WALTZES FROM VIENNA
UK, 1934, 81 minutes, Black and white.
Esmond Knight, Jessie Matthews, Edmund Gwenn, Fay Compton, Frank Vosper, Robert Hale.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
If an audience saw this film without knowing who the director was, they would be very unlikely to name Alfred Hitchcock. In later interviews, he said it was the low point of his career. It is a light musical biography of Johann Strauss Sr and Johann Strauss Jr. (This was done much better in Julien du Vivier’s 1938 The Great Waltz – and more chocolate-box-like in the 1972 film, The Great Waltz, directed by Andrew Marton.)
Hitchcock had achieved a reputation with such films as Blackmail, Murder, Juno and the Paycock. After this film he was to go on to such masterpieces as The 39 Steps.
The film is small-budget, made on very artificial sets. It focuses on a few episodes in the life of the two Strausses, focusing on the senior Strauss with his reputation, his orchestra, his putting down of his son. The focus on the younger Strauss is his ambition, composition, his love for Rasi who worked in a bakery. The putdowns from his father, his decision to work in the bakery. However, the key of the film – which many people smile at or laugh at, is his composition of The Blue Danube by listening to the making of bread and rolls in the bakery. The film culminates in his success with The Blue Danube and his father’s having to admit his son’s gifts – plus some intrigue with a countess who fancies Strauss and manipulates an occasion to bolster his career. The ending has the touch of French farce as everything is resolved.
Esmond Knight is the younger Strauss, Edmond Gwenn is very good as the serious elder Strauss (and was to appear for Hitchcock in The Trouble with Harry). British musical star Jessie Matthews is Rasi and Fay Compton is the countess.
1. This film in the career of Alfred Hitchcock? His own estimation of the film?
2. A small-budget British musical of the 1930s? Jessie Matthews and her reputation?
3. The black and white photography, the sets for Vienna, the ballroom, the bakery, apartments? The background musical score?
4. The blend of the humorous and the serious in looking at the Strausses?
5. The Strauss family, the success of the elder, the ambitions of the younger? The clashes? The reconciliation?
6. Austria in the 19th century, the empire, the aristocracy? The role of musicians? Their reputation? Ordinary people?
7. Johann Strauss Sr, his compositions, the Radetzky March, his orchestra?
8. Johann Strauss Jr, seeing him with Rasi, the songs, his being put down by his father? The encounter with the countess?
9. The opening with the bakery, the fire, the baker and his attempt at rescuing Rasi, climbing up the ladder, climbing down, her losing her skirt, the farcical aspects, her rushing to the shop, the couturier and her alarm, the countess as a customer? The character of the jealous baker?
10. The countess, in herself, her relationship with her husband, her husband as a boor, his verses, his going to Strauss to put them to music, his humiliation? The tension with his wife? Her own compositions?
11. The sequence of the composition of The Blue Danube, Strauss and the tour of the bakery, the rhythms, the sounds, the beats – and his getting the melody?
12. Drexler, the entrepreneur, the countess and her influence, the plan, delaying the senior Strauss, his playing his music? The opportunity for Strauss Jr?
13. Rasi, her work, Strauss going to the bakery, his heart not in it, the jealousy at the bakery? Her jealousy of the countess?
14. Strauss, the performance, the acclaim, Rasi and her moods, his father and his being upset?
15. The farcical ending, going to Strauss’s house, Rasi and her going to him, the countess, her getting out the window? The jealous husband? All’s well that ends well?
16. The senior Strauss and the autograph hunter, his signing Johann Strauss Senior?
