Austrian History in the Movies
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- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorMiloslav LutherStarsArmin Mueller-StahlMax TidofWolfgang PreissIn the dead of night, a few hours after Mozart's death, the usual suspects (Konstanze, Salieri, van Swieten, etc.) are summoned to Mozart's room by Count Pergen, head of the secret police, who considered Mozart a potential revolutionary. Over the corpse, he interrogates them, trying to discover the true cause and significance of Mozart's demise.
- DirectorEric TillStarsJoseph FiennesBruno GanzPeter UstinovDuring the early sixteenth century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the Catholic Church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.
- StarsRolf BoysenRomuald PeknyWerner KreindlThe rise of Albrecht von Wallenstein from minor Moravian nobleman to imperialist generalissimo in the Thirty Years-War, and his fall once the emperor begins to doubt his loyalty.
- StarsChristian ClavierIsabella RosselliniGérard DepardieuA masterful soldier, tactician, and statesmen, Napoleon Bonaparte, with courage and love for his country, rises from an unpaid general consumed with ambition to the most powerful man in Europe. But his life ends with a fall and exile.
- DirectorWolfgang GlückStarsTobias EngelSunnyi MellesHeinz TrixnerIn 1938, Austria is about to become a part of the Third Reich. A theater actress and a Jewish journalist fall in love and spend time together, completely ignoring the political turmoil of the time despite friendly warnings.
- DirectorMenno MeyjesStarsJohn CusackNoah TaylorLeelee SobieskiA film studying the depiction of a friendship between an art dealer named Rothman and his student, Adolf Hitler.
- DirectorUrs OdermattStarsGötz GeorgeTom SchillingAnna UnterbergerThe young, despotic and untalented artist Adolf Hitler comes to Vienna to study art. He befriends the Jew Schlomo Herzl working on a novel with the title "Mein Kampf". Hitler is rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Herzl's concern for the sad young man continues, and leads him to a new career with disastrous consequences for world history.
- StarsMax von SydowCharlotte RamplingClaude RichAt the battle of Solferino Joseph von Trotta, a lieutenant in the Slovenian infantry, is wounded while saving the life of the young Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph I. The Emperor rewards him by elevating him in society to a position quite out of keeping with his social rank, and which entirely alienates him from his farming background: Joseph gets promoted to the rank of captain, and is made a member of the nobility. Years later Joseph von Trotta accidentally finds a description of the battle that changed his life in a text-book belonging to his son Franz. Enraged at the over-emotional, patriotic and sentimental way in which the Emperor's rescue at the hands of "the Hero of Solferino" is depicted, he lodges a complaint at the Imperial Court. During an audience, the Emperor, displaying a certain degree of resignation, attempts to convince him that myths are both justifiable and necessary. Joseph, however, discovers "that it was nothing else but craftiness that assured the existence of the world, the power of the law, and the majesty of monarchs. He lost all belief he had ever had in the Emperor." Embittered, Joseph leaves the army and retires to his country estate in Bohemia. Consistent with his actions, he forbids his son Franz von Trotta from taking up a military career. The latter, in his capacity as a provincial prefect, develops into a typical duty-conscious civil servant who never thinks of questioning the monarchy and its existence. Franz then brings up his own son Carl Joseph in a strict, military manner, and forces him to take up a career as an officer against his will. The weak and sensitive grandson Carl Joseph von Trotta bears no trace of the strength and wilfulness of his grandfather. Rank and position are hollow-sounding concepts to him. When his beautiful mistress, wife of sergeant Slama, dies while giving birth to a child that could have been his, and his closest friend, the regimental doctor, Dr. Demant, is killed in a senseless duel because of an alleged love-affair with his wife, Carl Joseph - in an act of self-punishment - has himself transferred to an infantry unit on the Russian border. There he falls victim to alcohol and becomes embroiled in debt trying in vain to escape his depressions and irrational feelings of guilt. His friend Count Chojnicki only manages to drag him out of his melancholy and despair on one single occasion, when he has a mistress brought to him. Carl Joseph spends several carefree weeks in Vienna with Valerie von Taussig, but once he's back in the depressing frontier town he very soon reverts to his old ways. Meanwhile, nationalist and democratic forces are bringing the old Austro-Hungarian Empire to its knees. During the armed suppression of a factory-workers' strike that takes place as the violence continues to escalate, Carl Joseph von Trotta is severely wounded. After his convalescence he is determined to resign his commission. Then during an orgiastic summer party at Schloss Chojnicki, the news arrives of the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne and his wife in Sarajevo. Soon afterwards, war breaks out, and Carl Joseph, whose resignment has not yet been granted, is sent to the front. There, heroically and without a trace of fear, he walks to his death as, without any protection or covering fire, he goes off to get water for his thirsty soldiers. With this unselfish deed for his nameless men Carl-Joseph once more remembers the roots of his humble origins.
