Goodnight, Vienna

Goodnight, Vienna
Directed by Herbert Wilcox
Produced by Herbert Wilcox
Written by Eric Maschwitz
Starring Jack Buchanan
Anna Neagle
Gina Malo
Music by Tony Lowry
Harry Perritt
Cinematography Freddie Young
Edited by Michael Hankinson
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
 28 March 1932
Running time
 75 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £23,000[1]

Goodnight, Vienna is a 1932 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Jack Buchanan, Anna Neagle and Gina Malo.[2] Two lovers in Vienna are separated by the First World War, but are later reunited.

Based on a radio operetta written by Eric Maschwitz, it features the song "Good-night, Vienna". Wilcox reportedly cast Neagle, whom he would later marry and direct in many films, after discovering her by chance in a stage show.[3]

Plot

Max is an Austrian officer in the army and son of a highly placed general. His father wants him to marry a Countess but he has fallen in love with Vicki. Attending a party given in his honour, they are informed that war has broken out. Max writes a note to Vicki and goes off to war. Unfortunately the note is lost. Some time after the war, Max is just a shoe shop assistant while Vicki is now a famous singer. They meet and at first she snubs him but then falls in love with him again.

Cast

Production

Herbert Wilcox was played the scored by Eric Maschwitz and George Ponsford. He liked it and bought the rights. Within a week Wilcox persuaded Jack Buchanan to play the lead. He wanted Lea Seidl or Evelyn Lane to play the female lead but neither was available. He went to tell Buchanan that the film was going to be postponed; Buchanan was playing in a show Stand Up and Sing with Anna Neagle. Wilcox was impressed by Neagle and cast her at a fee of £150. The film was shot in three weeks before Buchanan had to leave to appear in Stand Up and Sing at Liverpool. During the making of the film, Wilcox and Neagle fell in love[1]

Reception

The film was Wilcox's most commercially successful until that time.[1]

Cultural References

  • In the TV Series Rising Damp the lead character Rigsby often puts his cat Vienna out with the phase Goodnight, Vienna
  • The phrase is used in the TV Movie Housewife, 49 when someone passes away
  • Goodnight Vienna is the title of the fourth album by ex-Beatle Ringo Starr

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 Wilcox, Herbert (1967). Twenty Five Thousand Sunsets. South Brunswick. pp. 90–91.
  2. ↑ IMDB
  3. ↑ Street p.165
Bibliography
  • Street, Sarah. British National Cinema. Routledge, 2009.


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