mmcgee282 Review of Waltz War

Waltz War (1933)

Early german musical right at the beginning of a dark time

[10/10 · 27 December 2019]

Waltz Krieg means waltz war.This was directed by Jewish film maker Ludwig Burger who was force to flee Germany after 1933.I was not aware that he directed Paramount's first all talking ,all singing ,all dancing Technicolor ," The vagabond King. He also did the lost Sin of the father and the Maurice Chevalier musical,"Playboy of Paris.So it makes you wonder why he went back to Germany.This is suppose to be a Autobiography of Ballet Dancer Katti Lanner ,but it's more fictitious .Paul Horbinger plays her father who runs a beer garden who has a dance orchestra with Willy Fritsch as the drummer and Adolph ,later Anton, Wallbrook as the violist and also write lyrics for waltzes that competes against Horbingers music for waltzes.Renate is in love with Willy and tries to tell her father about it ,but he is busy with his music.Later both Anton and Paul have a heated argument breaking the orchestra up and even breaking Willy and Renate up ,since she side with her father.This what it looks to me.The British court want to bring Queen Victoria,played by Hanna Waag, and Prince Albert played by Heinz Von Cleve, Later Anton would play the same role Twice in the Anna Neagle versions, to get them married. Another Jewish refugee,at least to Hungary, Rosa Barsony plays Ilonka the dancer and later on you find out she runs a restaurant, brings Sir Phillips Royal music director to look for a orchestra who can play at the queens party.He finds Anton orchestra better so he hires him .Angry Renata decides to form her own women's orchestra to follow Anton and Willy,who now broken up with Renata, to England to break up Anton's orchestra.Mayhem incites up there.This version Of Queen Victoria acts like she not a Queen .Even Heinz role as the price you can't take seriously,but this is some what a comedy. When Renate and Willy meet up at the palace,not Ceasar's, they try to hide their fighting with each other in front of the queen, they teach her the waltz the wrong way. Later Renate has Wallbrook arrested so Villy is force to impersonate Anton to lead the orchestra.Once the proposal is set through the orchestra is ask to play something else.It turns out he uses lyrics that were written by Paul and then by Anton on his handkerchief .Both Willy and Renate end up in prison for disturbing the ball and for faking Anton.Paul finds out that his lyrics were used at the ball in which Anton claims he wrote the lyrics and takes Anton to court on a copyrights violation.This breaks up the city of Vienna as the Judges decides who's guilty.In the end both become friends and write the Radley March.One of the early works of Ranate Muller,who later fell off a second story building while drunk or was kick off the building by Nazi guards cause she refuse to do any more propaganda films.Rosy Barsony who took common sense and left Germany before she ended up in a concentration camp.Ludwig Berger who left Germany the second time to protect himself.A worth while classic German film to watch. 12/2719