(Maskerade, Willi Forst, Austria 1934, 95 min., 35mm, German w/English Subtitles)
Maskerade is considered not just a masterpiece of Austrian cinema, but the quintessential “Viennese Film,” a genre that emerged in the 1920s and flourished until the 1950s, beloved by both Europeans and Americans. Set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, the best of these films are driven not just by music and costumes; they flow seamlessly between comedy and melodrama, and one can never be sure where the story lands. The plot of Maskerade, involving a nude painting and an innocent girl mistaken for a femme fatale, could have easy become ridiculous or even vulgar, had it not been treated with the utmost delicacy and psychological complexity. By the writer Walter Reisch (later known for Ninotchka and Gaslight); by the great stage actress Paula Wessely; by her partner Anton Walbrook (making his first transition from a matinee idol to one of Europe’s most charming character actors); by the cinematographer Franz Planner, one of the true poets of cinematic Vienna, as he proved earlier in Liebelei and later in Letter from an Unknown Woman. And, of course, by the director Willi Forst – the master of Viennese Film. With the rise of Nazism, this genre will become a haven for him and for the audience. Maskerade, filmed during the Austrian Civil War, may be his final bow to free Vienna – and free Europe.
Post-screening discussion with Senior Curator Peter Bagrov.
