Erich Kuchar

Witty, fun, intoxicating film of Johann Strauss II's popular operetta, based on a stage production from Vienna State Opera; this is a showcase for the entire cast, but most especially Eberhard Wächter as the insufferably boorish Gabriel Eisenstein, and Gundula Janowitz as his long-suffering wife. Open the champagne, have yourself some torte, and enjoy this delectable comedy from Vienna.

A melodrama about a self-sacrificing mother who, after her husband is struck by lightning, has to raise her three sons and one daughter alone. She buys a small laundry in Vienna and does everything she can to give her children a good life. When one of her employees becomes pregnant by one of her sons, she demands that the two marry. Another son has to leave home after an argument. The third son goes blind. For him, the mother makes her greatest sacrifice: she donates her cornea. Finally, she reconciles with the son who left home and, as a grandmother, can look back on a difficult but fulfilling life.

A farmer opposes his daughter marrying a young music teacher (who a visitor from town also has eyes on) and prefers she marry a rich shopkeeper.The drama culminates with a fire in a barn where the touring Vienna Boys Choir are rehearsing.