- DirectorOttokar RunzeStarsSimon WardSiegfried RauchViktor StaalThe setting is Belgrade, Oct 1918, the closing days of World War 1, and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
- DirectorErnst MarischkaStarsRomy SchneiderMagda SchneiderGretl SchörgYoung Stanzi who is visiting Vienna helps a young corporal and musician to become famous for his marching song "Die Deutschmeister".
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzAlfred BöhmHans HoltA politically naïve Viennese butcher (Bockerer) manages to survive the unification of Germany and Austria and the Second World War.
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzCaroline VasicekAlexander WussowIn the occupied Vienna of the post-war years, it is once again Karl Bockerer who, in a charming and defiant manner, offers his naive resistance to the ruling powers. This time, his doggedness is directed against the Russian occupiers, whose inhuman severity jeopardizes the happiness of two lovers. Although Elena and Gustl are brought together by fate, it is Karl Bockerer who leads them both with skill and cunning out of the danger zone.
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzAlexander WussowCaroline VasicekVienna, 1956. Viennese butcher Karl Bockerer goes to Hungary to buy meat. Along with his foster son and grandchild, he is caught up in the turmoil of the Hungarian revolt against the Soviet occupiers.
- DirectorMichael SturmingerStarsChulpan KhamatovaPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicStanislav LisnicOzren is a small boy of Croatian descent who lives in Vienna with his mother, Silvija in the mid-1980s. As a single parent she emigrated to Vienna from the former Yugoslavia in the hope of a better life. Like any child, he very much looks up to his mother. She is a waitress and when she goes out to work at night, his aunt, Ljiljana comes to take care of him. Then we see him back in elementary school, where he is called as whore's boy. Although he does not understand the meaning of the swear word, he is intrigued by it: his mother works as a waitress, right?
- DirectorThomas RothStarsManuel RubeyPatricia AulitzkyChristian TramitzThe life story of 1980s Austrian superstar Falco, the man behind the monster hit "Rock Me, Amadeus." The story of Johann "Falco" Hölzel from his childhood, the road from a band to his solo career, to his tragic death.
- DirectorNiki ListHans SelikovskyStarsAndreas VitásekBarbara RudnikChristian SchmidtPrivate detective Max Müller and his assistent Larry try to solve a crime but find themselves in strange bars and women.
- StarsWalter DavyCurt A. TichyBibiane Zeller"Kottan ermittelt" ("Kottan investigates") is one of the defining moments of Austrian television. Masquerading as a police/crime series, it is actually a fierce anarchic satire on the Austrian police and Austrian society in general. There are no heroes, only anti-heroes, and the police officers, all incompetent caricatures to varying degrees, often solve their cases more by chance than through actual investigation. Major Kottan (the name is a spoof of hardboiled German dime-novel hero Jerry Cotton) was played by no less than three actors over the course of the series, each giving the character a fairly distinct personality: grumpy, prejudiced misanthrope; sarcastic cynic; and anarchic nihilist--the common factor being that each is too caught up in his own preconceptions to actually solve the case. Then there's Inspector Schrammel, who is an incompetent clown; and Police Commissioner Pilch, who is obsessed with catching flies in the early episodes and getting coffee from a mischievous coffee machine in the later episodes, so it is up to one-legged invalid Inspector Schremser to solve most of the murders. The early episodes contain some of the best moments of fierce social satire ever shown on Austrian television, exposing the "golden heart" of the Viennese as brutal backstabbing and showing the rotten core hiding behind the pretty facades--the postman who rings twice and the decapitated garden gnomes being just two truly great moments. Over time, running gags and moments of truly Pythonesque humor were introduced and continued, until the series turned into an absurd, sometimes even surreal slapstick comedy.
