The Emperor Waltz

1948
Approved
1h 46m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Joan Fontaine, Bing Crosby, Roland Culver, and Richard Haydn in The Emperor Waltz (1948)

A brash American gramophone salesman tries to get Emperor Franz Joseph's endorsement in turn-of-the-century Austria.A brash American gramophone salesman tries to get Emperor Franz Joseph's endorsement in turn-of-the-century Austria.A brash American gramophone salesman tries to get Emperor Franz Joseph's endorsement in turn-of-the-century Austria.

Director
- Billy Wilder
Writers
- Charles Brackett
- Billy Wilder
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- Billy Wilder
Writers
- Charles Brackett
- Billy Wilder
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 3 nominations total

Trivia
Billy Wilder began shooting this film in 1946, soon after winning an Oscar for The Lost Weekend (1945). That film's great critical reception (and unexpected box-office success) gave Wilder more power and he spent a lot of time and money on this musical (which was his first color film). He was very dissatisfied with the result, however, and the release of the film was extensively delayed, perhaps for re-takes--Wilder liked to say he was hoping to delay its release as long as possible. It opened in Britain a month before its American debut, most unusually, and was a critical and box-office flop. In 1969, he told an interviewer, "I never want to see it again". His next film, A Foreign Affair (1948), opened in America only three months later.

Quotes
Princess Bitotska: The Lafuentes have more of everything. In fact, most of their children were born with eleven fingers.

Connections
Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Melanie Griffith/Little Feat (1988)

Soundtracks
The Kiss in Your Eyes
Music by Richard Heuberger (uncredited)
English Lyrics by Johnny Burke

User reviews27

Review

Featured review

8/10

Delightful and Naive Love Stories

In Austria, the American traveling salesman Virgil Smith (Bing Crosby) arrives in the palace of Emperor Franz-Joseph I (Richard Haydn) with his mongrel dog Button expecting to sell one gramophone to him to promote his sales in the country. However, the guards believe he has a time-bomb and he does not succeed in his intent. When the dog Sheherazade of the widowed Countess Johanna Franziska von Stolzenberg-Stolzenberg (Joan Fontaine) bites Button, Virgil visits her and sooner he falls in love for Johanna and Button for Sheherazade that is promised to breed with the Emperor's dog. When Virgil asks permission to marry Johanna to the Emperor, the nobleman exposes to the salesman that their difference of social classes would doom their marriage and offers a business to Virgil.

"The Emperor Waltz" is a delightful and naive romance of Billy Wilder, with parallel human and canine love stories like the dogs were the alter-egos of their owners. The art direction and the set decoration are amazing, and the scene of the ball is awesome. Joan Fontaine is extremely beautiful and shows a great chemistry with Bing Crosby, but the dog Button steals the movie and is responsible for the funniest moments. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Valsa do Imperador" ("The Emperor Waltz")