Even though I have never seen it mentioned anywhere, this outstanding murder mystery / musical made in Austria definitely seems like a remake of the classic Hollywood musical Murder at the Vanities, released a few years earlier in 1934. The plot similarities are obvious: murder occurs during the premier night of a grand scale stage musical and, upon request of the director, the police officer in charge agrees to let the show go on, while they are investigating backstage, solving the case by the end of the show. There are several suspects accused and then dismissed, the possible motives include jealousy involving the main actor and his past and present love affairs and I will not spoil that, but even the motivation and the identity of the culprit is very similar. These are definitely not just accidental similarities as there are just way too many of them.
However there are many differences as well: the background of the main characters is different (ironically in Murder at the Vanities one of the characters is from Austria, where Premiere was made), in the Hollywood version the director does some of the actual detective work instead of the annoying and incapable police officer, while in Premiere the officer does a very good and actually very lifelike detective job, unlike all those amateur sleuths that we usually see at murder mysteries (no wonder the Vienna Police is actually credited for assistance). And the basic tone of the movie is very different as well. Premiere, while still a lighthearted film, has a much more serious tone, while in Vanities the comedy is stronger and it is also know for its extremely risque costumes and dance numbers (being the very last pre-Code musical they really gave it all they could), while here there is nothing like that. The music and the theme of the dance numbers is more typically European / Austrian here and interestingly it is actually Premiere that has better choreography as they did a pretty good job at imitating Busby Berkeley's style, featuring lavish sets and a huge ensemble of dancers.
Both films are great in their own ways, but if I had to pick which one is better... I would probably pick Premiere as it is a very solid effort all-around and also, while clearly based on not just Murder at the Vanities, but also on the popular Hollywood musicals and mysteries of the period in general, it is still distinctively different in approach and tone, making it a very unique film. But on the other hand, Vanities is also unique for its pre-Code role and other reasons... so I would definitely recommend anyone who love either mysteries of musicals of that era to track down both and maybe even watch them as a double feature.
However there are many differences as well: the background of the main characters is different (ironically in Murder at the Vanities one of the characters is from Austria, where Premiere was made), in the Hollywood version the director does some of the actual detective work instead of the annoying and incapable police officer, while in Premiere the officer does a very good and actually very lifelike detective job, unlike all those amateur sleuths that we usually see at murder mysteries (no wonder the Vienna Police is actually credited for assistance). And the basic tone of the movie is very different as well. Premiere, while still a lighthearted film, has a much more serious tone, while in Vanities the comedy is stronger and it is also know for its extremely risque costumes and dance numbers (being the very last pre-Code musical they really gave it all they could), while here there is nothing like that. The music and the theme of the dance numbers is more typically European / Austrian here and interestingly it is actually Premiere that has better choreography as they did a pretty good job at imitating Busby Berkeley's style, featuring lavish sets and a huge ensemble of dancers.
Both films are great in their own ways, but if I had to pick which one is better... I would probably pick Premiere as it is a very solid effort all-around and also, while clearly based on not just Murder at the Vanities, but also on the popular Hollywood musicals and mysteries of the period in general, it is still distinctively different in approach and tone, making it a very unique film. But on the other hand, Vanities is also unique for its pre-Code role and other reasons... so I would definitely recommend anyone who love either mysteries of musicals of that era to track down both and maybe even watch them as a double feature.