Genre:
Musical
Release Date: 05/13/2008
SubTitles: English/French/Ger/Espanol
Dubbed: Ger/English
Sound: 2/DTS-ESM
Run Time: 189 min
Distributor/Studio: Decca
Richard Strauss'
Arabella, set in Vienna during the 1860s, opens with
Countess von Waldner asking a fortuneteller to help save her family from their enormous debts. The mystic assures the
Countess that her daughter,
Arabella will marry into extreme wealth. Soon after, a young officer named
Matteo pleads with
Zdenka, the Waldners' son (in fact, a girl brought up as a boy), to help him win
Arabella; unbeknownst to
Matteo,
Zdenka secretly carries a torch for him herself.
Zdenka pleads
Matteo's case with her sister, but
Arabella dismisses him, as she does all who have sought her hand. Meanwhile, the
Count has sent a photograph of
Arabella to the rich
Mandryka, hoping to arrange a marriage. The rich man's nephew, who is also named
Mandryka, has intercepted the letter and makes his interest in
Arabella known to the
Count. At a grand ball,
Arabella meets her new suitor and is instantly taken with him, accepting his proposal. However,
Mandryka overhears
Zdenka hatching a plot to get
Matteo into
Arabella's bedroom and thinks the worst. In fact,
Zdenka has tricked
Matteo; in the darkness of the room, he believes he is seducing
Arabella rather than
Zdenka.
Mandryka challenges
Matteo to a duel, but
Zdenka reveals the truth of her deception. Learning the truth,
Matteo takes
Zdenka as his own and
Arabella and
Mandryka pledge their troth.
~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
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