No Time for Flowers ** (1952, Viveca Lindfors, Paul Hubschmid, Ludwig Stössel) – Classic Movie Review 7999

‘Kisses and champagne behind the Iron Curtain.’ Director Don Siegel’s 1952 black and white film No Time for Flowers is a Ninotchka or Comrade X-style comedy, pleasant enough but not as good as either of them. László Vadnay and Hans Wilhelm’s screenplay is sometimes amusing though not always scintillating, but the performances are good, while the location shooting in postwar Vienna, Austria, is a big asset.

Viveca Lindfors stars as Anna Svoboda, a young woman whose loyalty to the Communist Party is tested when she falls for an attache just arrived in Europe from America.

No Time for Flowers also stars Swiss actor Paul Christian [Paul Hubschmid] as Karl Marek, Ludwig Stössel as Papa Svoboda, and Adrienne Gessner as Mama Svoboda. It runs 83 minutes and premiered in New York City on 25 December 1952, with the US release on 31 January 1953.

Siegel recalled that Frank Tuttle was supposed to direct but producer Mort Briskin refused to hire him because Tuttle was diabetic and Briskin thought diabetes was contagious. Briskin did not know that Siegel was diabetic too.

Lindfors also stars in Siegel’s Night Unto Night (1949).

These are the films of Don Siegel: Star in the Night (1945), Hitler Lives (1945), The Verdict (1946), Night Unto Night (1949), The Big Steal (1949), The Duel at Silver Creek (1952), No Time for Flowers (1952), Count the Hours (1953), China Venture (1953), Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), Private Hell 36 (1954), The Blue and Gold (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Crime in the Streets (1956), Spanish Affair (1957), Baby Face Nelson (1957), The Lineup (1958), The Gun Runners (1958), Edge of Eternity (1959), Hound-Dog Man (1959), Flaming Star (1960), Hell Is for Heroes (1962), The Killers (1964), The Hanged Man (1964), Stranger on the Run (1967), Madigan (1968), Coogan’s Bluff (1968), Death of a Gunfighter (1969), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), The Beguiled (1971), Dirty Harry (1971), Charley Varrick (1973), The Black Windmill (1974), The Shootist (1976), Telefon (1977), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Rough Cut (1980) and Jinxed! (1982).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7999

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