User Reviews

"Blossom Time", based on an operetta by Heinrich Berté, deals with a fictitious episode in the life of composer Franz Schubert. Schubert, a schoolmaster and struggling young composer, falls in love with Vicki Wimpassinger, the daughter of his landlord, but she is in love with Count Rudi von Hohenberg, a handsome and dashing young army officer. As an aristocrat, however, Rudi is expected to marry someone of equal status, and the Wimpassingers, although they regard themselves as being a cut above the impoverished Schubert, are several cuts below the von Hohenbergs. (Nineteenth century Austrian society was very insistent upon the principle of "equality of birth" between spouses, much more so than contemporary British society, which saw numerous lords marrying the daughters of wealthy tradesmen).

Now if this story were about a fictitious composer, it would probably end with Vicki falling in love with the young man after discovering that Rudi was only flirting with her in the hope of seducing her (as aristocrats often did with working-class or middle-class girls). That, however, cannot happen here. Every lover of classical music knows that Schubert died a bachelor, and although the scriptwriters were happy to invent a fictitious episode in his life, they were never going to go so far as to give him a fictitious wife. So Rudi turns out to be quite honourable in his intentions towards Vicki, and a way has to be found to bring the two together, involving a self-sacrificing Schubert and the Archduchess Maria Victoria, a member of the Imperial Family.

The film features a lot of Schubert's music and the composer is played by Richard Tauber, a well-known operatic tenor of the day. Today, opera stars are expected to be able to act as well as to sing, but in the early 20th century this was considered less important, and although Tauber had an excellent voice, his acting skills are less evident. He was, however, helped by the fact that he bore a resemblance to Schubert, although he was considerably taller. This is a film which anyone with a love of classical music will enjoy, but anyone without such a love is likely to be disappointed, particularly if they are coming to it hoping for a good story (which is fairly trite) or for good acting (which is very variable). 6/10.