The Emperor Waltz (2003) Can a master of sauerbraten pull off a linzer torte? Not really, but it's great fun to watch The Emperor Waltz writer-director Billy Wilder (with…
Movie on DVD Review

The Emperor Waltz (2003)

Reviewed by Steve Daly | Jun 06, 2003
Bing Crosby, Joan Fontaine, ... | GRACEFUL DANCE ''Waltz'''s Crosby woos Fontaine
Image credit: The Emperor Waltz: Kobal Collection
GRACEFUL DANCE ''Waltz'''s Crosby woos Fontaine
EW's GRADE
B

Details Release Date: May 06, 2003; DVD Release Date: May 06, 2003; Genres: Musical, Romance; With: Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine

Can a master of sauerbraten pull off a linzer torte? Not really, but it's great fun to watch The Emperor Waltz writer-director Billy Wilder (with scripting partner Charles Brackett) try his hand at an Ernst Lubitsch-esque slice of Technicolored musical frippery. You won't always believe Joan Fontaine's Austrian countess could find Bing Crosby's brash but droopy-eyed gramophone salesman sexy (they banter naughtily as their respectively highborn and lowborn pet pooches get it on), but even a half-baked Wilder-Brackett pastry is worth savoring. Bonus: It's double-billed on this new DVD edition with Crosby's crooning in ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.''

Originally posted Jun 03, 2003 Published in issue #713 Jun 06, 2003 Order article reprints