Hitchcock | Waltzes from Vienna (1934)

Waltzes from Vienna (1934)
written by Alma Reville and Guy Bolton, based on a play by H. Reichert, A.M. Willner and Ernst Marischka

Until last year, this had only been available as a bootleg recording from a French TV broadcast. Not a great sign for the quality of the film. As it turns out, it's not horrible; it's just completely unremarkable. It tells the fictionalized story of how Strauss composed and performed "The Blue Danube" for the first time. It unfolds in a straight-forward manner. The story is the standard "I have big dreams, but maybe I should take the crappy job from father-in-law and forget them" thing with some strong-willed royalty added to push the musician into his destiny. There are no camera tricks or fancy shots. No one is murdered or blackmailed. There aren't even any repeat actors from previous movies (that I could tell). There's no way anyone would ever guess this was a Hitchcock film if his name was absent from the credits.

If I ever again have the hankering to see this song set to music... I'll watch 2001. (5/10)

Watched the region 2 DVD released by Universal in 2007 . Nice print and an OK transfer.