The Emperor Waltz (1948)

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Charles Brackett (written by)
Billy Wilder (written by)

Release Date:

2 July 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Paramount's Crowning Entertainment Achievement! Bing's Best Songs!

Plot:

A brash American gramophone salesman tries to get Emporer Franz Joseph's endorsement in turn-of-the-century Austria.

Plot Keywords:

Endorsement | Gramophone | Traveling Salesman | Flashback | Social

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Virgil Smith
Joan Fontaine	...	Johanna Augusta Franziska
Roland Culver	...	Baron Holenia
Lucile Watson	...	Princess Bitotska
Richard Haydn	...	Emperor Franz-Josef
Harold Vermilyea	...	Chamberlain
Sig Ruman	...	Dr. Zwieback
Julia Dean	...	Archduchess Stephanie
Bert Prival	...	Chauffeur
Alma Macrorie	...	Inn Proprietress
Roberta Jonay	...	Chambermaid
John Goldsworthy	...	Obersthofmeister

Runtime:

106 min | Argentina:110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (2006) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Although it is never mentioned by name, the company Bing Crosby represents in the film is Radio Corporation of America or RCA.

Quotes:

Isabella: Who is he?
Elderly nobleman: The most vulgar, impossible, obnoxious, ill-mannered...
Princess Bitotska: In one word, he's an American!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Edith Head: The Paramount Years (2002) (V)

An underrated gem, a true hidden treasure

"The Emperor Waltz" is an underrated jewel, a true hidden treasure by the great Billy Wilder. The basic idea of the movie is authentic comic genius, Wilder's trade-mark superb wit: two parallel funny love stories, a canine one, of a dog with a blitch, and a human one, of the straightforward American guy Virgil (Bing Crosby) with the haughty Austrian Countess Johanna Augusta Franziska (Joan Fontaine), the respective masters of the pets.

Virgil is a commercial traveller: his stubborn attempts to sell gramophones to (no less a person than) the Emperor Franz-Josef are irresistibly comic. And then the Countess' blitch is the predestined partner of the Emperor's dog, and so she needs to be treated with extreme care (including sessions of psychoanalysis): all the hopes of the over-noble but impoverished family of the Holena von Shwartzemberg-Shwartzemberg lie in her paws... But it's all too funny to be described: see the movie and enjoy yourself.

The funny, gently mocking reconstruction of the Austrian Court and of its rituals at the beginning of the 20th century is stunning. The delightful subtleties are uncountable: see the gentry play lawn-tennis, and the footmen in white gloves who present the tennis-balls on a silver tray...

All the actors make an excellent job, and there are no words to praise enough Richard Haydn as Emperor Franz-Josef. The cinematography, in bright, cheerful colors, is accurate and evocative. The costumes and the locations are magnificent. The film was intended to be a musical: however, we find in it just a pair of nice songs and a rather short ballet. I consider it a further merit of the movie: I'm not much fond of musicals.

I highly recommend "The Emperor Waltz", a praiseworthy issue of Wilder's magic wit and talent.