Waltzes from Vienna (1934) - film review

Johann Strauss the Younger shares the musical aspirations of his father but he gets no encouragement from that quarter and ends up playing second violin in his father’s orchestra.  He is in love with Risi, a baker’s daughter, who encourages him to persevere.  Countess Helga von Stahl also has ambitions, as a poet, so she requests the young composer to set one of her odes to music.  Johann is inspired to compose a waltz about the Danube, a piece that will earn him instant celebrity and allow him to follow in his father’s footsteps...

Waltzes from Vienna is an often overlooked film in the oeuvre of Alfred Hitchcock, the director’s one and only attempt at a musical comedy.  Hitchcock was dismissive of the film: he loathed making it and would later describe it as the low point of his career.  The only reason he made the film was because his options were limited after the disappointing public reaction to his previous two films – Rich and Strange (1931) and Number Seventeen (1932).

Whilst it certainly isn’t classic Hitchcock, Waltzes from Vienna is not without charm and does show something of the master’s flair for comedy and interesting camerawork.  This just about makes up for the lacklustre performances and mediocre script.  The only notable performance is that of Edmund Gwenn, who plays Johann Strauss the Elder; the actor had previously featured in Hitchcock’s The Skin Game (1931).  The rest of the cast look as if they are performing an end of term review at a frightfully upper class public school, with accents that could slice bread at a distance of fifty paces.

© James Travers 2008

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