The Last Waltz (1936): A slow dance with a ghost

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you’re a complete sucker for 1930s musical remnants or if you enjoy watching films that feel like they’re being performed in a library. If you need pacing, excitement, or anything resembling a modern heartbeat, you’ll probably hate it. It’s very polite, almost to a fault. 🎻

I sat down with this one expecting a bit of that classic, breezy charm, but it’s more of a heavy sigh than a waltz. The film moves with the speed of someone waiting for a bus that was canceled hours ago.

Oddly enough...

The sets have this weird, flat quality. Every time someone walks through a doorway, you half-expect them to bump into a piece of painted cardboard. It’s charming in a 'we didn't have much money' sort of way, but it makes the whole thing feel like a play that forgot it was supposed to be a movie.

Jarmila Novotná is clearly trying to carry the weight of the whole production on her shoulders. She’s got a presence, for sure, but the script gives her so little to actually do other than look concerned or wistful. It’s a waste of energy, really.

I found myself thinking about You'd Be Surprised while watching this, mainly because that film at least had the decency to embrace its own silliness. The Last Waltz takes itself way too seriously. It wants to be a grand romance, but it ends up feeling like a stuffy dinner party where nobody knows how to leave.

• The lighting in the ballroom scene is surprisingly nice for 1936.
• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had only ever heard people talk in books.
• I’m still not entirely sure why half the characters are in uniform.

There’s a moment near the middle where a character stands by a window for what feels like five full minutes. I actually checked my watch. Nothing happens. They just... look out the window. It was the most honest part of the whole movie.

It’s not a bad film, just a very, very tired one. It feels like the cast and crew were already halfway out the door before the final scene was even shot. If you’ve seen Lumpen und Seide, you’ll recognize that same desperate need to keep the old-world aesthetic alive long after it stopped being relevant. Sometimes, you just have to let the music stop.