THE GREAT WALTZ

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CREDITS

1938, 102 minutes, B&W.
Producer, Bernard Hyman; Director, Julien Duvivier; Screenplay, Walter Reisch, Samuel Hoffenstein and Gottfried Reinhardt; Cinematography, Joseph Ruttenberg; Music Direction, Dimitri Tiomkin; Editing, Tom Held.

CAST

Poldi Vogelhuber, Luise Rainer; Johann Strauss, Fernand Gravet; Carla Donner, Miliza Korjus; Hofbauer, Hugh Herbert; Count Hohenfried, Lionel Atwill; Kienzel, Curt Bois; Dudelman, Leonid Kinsky; Cellist, Al Shean; Mrs. Hofbauer, Minna Gombell; Schiller, George Houston.

SONGS

Tales from the Vienna Woods; Voices of Spring; Du und Du; The Bat; I'm In Love with Vienna; One Day When We Were Young; Revolutionary March; There'll Come a Time by Johann Strauss; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"The film, which begins in Vienna in 1845, loses no time in showing the Waltz King (Fernand Gravet) winning fame at Dommeyer's Restaurant, then spends most of the footage on the composer's infatuation with a colotura soprano (Miliza Korjus) that almost wrecks his marriage."
- Stanley Green, Hollywood Musicals, Year By Year

NOTES

". . .a visual as well as an aural delight, and a brilliant, if at times schmaltzy, evocation of waltz-mad Vienna with its opulent ballrooms and song-filled biergartens."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Should click nicely, but in these swingaroo days the waltz part may slow down anticipated b.o. enthusiasm."
- Variety

"A film to set the feet itching, and to make you want to grab a partner and join in."
- Film Weekly

"The passion of Johann Strauss according to MGM. Fernand Gravet - talented enough in French films - seems horror-stricken and depressed as Strauss, and Luise Rainer, as his sniffling, suffering wife, and the soprano Miliza Korjus, as the other woman, are not exactly cures for melancholia . .a big, overdressed bore. . ."
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS:
Supporting Actress - Miliza Korjus
Film Editing

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER:
Cinematography

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