Review: Waltzes From Vienna
The story of Johann Strauss (Esmond Knight), who starts off as a violinist in the symphony (and shadow) of his demanding same-named father (Edmund Gwenn). His father is a musical traditionalist who sees nothing in his son’s emotive playing, whilst Strauss the Younger’s girlfriend (Jessie Matthews) wants him to work at her father’s bakery and do away with this musical nonsense. She’s also a touch jealous of Strauss’ rich benefactor (Fay Compton). Frank Vosper turns up as Compton’s husband, an Austrian prince. In order to get me to endure a musical, I usually either have to be a fan of the director or it needs to be a biopic about a musician. This relatively obscure 1934 film happens to be both. The only musical Alfred Hitchcock ( “Strangers on a Train” , “Vertigo” , “Psycho” , “Frenzy” ) ever made, it’s a biopic of Johann Strauss. Sadly, it’s nothing to really write home about. It plays very much like a film that any director could’ve made, and the work of a director just kil...