The one responsible for the direction was the veteran Paul Czinner, who the year before had filmed "The Royal Ballet" in Covent Garden with Margot Fonteyn as prima ballerina in "Swan Lake", "Firebird" and "Ondine" in historically as memorable and important a ballet film as this one is of the opera - in the 30s he filmed Shakespeare. Everyone contributes with his best in this fabulous performance, where everyone is an ace, first of all Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as the leading princess, the astoundingly perfectly appropriate Sena Jurinac as the androgynous cavalier (supposed to be a male teenager of 17 years) and the sparkling Anneliese Rothenberger as Sophie, with Herbert von Karajan at his best in his prime and still a young man, but above all Richard Strauss' 100% golden music all the way. To this comes the absolutely perfect staging and setting, with completely realistic appropriate costumes of the times of the empress Maria Theresia (Mozart's time) in a palace like Schönbrunn or some other intimate rococo palace, all performed in Salzburg. Paul Czinner actually had for his ambition to make this film version of the last great opera of the golden opera epoch a lasting monument and perfect version of this absolute classic of a great opera, although the story is rather silly and no more than like any flippant wig wedding cake by Mozart, but even the silliest comedy can be made great by masterful music.
Review of Der Rosenkavalier
