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6.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Waltz War remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for 1930s European period dramas and don't mind a bit of fluff, sure. It’s the kind of thing you put on while folding laundry. But if you’re looking for high-stakes drama or something that breaks the mold of these old musical biopics, you’re going to be bored to tears. Lovers of classical music history might get a kick out of it; everyone else will probably find it a bit stiff.
There’s this constant, polite tension between Länner and Strauss that feels like a schoolyard spat wrapped in velvet. It never really gets nasty enough to be interesting. It just kind of… simmers. 🎻
It reminds me a bit of the pacing issues in Paganini, where the music is great, but the plot is just a vehicle to get from one song to the next. The movie isn't trying to be a The Most Dangerous Game in Color, thankfully, but it could have used a bit more grit. Everything is just so clean.
The musical numbers are fine, I guess. They’re performed well, but they don't have that snap you get in something like Fox Movietone Follies of 1929. It feels very stagey. Like they forgot the camera was there and just kept performing for the back row of the theater.
The costumes are surprisingly nice, though. I spent a good five minutes just looking at the lace on a dress in the third act. Sometimes the small things are the only things keeping you awake.
It’s not a bad movie. It’s just very… beige. It hits all the marks, checks all the boxes, and ends exactly where you think it will. No surprises, no risks, just a lot of waltzing. Sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes it really, really isn't.