Musical Monday: The Waltz King (1963)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Waltz King (1963) – Musical #831

Studio:
Walt Disney Studios

Director:
Steve Previn

Starring:
Kerwin Mathews, Senta Berger, Brian Aherne, Peter Kraus, Fritz Eckhardt, Vilma Degischer, Kai Fischer

Plot:
Johann Strauss Jr. (Mathews) is working to become a composer. His musician father Johann Strauss Sr. (Aherne) strongly objects and wants him to become a composer.

Trivia:
• Originally aired as a two-part TV show for the “Magical World of Disney” which aired on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, 1963, on NBC. While it premiered on TV in the United States, it premiered theatrically in Europe.

Notable Songs:
• “Sperle Galop”
• “Voices Of Spring”
• “Tritsch Tratsch Polka”
• “Tales From The Vienna Wood”
• “Love Song”

My review:
If you haven’t heard of this Walt Disney feature, you aren’t alone. I randomly ran across this made-for-TV Disney biopic online and I quickly watched it, at the risk of it being taken down.

Originally airing on the anthology TV series, “The Magical World of Disney,” THE WALTZ KING (1963) is set in 1800s Austria and follows Johann Strauss, Jr. (Kerwin Mathews) as he’s striving to become a composer. His father, composer Johann Sr. (Brian Aherne), strongly opposes his son’s career path; wanting him to be a lawyer. Though Johann Sr. works to sabotage his son’s composer debut, he eventually relents and Johann Jr. flourishes.

Before watching this, I didn’t know that Strauss Jr. had such a dramatic life!

This feels like a unique, different story for Disney to tell, but at the same time, it matches their other unusual and/or educational films of this era. There’s THE MAGNIFICENT REBEL (1962), where Karl Böhm plays composer Beethoven, or THE MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS (1963), where Robert Taylor stars is a breeder and trainer of the famous Lipizzaner stallions.

I admittedly confused this film with THE MAGNIFICENT REBEL, thinking I was about to watch handsome Karl Böhm, but instead got Kerwin Mathews. Mathews is adequate as Johann Strauss, Jr., but unfortunately he’s an overall forgettable actor. I watched him thinking, “Where have I seen this actor before?” As it turns out, I’ve seen him in three films (THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER, 5 AGAINST THE HOUSE). He just is that forgettable, I guess.

I usually love to see Brian Aherne in any role, but as Johann Strauss, Sr., he was a bit much and looked crazy in the wig he’s wearing.

Senta Berger was a bright spot in the film, as she is stunning, and it was fun to see Vilma Degischer, who I know best from the “Sissi” film series.

While this film originally aired in two parts on “The Magical World of Disney,” it was edited into a feature film for European audiences.

Overall, I don’t really know what to say about THE WALTZ KING, because while pleasant enough, THE WALTZ KING is a fairly Plain Jane story with not much to write home about. Maybe it would have faired better with a more dynamic leading man (like Karl Böhm).

Regardless though, any underseen Disney film is worth seeking out.

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