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The King Steps Out

The King Steps Out is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Grace Moore, Franchot Tone and Walter Connolly. It is based on the early years of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as "Sisi" or "Sissi", and her courtship and marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austria, after he was initially engaged to her older sister Duchess Helene in Bavaria.[1] The film is set from 1852 to 1854.

The King Steps Out

Columbia Pictures

  • May 28, 1936 (1936-05-28)

85 minutes

United States

English

The script was written by Sidney Buchman, based on a theatre play called Sissys Brautfahrt by Ernst Décsey and Robert Weil aka Gustav Holm.[2] Columbia Pictures bought the rights from Ernst Marischka in order to make the film. The lyrics for the music were by Dorothy Fields and the music by Viennese composer and violinist Fritz Kreisler.[1] Cinematography was by Lucien Ballard and the editing by Viola Lawrence. Costume design was by the Austrian Ernst Deutsch-Dryden.


Future Broadway dancer Gwen Verdon made her movie debut doing a ballet solo at age 11, but was uncredited.


The film had only minimal influence on the later Sissi trilogy from the 1950s by Ernst Marischka starring Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm.

as Princess Elizabeth

Grace Moore

as Emperor Franz Josef

Franchot Tone

as Duke of Bavaria

Walter Connolly

as Colonel von Kempen

Raymond Walburn

as Archduchess Sophie

Elisabeth Risdon

as Princess Louise

Nana Bryant

as Captain Palffy

Victor Jory

as Princess Helena

Frieda Inescort

as Major

Thurston Hall

as Pretzelberger

Herman Bing

as Herlicka

George Hassell

as Chief of the Secret Police

Johnny Arthur

as Lieutenant (uncredited)

Charles Coleman

as Soldier (uncredited)

William Hopper

as Waiter (uncredited)

Henry Roquemore

as Russian Delegate (uncredited)

C. Montague Shaw

as Ballet Master (uncredited)

Al Shean

as Specialty Ballerina (uncredited)

Gwen Verdon

Reception[edit]

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly positive review, noting that in its "light and amusing sequences" it bore the hallmarks of "the Lubitsch touch". Greene praised the acting of Bing, claiming that "the whole film [is carried] on his wildly expressive shoulders".[3]

at IMDb

The King Steps Out

on YouTube

The King Steps Out film clip