- DirectorErnst MarischkaStarsRomy SchneiderKarlheinz BöhmMagda SchneiderIn the first of a trilogy of movies about Elisabeth "Sissi" of Austria, the vibrant young princess catches the eye of her sister's fiancé, Emperor Franz Josef.
- DirectorErnst MarischkaStarsRomy SchneiderKarlheinz BöhmMagda SchneiderThe second in a trilogy of movies about Elisabeth "Sissi" of Austria, the film chronicles the married life of the young empress as she tries to adjust to formal and strict life in the palace and an overbearing mother-in-law.
- DirectorErnst MarischkaStarsRomy SchneiderKarlheinz BöhmMagda SchneiderThe final film in a highly romanticized trilogy about Elisabeth "Sissi" of Austria finds the young empress traveling throughout Europe.
- StarsMax von ThunVittoria PucciniOmar SharifA retelling of the tragic love affair between Austrian Archduke Rudolf and Baroness Mary Vetsera.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsOmar SharifCatherine DeneuveJames MasonBased on real life events that led to tragic deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
- DirectorRüdiger NüchternStarsSebastian KochAglaia SzyszkowitzFritz KarlJacob Hirzbacher is a widower who hopes to find work in the local mining industry. With the arrival of a stranger with a charming attitude the hierarchy in the nearest village changes forever.
- DirectorAndreas ProchaskaStarsSam RileyTobias MorettiPaula BeerThrough a hidden path, a lone rider reaches a little town high up in the Alps. Nobody knows where the stranger comes from, nor what he wants there. But everyone knows that they don't want him to stay.
- DirectorRalf HuettnerStarsDominic RaackeBarbara MayRomina NowackWhen a young family, father, mother and their daughter, is on a trip in the mountains, they loose orientation and have to stay there for the night. The daughter finds a dead young girl who does exactly look like herself. When they check for mountain rescue service they suddenly find themselves deeply involved in an local myth about a prophecy which seems to be fulfilling now. The mountains are bearing an old curse.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsAndré EisermannDana VávrováBen BeckerIn the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds. Elias falls in platonic love with Elsbeth, the sister of Peter, a neighbor's son, who has longstanding homosexual feelings towards Elias. After Elsbeth, out of frustration from Elias' not returning her love and instead being obsessed with music, chooses to be impregnated and marries someone else who lose love she had spurned for Elias. The village burns and most villagers, including Elsbeth, evacuate to the closest town. Elias remains behind. A music master with the official task to register all the organs in the country arrives at the burnt village. There he discovers Elias' prodigy and invites him to an organ challenge in the town where the villagers relocated. Elias performs there and amazes the audience which includes Elsbeth. She is unable to meet with Elias before he is rushed to a waiting carriage. She calls to him and he hears her, but it is too late. Elias is taken on a brief tour by his mentors but soon returns to his spiritual site near the burnt village where he takes his own life (with Peter by his side), having decided to not sleep anymore. Elsbeth later returns there, a widow with a young daughter, hoping to find Elias but instead discovers his spiritual site has disappeared.
- DirectorFranz Xaver BognerStarsTobias MorettiHeio von StettenErwin SteinhauerA divided village is what country priest Joseph Mohr finds when he arrives at his new parish: a village cut in half by a river that forms a political and more importantly, a social border. Both sides are engaged in a bitter struggle, with the wealthy merchants on the one side trying to break the monopoly of the poor bargemen on the other. Braced by his strong sense of justice, Mohr fights for the rights of the impoverished bargemen. To give them a little comfort and warmth in their darkest moments, he and his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, the schoolteacher in the village, create a song that has become synonymous with Christmas all over the world: "Silent Night, Holy Night"
- DirectorXaver SchwarzenbergerStarsTobias MorettiFranz-Xaver KroetzMartina GedeckThe story of Tyrolean folk hero Andreas Hofer, who led his people in their resistance against the occupation of their country by Bavarian troops in the year 1809.
