| The Great Waltz | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Julien Duvivier Victor Fleming (uncredited) Josef von Sternberg (uncredited) |
| Written by | Gottfried Reinhardt (story) Samuel Hoffenstein Walter Reisch Vicki Baum (story, uncredited) |
| Produced by | Bernard H. Hyman |
| Starring | Fernand Gravet Luise Rainer Miliza Korjus |
| Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| Edited by | Tom Held |
| Music by | Johann Strauss Jr. Arthur Gutmann Dimitri Tiomkin Paul Marquardt |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,260,000[1] |
| Box office | $2,422,000[1] |
The Great Waltz is a 1938 American biographical film based very loosely on the life of Johann Strauss II. It starred Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet (Gravey), and Miliza Korjus. Rainer received top billing at the producer's insistence, but her role is comparatively minor as Strauss' wife, Poldi Vogelhuber. It was the only starring role for Korjus, who was a famous opera soprano and played one in the film.
Joseph Ruttenberg won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Korjus was nominated for Supporting Actress, and Tom Held for Film Editing. The film was popular in Australia, and was distributed largely throughout Sydney and Melbourne for two years after its initial release.
The film has no connection with the 1934 Broadway play The Great Waltz.[2] Hitchcock's Waltzes from Vienna set the stage for this Julien Duvivier’s Strauss biopic, which maintains the character of the baker's daughter from the original stage musical while focusing on Johann Strauss II's revolutionary inclinations and the creation of his popular operetta, Die Fledermaus.
- ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ^ Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0-634-00765-3 page 85