SKU 2452
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MASKERADE (1934) * with improved switchable English subtitles and picture *

Willi Forst Writers: Walter Reisch, Willi Forst Stars: Paula Wessely, Anton Walbrook and Peter Petersen
(2)
$14.99

Old Photo Sample (Prior to 20 Jun 2016):

New Photo Sample (As of 20 Jun 2016):

Old Photo Sample (Prior to 20 Jun 2016):

New Photo Sample (As of 20 Jun 2016):

Willi Forst’s elaborate story about morality and love takes place in Vienna in the beginning of the twentieth Century.  Anita Keller is engaged to the Court conductor Paul Harrandt.  At a carnival ball – which is also attended by Paul’s brother, the surgeon Carl Ludwig Harrandt and his wife Gerda --- Anita runs into her former lover, the artist Heideneck.  Although Anita flirts with him without inhibition, Heideneck is only interested in Gerda, who has already declined with indignation his invitation, that she return with him to his atelier.  Returning home, Heideneck is surprised to discover, that Gerda is there waiting for him.  Dressed only in a mask and a muff, she permits herself to be painted.  This controversial painting ends up being published in the newspapers accidentally and everyone thinks Anita is the model.  Confronted by Paul Harrandt, Heideneck says it wasn’t Anita, but rather a certain Miss Dur.  Paul tracks this alleged “Miss Dur” down and believes her to be Leopoldine Dur, who works for Princess Metternich.  When Heideneck meets his supposed model, he falls in love for the first time in his life with a decent woman.  But a disappointed Anita conjures up a catastrophe for all involved with her jealousy.

Willi Forsts aufwändige Sitten- und Liebesgeschichte spielt Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts in Wien: Anita Keller ist mit Hofkapellmeister Paul Harrandt verlobt. Auf einem Faschingsball – dem auch Pauls Bruder, der Chirurg Carl Ludwig Harrandt, und dessen Frau Gerda beiwohnen – trifft Anita ihren ehemaligen Geliebten, den Kunstmaler Heideneck. Obwohl Anita ungehemmt mit ihm flirtet, interessiert sich Heideneck nur für Gerda, die aber das Angebot, ihm in sein Atelier zu folgen, empört ablehnt. Zuhause angekommen, wird Heideneck jedoch bereits von Gerda erwartet: Nur mit einer Maske und einem Muff bekleidet, lässt sie sich malen. Das brisante Bild gelangt durch Zufall an die Öffentlichkeit, und jeder hält Anita für das Modell. Von Paul Harrandt bedrängt, sagt Heideneck in der Not, er habe nicht Anita, sondern ein gewisses Fräulein Dur gezeichnet. Tatsächlich macht Harrandt eine Leopoldine Dur ausfindig, die bei der Fürstin Metternich als Vorleserin tätig ist. Als Heideneck sein vermeintliches Modell kennen lernt, verliebt er sich erstmals in seinem Leben aufrichtig in eine Frau. Doch die enttäuschte Anita beschwört mit ihrer Eifersucht eine Katastrophe herauf. 

DVD-R IS IN GERMAN WITH SWITCHABLE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. Approx. 95 mins.

 

  Old Film Sample (Prior to 20 Jun 2016):  

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New Film Sample (As of 20 Jun 2016):

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Very good, 7/25/2014 7:04 PM
From: rogerthemoviemaniac88
Good picture quality. Subtitled well. Very satisfactory overall. A wonderfully charming movie, to boot! Highly recommended.
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It's as if Lubitsch & Wilder collaborated on the best romantic film ever!, 4/20/2019 11:59 AM
From: nitrateera@gmail.com
Beautiful period piece cinematography, sophisticated dialogue, deft humor, souffle like comedy, fascinating characters, sweeping plot twist, a Cinderella story in reverse! This richly charming film is much better than a simple plot description... but if you must know... SPOILERS: Set in pre-WWI Vienna, Maskarade concerns a near-tragic misunderstanding over a nude painting. It is incorrectly assumed that heroine Leopoldine (Paula Wesseley) posed for the painting, when in fact the model was Gerda (Hilde von Stolz), the wife of stuffy Dr. Harrandt (Peter Peterson). The romance between Leopoldine and artist Heidendeck (Adolf Wohlbruck aka Walbrook) is threatened when his cast-off mistress shoots him. Dr. Harrandt is summoned to perform an emergency operation on Heidenbeck, but upon discovering that the artist had painted his wife Gerda in the nude, the "good" doctor refuses to minister to Heidenbeck's wound. It is Leopoldine who appeals to the doctor's essential humanity and finally sets things right. The centerpiece of Masquerade in Vienna is a concert sequence, given period credibility through its use of authentic Enrico Caruso records on the soundtrack.
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