- DirectorSimon AebyStarsNikolaj Coster-WaldauPeter McDonaldAnastasia GriffithThe story of time-tested loyalty of two friends during Europe's 16th-century Inquisition. Orphans Martin and Georg bond as children, but walk very different paths as adults. Georg follows his calling to join the church, while Martin becomes an army captain. When fate places Martin in the role of executioner, he must choose between friendship and fundamentalist doctrine.
- DirectorStefan MüllerStarsMoritz ThateMartin KroissenbrunnerInes GruberAustria-Hungary 1813: Jacob and Veith return home from the Napoleonic war. Their road leads to the remote mountain village Pahlbach. The two newcomers encounter a frosty reception - and as the night has barely passed, they already understand why: In the woods around the village a strange evil is brewing mischief. Unknown creatures of extraordinary violence and cunning, lure the men into the woods and make a silent demand: In order to further propagate, the beasts claim women's bodies. While Jacob refuses immediately and calls out the fight, Veith is still uncertain: The enemy appears to overpowering. Maybe they should try to come to terms. Progressing events put the courage and humanity of the two men to the test and threaten to shatter their friendship. But Jacob Veith and are not the only ones to whom the demand was made. The battle lines are hardening - and in a single bloody night, the future of the whole place is at stake ...
- DirectorStefan RuzowitzkyStarsKarl MarkovicsAugust DiehlDevid StriesowThe story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.
- DirectorGötz SpielmannStarsJohannes KrischIrina PotapenkoAndreas LustEx-con Alex plans to flee to the South with his girl after a robbery. But something terrible happens and revenge seems inevitable.
- DirectorPaul HaratherStarsJosef HaderAlfred DorferMaria HofstätterHeinzi Boesel and Kurt Fellner are two Austrian health inspectors forced to work together, traveling through Austria. Over time a beautiful friendship evolves between the odd couple who couldn't stand each other initially; a friendship that even overcomes the boundaries of great tragedy.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsArno FrischAngela WinklerUlrich MüheA 14-year-old video enthusiast obsessed with violent films decides to make one of his own and show it to his parents, with tragic results.
- DirectorErnst GossnerStarsWilliam MoseleyEugenia CostantiniClaudia CardinaleA young Austrian soldier in World War I fights his way through the Alps to rescue his first love and escape the impending explosion that will rock the mountain.
- StarsJannik SchümannDavid KorbmannMarcus Grüsser"Sisi" follows the extraordinary life of empress Elisabeth of Austria. Modern, honest, and authentic. Told from the perspective of her closest confidants, the series takes a new look at the empress' life and reveals a multi-layered woman.
- DirectorValerio ZurliniStarsJacques PerrinVittorio GassmanGiuliano GemmaLieutenant Giovanni Drogo is assigned to the old Bastiani border fortress where he expects an imminent attack by nomadic fearsome Tartars.
- DirectorCiro GuerraStarsMark RylanceJohnny DeppRobert PattinsonAt an isolated frontier outpost, a colonial magistrate suffers a crisis of conscience when an army colonel arrives looking to interrogate the locals about an impending uprising, using cruel tactics that horrify the magistrate.
- StarsRobert FinsterElla RumpfGeorg FriedrichYoung Czech-Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, investigates a murder conspiracy in 1880's Vienna.
- DirectorStefan RuzowitzkyStarsMurathan MusluLiv Lisa FriesMax von der GroebenWhen an ex-prisoner of the Great War returns home and finds his comrades brutally murdered, he decides to bring the serial-killer to justice.
- DirectorAdrian HovenStarsErika BlancAnton DiffringPercy HovenA tribunal interrogates, tortures and murders "witches" and "heretics" during the Inquisition.Jungfrauen geschändet und zu Tode gequält
- DirectorAshim AhluwaliaCan EvrenolSeverin FialaStarsMarlene HauserLuzia OppermannKarin PauerA feature-length anthology film. They are known as myths, lore, and folktales. Created to give logic to mankind's darkest fears, these stories laid the foundation for what we now know as the horror genre.
- DirectorSeverin FialaVeronika FranzStarsAnja PlaschgMaria HofstätterDavid ScheidAustria in the 18th century. Forests surround villages. Killing a baby gets a woman sentenced to death. Agnes readies for married life with her beloved. But her mind and heart grow heavy. A gloomy path alone, evil thoughts arising.