The least known, and many say least important, of all of
Josef von Sternberg's films, the frothy operetta
The King Steps Out (1936) was a long way from the exotic classics he made with
Marlene Dietrich only a few years earlier. The story was taken from the play
Sissy's Brautfahrt by
Ernst Decsey and
Gustav Holm, which then became the operetta
Cissy (aka Sissy or
Sissi), by
Hubert and
Ernst Marischka, music by Kreisler, premiering in
Vienna in 1932. The director likely knew what he was doing, but critics found it hard to see evidence in The King Steps Out that he much cared. He was criticized for the "lumbering" treatment of the comic bits and for capturing his star in some rather unflattering close-ups. Only during the bustle of Viennese crowd scenes, particularly the sequence when
Emperor Franz Josef goes out in public incognito (hence the title), does von
Sternberg show any glimmer of his visual and narrative flair.
Nevertheless, the picture was one of the biggest hits of the year, thanks largely to Miss
Moore's charm and accomplished soprano, some pleasant humor, and the Kreisler score, some of which was taken from his own
1919 Broadway musical Apple Blossoms, featuring
Fred and
Adele Astaire.
The story finds Moore as
Princess Elizabeth, aka Cissy, who poses as a humble dressmaker to save her sister from an unwanted arranged marriage to the
Emperor of Austria. As
The New York Times put it in a review of the movie, "When we add that the
Emperor Francis Joseph is none other than our old friend
Franchot Tone, with his hair in curls and spotless white uniforms to wear, then you may not be altogether astonished to hear that Miss Moore eventually takes her sister's place after winning the
Emperor's heart."
Von Sternberg said he had seen the musical in Vienna a few years before making the picture, and sources report that the rights to it were bought by Moore's husband,
Spanish actor
Valentin Parera, and sold to
Columbia for a tidy profit. It was adapted for the screen by
Sidney Buchman, the award-winning writer of
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (
1941), as well as
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (
1939),
Cleopatra (
1963), and
The Group (1966).
Several of Kreisler's songs were given new lyrics, and new titles, by
Dorothy Fields, who never met the composer. Ms.
Fields, daughter of half of the famous vaudeville team of
Weber and Fields and the most successful female songwriter of
Tin Pan Alley, is best known for her work with composers
Jimmy McHugh ("
I'm in the Mood for
Love," "On the
Sunny Side of the Street"),
Jerome Kern (the
Oscar®-winning "
The Way You Look Tonight" from the Astaire-Rogers picture
Swing Time, 1936), and
Cy Coleman (the Broadway musical
Sweet Charity).
The plot is loosely based on the true story of
Empress Elizabeth of Austria. The second daughter of the
Duke of Bavaria,
Elizabeth accompanied her mother and older sister
Helene to
Austria. Her mother hoped to match the 18-year-old Helene with her 23-year-old cousin, Emperor Franz Josef, but he chose the 15-year-old Elizabeth instead. As
Empress, she became known as a great beauty, world traveler, and fashion plate. In 1889, her son,
Crown Prince Rudolf, and his young lover,
Baroness Marie Vetsera, were found dead of a murder-suicide in Rudolf's hunting lodge,
Mayerling. In 1898, Elizabeth was stabbed in the heart by a young anarchist while walking along the promenade of
Lake Geneva preparing to board a steamship.
Unaware of the severity of her condition, she boarded the ship and died a short time later of the profuse bleeding that had been contained by the strong pressure of her tight corset.
The most notable fact about The King Steps Out, one that even von Sternberg pointed out in his book, is that the picture and sound in the musical numbers were recorded simultaneously.
Almost all musical films, before and after, required the performers to record their numbers first, then lip-sync to the playback when the picture was shot.
- published: 07 Mar 2011
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