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The Emperor Waltz (1947)

Director: Billy Wilder

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From Time Out Film Guide

Generally reckoned to be Wilder's worst movie, as thick a slice of sachertorte as ever served - even Lubitsch would have thrown up. One of Wilder's favourite themes - the confrontation between New and Old World values - is given an early airing with Crosby's phonograph salesman washing up in a mythical mittel-European kingdom, where he sets about usurping Strauss with a clambake. Fontaine is a countess and there's a dodgy romance as well. There are acres of wasted space, yet occasionally this movie bursts into life, and the whole thing is tinged with a postwar nostalgia for a Europe that has been snuffed out. Oh yes, Wilder prefigured Antonioni by having the hills dyed a nicer shade of green.

Author: ATu

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Billy Wilder

Producer: Charles Brackett

Cast: Bing Crosby, Joan Fontaine, Richard Haydn, Roland Culver, Lucile Watson, Sig Ruman full cast

Genre(s): Musicals

Duration: 106 mins


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