Bearing in mind that Hitchcock, part way through the filming of Waltzes from Vienna, reportedly called together cast and crew to announce, "I hate this film, I hate this kind of film, and I have no feeling for it," still there is much of interest in Hitchcock's last musical foray, which deals with disharmony within the Johann Strauss family of Old Vienna. The musical wits of a Lubitsch or a René Clair are arguably better suited to skimming the schmaltz off the operetta on its own terms, but Hitchcock has his own darkly mischievous "touch." Paring down the original libretto he has spared us much, and contributed the inspired play of sound and image for which his early sound films are admired. (He devilishly has Strauss' inspiration for the "Blue Danube" derive from the sound of pastries plopping from the oven.)