Escape the daily gring, to the unreality of Hollywood's version of ye olde Austria and the world of ye olde Richard Strauss, from whose pen the title tune flowed. Improbably, Bing Crosby plays Virgil Smith, who, in 1901, travels from America to Austria to sell the newly-invented phonograph to Emperor Franz Josef (Richard Haydn). Once there, Virgil's dog is bitten by a poodle owned by the Countess Johanna (Joan Fontaine). Not much of a plot, this, by today's standards, but director/co-writer Billy Wilder, slightly off his usual territory with musical comedy, is still able to turn it into a bit of a charmer. Bing relishes the amusing one-liners and trills several antique-style numbers with equal verve. La Fontaine looks lovely, gowned in Edith Head's costumes, and Victor Young's score sounds ultra-sweet.

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