Great Waltz, The (1938)
Directed by Julien Duvivier, with a screenplay by Samuel Hoffenstein (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)) and Walter Reisch that was based on a story by Gottfried Reinhardt, this fictionalized biography-drama of Vienna's Johann 'Schani' Strauss II features Fernand Gravet (aka Gravey) as the prolific composer, who is perhaps best known for his waltz The Blue Danube aka "On the Beautiful Blue Danube". Several of Strauss’s compositions, waltzes and operas, were given lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (The Lady Objects (1938)) for Gravet and/or Miliza Korjus as opera singer Carla Donner, from Budapest, to perform. The operatic Korjus earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for her film debut which was also (effectively) her only movie role. Luise Rainer plays Strauss’s delicate yet not too fragile wife Poldi (née Vogelhuber); she apparently tolerated her husband's indiscretions like his affair with Carla, depicted in this film. Cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg won his first Oscar (on his first nomination) for his swirling camera work and Tom Held’s Editing was also nominated.
Quirky Hugh Herbert plays Strauss’s music publisher Julius Hofbauer, Lionel Atwill plays Count Anton 'Tony' Hohenfried who covets Carla, Leonid Kinskey plays Dudelman, Herman Bing plays the proprietor Otto Dommayer who first gave Strauss a chance to play his music in public, Alma Kruger plays Strauss’s mother (Poldi’s understanding mother-in-law), Henry Hull plays Franz Josef, who would become Emperor of Austria after the uprising during which this film's story shows he'd encountered Strauss, Sig Rumann plays the banker who fires the future composer at the beginning of the story, and Christian Rub plays the coachman who (in this movie, at least) helped Johann and Carla compose the recognizable "Tales from the Vienna Woods", also during the Austrian revolution.
Most Recent Additions:
Casanova Brown (1944) - full review!
I Want You (1951) - full review!
A Bill of Divorcement (1932) - full review!
Patterns (1956) - full review!
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) - full review!
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) - full review!
Hour of the Gun (1967) - full review!
To Sir, with Love (1967) - full review!
You'll Never Get Rich (1941) - full review!
The Actress (1953) - full review!
Mannequin (1937) - full review!
All My Sons (1948) - full review!
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) - full review!
State Fair (1945) - full review!
Billy Budd (1962) - full review!
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) - full review!
The Bachelor Party (1957) - full review!
The Glenn Miller Story (1954) - full review!
The Southerner (1945) - full review!
The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)
Never on Sunday (1960) - full review!
The Arrangement (1969) - full review!
A Summer Place (1959) - full review!
Miracle in the Rain (1956) - full review!
Love Letters (1945) - full review!
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) - full review!
The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Come and Get It (1936) - full review!
The Prize (1963) - full review!
This Is the Army (1943) - full review!
Home from the Hill (1960) - full review!
Hangmen Also Die (1943) - full review!
The Shop on Main Street (1965) - full review!
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) - full review!
A Gathering of Eagles (1963) - full review!
This Happy Breed (1944) - full review!
Red-Headed Woman (1932) - full review!
Waterloo Bridge (1931) - full review!
Baby Face (1933) - full review!
Titanic (1943) - full review!
Cover Girl (1944) - full review!
Saratoga Trunk (1945) - full review!
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Young Philadelphians (1959) - full review!
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Pocket Money (1972) - full review!
Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)
Judge Priest (1934) - full review!
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) - full review!
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Angel Face (1952) - full review!
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) - full review!
Dallas (1950) - full review!
Springfield Rifle (1952) - full review!
Gaslight (1940) - full review!
The Gazebo (1959) - full review!
Passage to Marseille (1944) - full review!
The House on 56th Street (1933) - full review!
Annie Get Your Gun (1950) - full review!
[Home] [Hitchcock] [Oscar's Best] [Essays] [Essential Films] [TCM Picks] [Obscure Films] [Links] [Other Reviews] [Academy Awards] [Silent Films] [Movie Index]
