He never actually gets a bite, and it is highly distracting.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Once I Loved a Girl in Vienna (1931) through its definitive frames.

It reminds me a little of the musical vibes in Der Evangelimann, but this one does not take itself nearly as seriously.

The transition from the happy pre-war days to the sad post-war era is super abrupt.

One minute they are drinking wine and laughing, and the next, there is a quick montage of explosions and suddenly everyone is wearing tattered coats.

It feels like the director realized they were running out of film and needed to speed things up.

Still, there is a cozy warmth to the whole thing.

It is not a masterpiece like A Woman of Affairs, but it does not try to be.

It just wants to show you some nice people having a tough time but still finding time to hum a tune.

Didja notice?

• That mustache: Hans Junkermann has facial hair that deserves its own credit in the opening titles.
• The waltz scene: One couple in the background definitely bumps into a table and just pretends it did not happen.
• Post-war fashion: Apparently, being poor in 1920s Vienna means wearing a hat that is three sizes too big.

If you are looking for a deep, life-changing experience, look elsewhere.

But if you want a cozy, slightly clunky trip to old Vienna, give it a go.