Annie Rosar Movies

Felix Bressart, later one of the most delightful members of the Ernst Lubitsch "stock company," plays the title character in the Austrian comedy Hirsekorn Greift Ein (Hirsekorn Does Something About It). It's a typical worm-turns affair, as a mild-mannered provincial actor ends up working as a chauffeur for a scatterbrained female novelist. Slapstick is the order of the day, except in the scenes involving heroine Charlotte Susa. Guiding the actors through their paces was Rudolf Bernauer, a stage actor-manager of vast experience. Critics in 1931 felt that Hirsekorn Greift Ein was too thin to be stretched to 90 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Franciska "Francy" Gall was still delightfully in her "gamine" mode when she starred in Kleine Mutti (Little Mommy). The star plays a schoolgirl who runs into nothing but trouble when she finds an abandoned baby on the steps of an orphanage. Almost immediately, Gaal is presumed to be the mother of the child, which earns her instant dismissal from her school. Penniless, she takes a room in a fancy hotel, intending to beat the bill at the end of the week, giving her enough time to find a proper home for the baby. The hotel doctor, assuming Gaal is rich, chastises the girl for her "selfishness" in failing to care for the infant herself and forces her to leave with the kid in tow. Forced to take a job selling vacuum cleaners, our heroine runs into more problems at the home of a rich banker, who huffily assumes that she is his son's mistress?and on it goes until the happy ending, which comes as much of a relief to Gaal as to the audience. Kleine Mutti was directed by Herman Kosterlitz, who as "Henry Koster" directed several Deanna Durbin pictures in the late 1930s-early 1940s (many of which owed a great deal to Kosterlitz' earlier Francy Gaal vehicles). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Im Schnee (Peter in the Snow) top-bills Traudl Stark in the title role. Despite her character name, Stark was certifiably female, and for a brief period she was considered Germany's answer to Shirley Temple. This entry in Stark's "Peter" series finds the little girl helping to patch up the broken marriage of her Aunt Doris (Liane Hald). Peter's efforts are nearly thwarted by Doris' divorce lawyer, who covets his share of a huge settlement. The plot is resolved in a tiny Alpine cabin, with all the adult characters darting in and out in the manner of a frantic French farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unsterbliche Melodien (Immortal Melodies) is one of a myriad of European films based on the life and career of composer Johann Strauss. When the audience is first introduced to Strauss (Alfred Jerger) in this version, he is a middle-aged widower on the verge of taking a second wife, an ambitious young ballerina named Lily Dietrich (Lilly Hozcruh). Soon afterward, Strauss realizes that the marriage was a mistake, while the woman he should have married, Maria Geistinger (Maria Paudler), disconsolately heads to a new life in America. Fortunately, Strauss and Maria are able to find lasting happiness at film's end, while the composer's "immortal melodies" are heard on the soundtrack. Opera star Leo Slezak (Walter's father) is third-billed as Haslinger, while the orchestrations are provided by the Philharmonic Society of Vienna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Little Melody from Vienna (Kleine Melodie aus Wien) focuses on the plight of war widow Maria Andergast. Having lost her home, the heroine is amenable to the suggestion that she rent two rooms in the home of professor Paul Hoerbiger. At first, the prof resents the intrusion of the widow into his well-ordered existence. Eventually, and right on cue, he weakens his resolve and falls in love with his pretty tenant. All of this is set to the lilting music of Robert Stolz, including such deathless compositions as "Three Brownies". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway tells Martins that the late Harry Lime was a thief and murderer, the loyal Martins is at first outraged. Gradually, he discovers not only that Calloway was right but also that the man lying in the coffin in the film's early scenes was not Harry Lime at all--and that Lime is still very much alive (he was the mysterious "third man" at the scene of the fatal accident). Thus the stage is set for the movie's famous climactic confrontation in the sewers of Vienna--and the even more famous final shot, in which Martins pays emotionally for doing "the right thing." Written by Graham Greene, The Third Man is an essential classic, made even more so by the insistent zither music of Anton Karas. The film is currently available in both an American and British release version; the American print, with an introduction by Joseph Cotten, is slightly shorter than the British version, which is narrated by director Carol Reed. Nominated for several Academy Awards, The Third Man won Best Cinematography for Robert Krasker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Appropriately, the title of this nostalgic Austrian musical translates to Vienna, As it Was. The story concerns a wealthy father who hopes to wean his spoiled son from his wastrel ways. To teach the boy a lesson, dad sells his business short, plunging his family into destitution. The boy straightens up and flies right in a hurry, allowing father to buy back his business at a tidy profit. Many of the nonmusical scenes in Verklungenes Wien play like something out of an old, musty operetta, and as such couldn't have meant much to American audiences in 1951. The music, however, is very pleasant and easy to take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eva (Susi Nicolette) is a Viennese shopgirl who inherits "Paradise." More specifically, she falls heir to a resort hotel that has definitely seen better days. Despite the opposition of a rival female hotelier (who, of course, holds all the aces legally and financially), Eva vows to renovate her hotel and make it a winning proposition. This extends to hiring "bathing beauties" (who are neither good-looking nor swim) as waitresses and engaging the services of a seedy jazz band. In true comic-opera fashion, goodness prevails. Eva Erbt das Paradies bears faint echoes of all those hokey prewar Viennese musicals, with a soupcon of postwar realism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide