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Wiener Madeln is the story of 19th-century Austrian composer Carl Michael Zihrer. Though not as famous as such contemporaries as Strauss, Zihrer had one "hit" waltz to his credit, which enabled him to sustain his popularity for nearly 20 years. The film's highlight is a "battle of the bands," pitting Zihrer's aggregation against John Philip Sousa's orchestra. Starring as Zihrer is Teutonic film favorite Willie Forst, who also produced and directed. Completed in 1945, Wiener Madeln nearly became a "lost film" during the confusion following the end of the war. It took Forst four years to piece together an acceptable print from four different, incomplete negatives -- and nearly as long to secure legal clearance to do so.