GREAT WALTZ - DVD-WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION

Details

• Release Year: 1938
• Genre: Drama, Music, Musical, Romance
• Plot: In 1845 Vienna, Johann Strauss II - Schani to his friends - would rather write and perform waltzes than anything else, this at a time when a waltz is not considered proper society music. After he is fired from his clerical bank job because of his preoccupation with composing, he decides to follow his passion and form an orchestra. After some famed opera singers, including Carla Donner, hear his music, they expose Schani's music to the masses, to royalty and to music publisher Julius Hofbauer. As such, Schani becomes the toast of Vienna. With his new found musical fame, Schani's life, which includes his work in the European Revolutions, changes. He becomes torn for his love for his loving and faithful wife Poldi Vogelhuber and his more emotionally passionate but somewhat destructive love for Carla Donner, who herself is involved with Count Anton Hohenfried. Dazzling? Daring? 'The Great Waltz' may have you searching for ways to describe its great charms. This cinematic rhapsody loosely based on the life of composer Johann Strauss is truly an overlooked gem. To capture what the film calls the spirit of Strauss' music, exquisite craftsmanship is combined with spirited inventiveness. The splendid backlot re-creations of Viennese settings range from convivial biergrtens to ornate palaces. Dimitri Tiomkin's arrangements of Strauss' incredible music (with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) swirl and dive. And the camerawork glides with bravura artistry. Julien Duvivier directs, getting radiant performances from two-time Oscar® winner Luise Rainer ('The Great Ziegfeld' and 'The Good Earth'), Fernand Graver and Oscar® nominated diva Miliza Korjus. Wonderful? Phenomenal? Choose your own description. 'The Great Waltz' won the 1938 Academy Award® for Best Cinematography and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Miliza Korjus) and Best Editing.
• Cast: Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravey, Miliza Korjus, Hugh Herbert, Lionel Atwill, Curt Bois, Leonid Kinskey, Al Shean, Minna Gombell, George Houston, Bert Roach, Greta Meyer, Herman Bing, Alma Kruger, Henry Hull, Sig Ruman, Christian Rub, Ernie Alexander, Zita Baca, Eddie Conrad, Luke Cosgrave, Sidney D'Albrook, Joe De Stefani, Loretta DeLone, George Du Count, Jerry Fletcher, Bess Flowers, Christian J. Frank, Betty Fraunfelder, Ruth Fraunfelder, William Fraunfelder, Arno Frey, Boyd Gilbert, Wesley Giraud, Art Hamburger, Max Hoffman Jr., Hans Joby, Edward Keane, Ben Lewis, Jane Loofbourrow, George Magrill, Albert Mahler, Anthony Marlowe, Frank Mayo, Mira McKinney, John Merton, Torben Meyer, Howard M. Mitchell, Sue Moore, Ferdinand Munier, Russ Powell, The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, Bodil Rosing, Walter Sande, Ralph Sanford, Brent Sargent, Lester Sharpe, Larry Steers, Gertrude Sutton, Phillip Terry, Ellinor Vanderveer, Roland Varno, Paul Weigel, Henry Zynda, Julien Duvivier, Gottfried Reinhardt, Samuel Hoffenstein
• Director: Julien Duvivier
• Runtime: 1:44
• Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• Media Format: Movie