The Emperor Waltz Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Emperor Waltz Blu-ray Movie Review

The Emperor Waltz is a classic musical-comedy with am ambitious and lavish production. Nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Score and Best Costume Design, The Emperor Waltz is a classic Hollywood musical with plenty of magic for audiences to discover. Produced by Charles Brackett, The Emperor Waltz stars Bing Crosby, Joan Fontaine, and Richard Haydn.

Virgil Smith (Bing Crosby) is a specialist in the field of selling gramophones – an early era turntable (otherwise known as a record player). Smith is setting himself up for a round of sales in a pre-WWI era of Austria. Determined to be one of the best gramophone salesmen, Smith decides to start off with a big sale to the Emperor Franz-Josef (Richard Haydn). Unfortunately for Smith, the emperor has a host of security guards who mistakenly believe he is carrying a lethal bomb instead of a gramophone. As a result of the misunderstanding, Smith is arrested on his way to being the top salesman.

Yet the unfortunate circumstance leads to something positive: Smith meets the beautiful and charming Countess Johanna Augusta Franziska (Joan Fontaine). After some more (unexpected) drama occurs, Smith finds himself falling in love with her – and she returns the affection with a bevy of love for his doggie, Buttons. The Emperor isn’t a fan of this potential pairing. Can Smith win the heart of the countess?

The performances in The Emperor Waltz are excellent. The leading performances by Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine are especially captivating. The actors display a lot of wonderful on-screen chemistry together. These performances are exciting, compelling, and fun. Crosby delivers an exceptional performance – arguably one of his best – with a role that feels custom tailored to his talents. Fontaine is wonderful with her performance as well and she imbues the part with plenty of her natural charisma and grace.

The cinematography by George Barnes (The Greatest Show on Earth, The War of the Worlds) is quite the beautiful accomplishment: lush, serene, and enchanting. The cinematography provides a colorful and robust aesthetic that is the perfect match for the ambitious scale of the production. This is truly an amazing cinematographic effort and Barnes deserves the highest accolades or the work done here. Fantastic.

The art direction by Franz Bachelin (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Stalag 17) and Hans Dreier (Sunset Blvd., Double Indemnity) doesn’t disappoint, either. The art direction provides the film an outstanding sense of scale. The art direction was so well detailed and beautiful looking that the production seems even more ambitious than it ever could have simply on paper.

The costumes by Edith Head (Roman Holiday, The Sting) and Gile Steele (The Merry Widow, Kind Lady) are breathtaking. The costumes are certainly one of the most spectacular elements of the production. The costuming is fantastic for both the men and women. The designs for Joan Fontaine are especially noteworthy and there is an elegance to the designs. These costumes help The Emperor Waltz to be even more visually stunning.

The score composed by Victor Young (Around the World in 80 Days, The Quiet Man) is a dream come true and the music sounds wonderful in The Emperor Waltz. The score provides the perfect notes. An exciting, beautiful, and elegant score that provides a great backdrop to the ambitious production.

Director Billy Wilder (The Apartment, Some Like It Hot), co-wrote the screenplay alongside his co-screenwriter Charles Brackett (The Lost Weekend, The King and I). The filmmaking in The Emperor Waltz is exceptional. Wilder is one of the best filmmakers of all time and it is no surprise to see this production showcase the usual strengths of his films: great performances, artistic flourishes, and plenty of iconic charm. The directing is elegant and ambitious and Wilder did a great job with his cast of actors. The result? An underrated classic musical and one that deserves a wider audience.  

The Emperor Waltz Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, The Emperor Waltz is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1 full frame. The release is sourced from a beautiful looking print. The transfer is naturally filmic and the presentation showcases a nice amount of detail and clarity. The color reproduction appears excellent and the release certainly is a wonderful and engaging showcase for the cinematography.

Though the print isn't always as pristine as a 4K remaster might have provided the film, the scan of the film is highly pleasing. I rather enjoyed this presentation. Despite some occasional wear to the print, there was nothing too distracting or severe to distract. This is a mostly clean print and one that works wonders for the film.

The Emperor Waltz Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. The lossless audio encoding is excellent on the release. The audio quality sounds superb with good dialogue clarity, score clarity, and overall detail. Even despite some limited fidelity given the age of the audio elements, this is nonetheless a wonderful sounding presentation and there is a good degree of depth and clarity to the encode. The track has a bit more "punch" than expected and the songs are well reproduced.

The Emperor Waltz Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary by Film Historian Joseph McBride, Author of Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge

Billy Wilder and Volker Schlondorff Discuss The Emperor Waltz

Road to Morocco – Trailer (SD, 2:13)

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands – Trailer (SD, 1:37)

The Lost Weekend – Trailer (SD, 2:08)

Five Graves to Cairo – Trailer (SD, 2:13)

A Foreign Affair – Trailer (SD, 1:01)

Witness for the Prosecution – Trailer (SD, 3:08)

Irma La Douce – Trailer (SD, 3:53)

One, Two, Three – Trailer (SD, 2:11)

The Fortune Cookie – Trailer (SD, 2:37)

Thoroughly Modern Millie – Trailer (HD, 2:39)

The Emperor Waltz Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Emperor Waltz is a wonderful musical and there is so much to appreciate about the filmmaking and its spectacle. Director Billy Wilder (The Apartment) is a legendary filmmaker and one of the best in the history of classic Hollywood. Wilder made a wonderful film with fantastic production design and great performances from stars Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine.

The Blu-ray release features a wonderful presentation of the film. Both the video and audio quality on the release are excellent. The release also includes a nice selection of extras, including an exclusive audio commentary track. Billy Wilder fans won't want to miss this release. Highly recommended.