VIENNA 1900. PICTURES OF A METROPOLIS

It is not the canonical “Vienna films” -- the big budget romances and operettas of the 1930s and 1950s -- that provide the focus for this DVD, but rather a collection of rare film documents from the collection of the Austrian Film Museum. These works and fragments were saved from oblivion by the Film Museum's archivists, and offer vivid glimpses of urban life in Vienna during the last decade of the Empire. The coexistence of technological modernization and traditional imperial customs, of spectacle and the vernacular pervades these pictures, shot by international crews and viewed by movie theatre audiences throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire and most of Europe.

The films were uncovered and digitized in the course of “Film. Stadt. Wien”, a research project exploring the relationship of cinema and urban space from a historical perspective. The selection is dedicated to presenting the vernacular landscapes of street life, traffic, pastime and festivities. The two last films (THE EMPEROR ON FILM andTHE FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR FRANZ SCHUHMEIER) relate to the politics of the era, juxtaposing rare shots of the Imperial family with a newsreel item demonstrating the rise of the suburban working class and the dawn of the republic. Seventy years later, in VIENNAFILM 1896 – 1976, Austrian avant-garde filmmaker Ernst Schmidt, Jr. created his subjective collage of Viennese life, using a combination of found footage and newly-shot material.

For the first time these motion pictures are available on DVD in new digital transfers, featuring piano accompaniment and English subtitles. The booklet presents historical and topographical information on the films.