'38 – Vienna Before the Fall

1986 film March 2025 38 – Auch das war Wien '38 – Vienna Before the Fall poster.jpg U.S theatrical release poster Wolfgang Glück Michael von Wolkenstein Christine Gouze-Rénal (co-producer) Herbert Reutterer (executive producer) Friedrich Torberg (novel) Wolfgang Glück Tobias Engel Sunnyi Melles Bert Grund Gérard Vandenberg Heidi Handorf Wolfgang B. Heine East West Classics 1986 Austria 1987 4 23 West Germany yes 97 minutes West Germany Austria German '38 – Vienna Before the Fall (de 38 – Auch das war Wien 38 – That too was Vienna) is a 1986 Austrian-West German co-produced drama film directed by Wolfgang Glück. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awards.http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1987 The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners 16 August 2015 oscars.org It is set in Vienna in 1937–1938 at the time of the Anschluss. Plot The story begins in 1937 and unfolds between Vienna and Berlin. Actress Carola Hell is at the beginning of a promising career. She finds love with Martin Hoffmann, an assimilated Jewish writer, and moves in with him into a shared apartment. Despite the political changes, they believe they can live their love in an apolitical private sphere. During a performance in Berlin, Carola has her first encounters with the Gestapo. When she fails to report at the agreed time, Martin, against warnings from friends, decides to travel to Berlin but is intercepted and searched on the way. Back in Vienna, the worsening situation on the streets and the reactions of the antisemitic caretaker, actor colleagues, or the housekeeper whose socialist husband is imprisoned, confront the couple. The housekeeper recalls the February Uprising of 1934 and offers Hoffmann shelter in her communal apartment in case of emergency. With Austria's annexation completed, Carola informs Martin that she is pregnant. Together they try to escape to Prague by train, but Martin is picked out of the crowd at the station while Carola manages to flee. When he tries to accept the housekeeper's offer, she refuses because her son is a Nazi, and it wouldn't end well. A taxi driver promises Hoffmann to take him to the border the next day, but he is intercepted by the Gestapo on his way home that same night. Cast Tobias Engel as Martin Sunnyi Melles as Carola Heinz Trixner as Toni Romuald Pekny as Sovary Ingrid Burkhard as Frau Schostal Josef Fröhlich as Kemetter Tanja von Oertzen as Frau von Wartenburg Reception "The well-intentioned attempt to address a dark chapter of Austro-German history is noteworthy, if only for its subject matter – worthy of discussion," wrote the Lexikon des Internationalen Films.'38 - Heim ins Reich https://www.filmdienst.de/film/details/834/38-heim-ins-reich 2025-08-05 www.filmdienst.de de The television magazine Prisma (TV magazine) de Prisma (Fernsehzeitschrift) commented: "Unfortunately, the result offers polished boredom with nostalgic images and often irritating moralizing."https://www.prisma.de/filme/38,282952 38 – Auch das war Wien - Trailer, Kritik, Bilder und Infos zum Film de 2025-08-05 www.prisma.de "In times when what was thought to be overcome resurfaces, when the past, even 50 years later, remains unresolved and is to be silenced again: in such times, a film like this cannot be too much." (Wolfgang Glück) Awards The film was nominated in 1987 for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to The Assault by Dutch filmmaker Fons Rademakers. The Deutsche Film- und Medienbewertung (FBW) in Wiesbaden awarded the film the "valuable" rating. See also List of submissions to the 59th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Austrian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film References External links 0090554 '38 – Vienna Before the Fall Category:1986 films Category:1980s political drama films Category:Austrian drama films Category:West German films Category:Films based on Austrian novels Category:1986 German-language films Category:Films set in 1937 Category:Films set in 1938 Category:Films about Nazi Germany Category:Films set in Austria Category:German political drama films Category:1986 drama films Category:1986 German films Category:1986 Austrian films