The conditions and commercial aspects of stage production constitute one of the main themes of this film as it is about frantically getting a new operetta ready in time for the agreed date. Through a series of caricatures such as the theatre manager with his exaggerated acting or the frenetically busy librettists, the film gives a clear picture of the working procedures of music halls. In fact, an operetta is not born simply because the composer and librettist have had an idea, there is a delivery date to be maintained and the end product must be commercially viable. A story like this clearly implies a mechanised production process, that is diametrically opposed to the creative process of the artist. The composer himself underlines this when he says, “I cannot compose a waltz to order!”. The staging of the waltz is an act of resistance against this mechanisation, and the stress created by laws of production that force human beings to act like machines. In the film this conflict is resolved only because love inspires the composition and brings it into existence. Order is restored because the waltz represents a world that is whole; a vision, of course, that may make the film seem rather implausible and sentimental to those who no longer believe in waltzes.

Marie-Luise Bolte, in MusikSpektakelFilm. Musiktheater und Tanzkultur im deutschen Film 1922-1937, edited by Katja Uhlen- brok, München 1998