38 – Vienna Before the Fall'' () is a 1987 Austrian-West German co-produced

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Wolfgang Glück Wolfgang Glück (29 September 1929 – 13 December 2023) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. His film 38 – Vienna Before the Fall'' (1987) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awar ...

. It was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

at the

59th Academy Awards The 59th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 30, 1987, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During ...

. It is set in Vienna in 1937–1938 at the time of the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

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 The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. 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 Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

caretaker, actor colleagues, or the housekeeper whose socialist husband is imprisoned, confront the couple. The housekeeper recalls the February battles 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 Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, 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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:38 Vienna Before The Fall 1987 films 1980s political drama films Austrian drama films West German films Films based on Austrian novels 1980s German-language films Films set in 1937 Films set in 1938 Films about Nazi Germany Films set in Austria German political drama films 1986 drama films 1986 films 1987 drama films 1980s German films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links