Masquerade in Vienna
Masquerade in Vienna
| 27 September 1934 (USA)
Masquerade in Vienna Trailers

After a masked carnival ball, Gerda Harrandt, wife of the surgeon Carl Ludwig Harrandt, allows the fashionable artist Ferdinand von Heidenick to paint a portrait of her wearing only a mask and a muff. This muff however belongs to Anita Keller, in secret the painter's lover but also the fiancée of the court orchestra director Paul Harrandt. The picture is then published in the newspaper. When Paul sees it and asks von Heidenick some questions about the identity of the model, the artist is forced to improvise a story and on the spur of the moment invents a woman called Leopoldine Dur as the alleged model. Leopoldine Dur however turns out to be a real woman whose acquaintance Heidenick makes shortly afterwards.

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Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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HeadlinesExotic

Boring

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ChicDragon

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

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Teddie Blake

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)

I cannot agree at all with the reviewer who wrote that he had seen thousands of films and that this one is the best. "Maskerade" or "Masquerade in Vienna" is an Austrian German-language film from 1934, so this one is already over 80 years old and it is from the early days of sound films still. But this is also almost the only positive achievement I can mention about this movie. The writer and director is Willi Forst, one of the most prolific and successful Austrian filmmakers of his time. But his effort here does not get me interested in checking out more of his works. The cast includes a handful actors who were successful and prolific too back then, but the performances are all mediocre at best and the script is so-so as well. I cannot say I cared a lot for any of the protagonists and I did not find the film funny either although there are many sequences where it attempts to be. Same can be said about the romance aspect. In general, this film lacks expertise and a defining touch in most areas. I do not recommend the watch. The only maybe good thing is that it is not Nazi propaganda despite being from 1934.

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Larry41OnEbay-2

If I was stuck on a desert island with only one film... this would be it. Considered the pinnacle of '30s Austrian cinema, Maskerade embodies much of the best of 30s European filmmaking, in which the camera dances to a distinctly musical rhythm of movements and countermovements. It sits comfortably among the '30s films of Rene Clair, Max Ophuls and Jean Renoir, as well as Ernst Lubitsch's work in Hollywood. Compared to most of those films, its topic may seem relatively fluffy: an artist creates a minor scandal by painting a masked nude suspected to be an aristocrat's fiancée; when he names an innocent girl in an attempted cover-up, it leads to unexpected romantic entanglement. Willi Forst takes a well-worn continental costume milieu as a starting point, doing everything he can to breathe life into it. The camera darts with ease through ballroom scenes, connecting the eyelines of characters as they scope each other's movements. He laces the film with clever tricks both visual (dialogues filmed in silhouette) and aural (a montage of citizens making animal sounds while reading the gossip pages). Driving everything is a buoyant soundtrack of 19th century waltzes and opera, whose lilting rhythms can be found in the film's pacing even when the music subsides. The film itself feels like a symphony of varied movements: robust allegros, minuet-like montages, and a climactic rondo that brings everything to full circle. Overall, life is presented as an irresistible society ball, governed by status, gossip and decadent desire.

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larry41onEbay

I seen thousands of rare films, this is one of the BEST!I saw this film in the mid-1980's a film archive screening of a 35mm pristine print. It had been scheduled because no one had run the print in decades and the programmer was curious. The reviews from Variety and the New York Times said this was a wonderful, sophisticated, romantic comedy but that this Austrian version had been bought so that MGM could remake the film with Myrna Loy and William Powell. Unfortunately Loy was in a contract dispute and Luise Rainer was substituted with mixed results. The German language original version hardly got any play. When I saw it with a small group of surprised film buffs a very unusual experience happened. The lights came up after the end credits were over and we rose to our feet dumb founded. Several strangers near by turned to one anther with the same question on their lips, "Is it just me, or was that the best movie we've ever seen?' Quickly the electricity zoomed around the room and it was confirmed! The rapturous talk about this film spread like wild fire. IT'S A CHARMING MASTERPIECE! Now I'm a student of Ernst Lubitsch, Frank Capra and Billy Wilder and this film should be shown again to the public where they too can celebrate this delightful film on par with the work of these masters. Lets all support classic film and the screening of movies on the big screen where they were meant to be seen. And let's all support the film archives who's job it is to find, preserve and present these forgotten wonders of early cinema. It's been almost fifteen years since I've seen this gem and I still pray everyday to see it again. I hope someday to share more of it's charm with my old friends and to make new friends by giving them the joyous experience of this buried treasure.

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4ty-2

A delightful movie, full of atmosphere of the post World War I Vienna. The old elites are officially abolished but still dominant in social life. A scandal - worth the 19th century prudery - is made bearable through the famous Viennese easy-going lifestyle. One can smell the scent of the old Monarchy from every corner along with the tragedy of now only being a small and unimportant country. The story is told quickly, the scenes full of whit and very discreet erotic hints. The leads are cast with two of Austria finest: Paula Wessely and Adolf Wohlbrück (internationally known as Anton Walbrook). If you want to dive deeply into Austrian culture and understanding of the countries roots, then watch this wonderful movie.

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