John Barrymore as a Habsburg Archduke reduced to driving a hack, fifteen years after "the Revolution," towers over this rarely shown movie that had a welcome screening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York today. Other pleasures included seeing familiar actors playing against type: Eduardo Ciannelli as the sweet and loyal former valet of the Archduke, Henry Travers as Frank Morgan's dotty but perspicacious father, May Robson as a crude, cigar-chomping hotelier with a heart of gold and red drawers. The premise that the love of one's life can return and the affair will resume even decades later is examined wittily and touchingly in this cinematic version of Robert E. Sherwood's play. The former lovers, Barrymore and Diana Wynyard, are funny, sexy and heartbreaking. Frank Morgan, as the husband, is fine in a thankless role. And the music which contributes to the emotionality of the work is terrific. This little-known film deserves to be released on DVD.
Review of Reunion in Vienna
