Miracle of the White Stallions

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Miracle of the White Stallions
Theatrical Film Poster
Directed by	Arthur Hiller
Written by	Alois Podhajsky AJ Carothers
Based on	The Dancing White Horses of Vienna by Alois Podhajsky
Produced by	Ron Miller Walt Disney
Starring	Robert Taylor Lilli Palmer
Cinematography	Günther Anders
Edited by	Alfred Srp Cotton Warburton
Music by	Paul J. Smith
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date	March 29, 1963 (1963-03-29) (U.S.)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2,550,000 (US/ Canada)[1]

Miracle of the White Stallions is a 1963 American adventure war film released by Walt Disney starring Robert Taylor (playing Alois Podhajsky), Lilli Palmer, and Eddie Albert. It is based on the story of Operation Cowboy which was the evacuation of 70 Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and retrieval of 300 Lipizzaner horses from a breeding farm in Czechoslovakia. The prized Lipizzaner horses were Austrian national treasures in danger of being used for food supply by the advancing Soviet Army during World War II. To gain Patton's aid, Podhajsky and his team from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna perform for Patton with their Lipizzaner stallions a precision dressage exhibition and the individual "Airs Above the Ground" with the hope Patton will see the value of horses and help rescue the mares and foals in Czechoslovakia.

Major parts of the movie were shot at the Hermesvilla palace in the Lainzer Tiergarten of Vienna, a former hunting area for the Habsburg nobility. The music for the soundtrack was based on the first movement of Franz Schubert's Marche Militaire no 1, D733.^{[citation needed]}

The film states that The Spanish Riding School performed under the direction of Colonel Alois Podhajsky.

The film credits state that the film is based on the book The Dancing White Horses of Vienna by Colonel Alois Podhajsky.