The Emperor Waltz (1948)

Set in Austria at the turn of the 20th century, an American phonograph salesman (Bing Crosby) and his dog travel to Vienna hoping to have the Emperor (Richard Haydn) endorse the product. Instead, he and his mutt fall in love with a haughty Countess (Joan Fontaine) and her snooty French poodle. This candy box period romance with humor and music seems like an odd choice for director Billy Wilder's follow to his darker and grittier previous two films (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, LOST WEEKEND). I'm just speculating but I suspect it might have been an homage to his mentor Ernst Lubitsch who had recently passed away. But Crosby is no Maurice Chevalier and the film lacks the wit, sexiness and insouciance of Lubitsch at his best. It looks gorgeous however with George Barnes' three strip technicolor lensing with Canada's Jasper National Park standing in for the Austrian Alps. The songs are negligible, the plot tired and anticipated. The movie's sole comedic high point concerns a dog psychiatrist (Sig Ruman) analyzing Fontaine's neurotic poodle. With Roland Culver, Lucile Watson and Julia Dean.