Vienna, City of Song

This film was shot in Ufa-Ateliers Neubabelsberg, intermittently from late January 1930 through early March of the same year. In all, the shooting added up to 15 days.On March 24th 1930, the Censors (Filmprüfstelle Berlin) authorize it for projection (document: B. 25457, Jf).Richard Oswald’s first full sound film, it premiered on April 3rd 1930.Breaking with the then popular wine, women and song genre by filling most of the main roles with leading stars from Berlin’s cabaret scene (in particular Max Ehrlich, Siegfried Arno, Paul Morgan and Paul Graetz), this film immediately met with enormous public acclaim.Steffi is in love with the unemployed musician Pepi. Still, her father the musical instrument retailer, Ignaz Korn, wants her to marry one of his card playing buddies, the butcher Burgstaller.When the typesetter, Cäsar Grün, purposely misprints a winning lottery number in the newspaper, Korn and Burgstaller, thinking they have won, pay the drinks for everybody in the Bock Café and then give away their businesses.Once the misprint is corrected, there is great disappointment and despair. However, in the end, orderly relationships are re-established on all sides …and, back at the musical instrument shop, Pepi and Steffi are sitting together blissfully, their wedding announcement in hand.