"Königswalzer" is a West German German-language movie from 1955, so this one will have its 65th anniversary in Osctober this year. This show you how old it is already. So no surprise that many people who have worked on this movie are long gone. However, there are a few that are still alive today and with that i mostly mean the female actors included here, which showws how young the really were back then. Many people do not even reach the age of 65 and they were actresses already 65 years ago and are still alive and kickin' (I hope) now in 2020. But first things first: This one runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and the director here is Soviet/Ukrainian Viktor Tourjansky, which is certainly a but of an unusual nationality to make a film in 1950s West Germany. FRG I mean with that, although this abbreviation is of course not half as known to people as GDR. Now let us not get too historic, especially as the film is also about an entirely different era, one from much further back in the past even. A total of five writers worked on this film, so a bit disappointing that they did not manage to come up with a more captivating script here, so you could say it is a minor example of too many cooks spoiling the broth, even if the movie is not a failure by any means. I still feel that the outcome is on a level where it feels really long for the contents. The same story could have been told in a more focused way in 45 minutes I suppose. But there is a female writer credite here in fact, so it is a bit of a progressive aspect for sure. Equality is always a good thing and back then, there really was a big discrepancy, especially compared to today's pseudo take on (i.e. scream for) emancipation in fields and professions where it has been long established. By the way, the writer I am talking about has a name that also could have been a character in this film. It sounds exquisite enough for the days of royal peakings.
The most known cast member is probably Marianne Koch and she has acted next to some really big stars in other movies during her career. Eastwood is one of them and he is about her age now, turned 90 not too long ago. It must be noted about her nonetheless that she has been retired for almost 50 years now too, so stopped acting at the age of 40 approximately if we ignore that one comeback as a narrator for a film from the mid-80s that almost nobody has seen. The only other name that rings familiar here is Hans Leibelt for me. Not sure if I am mixing something up though. One thing that is safe though is that there are many other Hans' and Harry's and male actors whose first name starts with a W in here. Oh I forgot about Sedlmayr. Of course, he was a really big name back then and later on also, even if he frequently only played pretty minor characters and this is also true about this movie here. Two other females in here are Linda Geiser and Sabine Hahn and these (plus Koch) would be the ones still alive today at fairly high, almost ancient, ages already. I especially liked Sabine Hahn. She had great youthful charm and even if she was not the female at the center of the story, but just the wild younger sister, I almost preferred her over Koch's character. Okay, you can cut the "almost" I'd say. She was pretty great. Me saying this is even more extraordinary because I usually prefer dark-haired chicks. Hahn had also perhaps the most memorable scene from the film, namely when she tries to kiss the male protagonist, but he refuses to lock lips. This scene turns into a scandal and the key conflict in the second half because it is getting in the way of the man getting married to the female protagonist. A big deal back then! But of course, the truth comes out and the marriage takes place eventually. So there was some massive drama attached to this (non-)kissing scene. It may feel slightly comedic today and it may be tough for somebody born in the last quarter (maybe even second half) of the 21st century to see the seriousness of this scene. So yeah, it may sound strange but this film has aged more in a comedy than it was back then in 1955. Or at least looking at how it probably was intended. It is not specified though here on imdb if this is a comedy or drama. However, it is a remake of another German film from 20 years earlier (the dark days!) that was, just like this one here, not really seen by too many. Well, I suppose it deserves more than 30 ratings. Nothing is really bad here, even if nothing is really too interesting. The performances feel a bit lukewarm, so what stands out the most is maybe the costumes (and sets). Alright job in these areas. The ending is okay, of course with the second wedding taking place the exact same time a bit over the top in an unrealistic way, but I cannot deny there is a certain charme to it nonetheless. The kind of charm that is totally missing from recent movies (mostly television ARD Degeto stuff) that also gives us unrealistically happy endings, but it feels all fake and forced. Here, it is not that bad luckily. Still I give this film a thumbs-down. I suggest that unless you really really dig stuff like Sissi (which by the way came out only two months after this film) you'd better skip the watch here. Not recommended. But still pay attention to how daddy is spanking the lying daughter. Now white knights in 2020 would be all up in arms about this in a new movie. Guess they will maybe also give is some intertitles eventually that this is not okay if they even dare to mutilate the classics like "Gone with the Wind". Or maybe not because this film here has not really seen by many. In any case, art does not require an explanation, especially not if it depicts things the way they were back then. Reality, that is.
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