“‘Waltzes from Vienna’ gave me many opportunities for working out ideas in the relation of film and music. Naturally every cut in the film was worked out on the script before shooting began. But more than that, the musical cuts were worked out too.” – Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock’s run of cinematic oddities continued in 1934 with “Waltzes from Vienna,” a film that in some ways echoes the light romantic comedies of Ernst Lubitsch, although it’s easy to imagine that Hitch was not really at ease with this type of film. While it’s light and breezy, Hitch doesn’t carry things off well enough to make it a great movie.
The story is simple enough: Johann Strauss the younger, played by Esmond Knight, is a struggling musician, playing in his father’s orchestra and trying to 
find his voice as a composer. He is in love with Rasi (Jessie Matthews), a baker’s daughter, and finds a patron in the Countess Helga von Stahl; his father, Johann Strauss the elder, played by Edmund Gwenn, has no faith in his son’s music, but Rasi and the Countess encourage him. Unfortunately, Rasi becomes jealous of the Countess’s attentions, even as young Strauss makes progress in his work.
On the eve of a fete, the Countess colludes with Strauss senior’s assistant to 
keep the maestro away long enough for his son to conduct the orchestra in playing his composition, “The Blue Danube.” The crowd loves it, but when Strauss senior learns what has happened, he becomes angry. Meanwhile, Rasi is convinced that Strauss junior is in love with the Countess, while the Countess’s husband is out to defend his wife’s honor.
The situation is straightened out, finally, as farces always do, through silly deceptions and not quite plausible explanations, and everyone ends up happy.
Reportedly, Hitchcock made this film only because he didn’t have anything else in mind at the time; it’s as close as he ever got to a true musical, although virtually all the music is variations on “The Blue Danube.” There are some very nice moments of slapstick, especially at the beginning, where Hitch shows off his gift for timing. On the other hand, Rasi’s lack of understanding of what it means for her boyfriend to have a patron is strange. Her jealously is decidedly modern, and the fact that the person she’s jealous of is a Countess doesn’t seem to matter to her.
Theatrical poster from France, where the movie was released under the name "Le Chant de Danube"
When Hitchcock spoke to Francois Truffaut in the early 1960s, “Waltzes from Vienna” was a lost movie, but it’s surfaced since; it’s one of the few comedies directed by Hitchcock, and relies on music more than almost any of his pictures (although the 1956 version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” is a close second).
Speaking of which, the next movie I’ll be looking at will be the original version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” starring Peter Lorre, Nova Pilbeam and others.
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