EXTRA-CREDIT FILMS & BOOKS

EXTRA-CREDIT FILMS

Mayerling (1968):  Hollywood feature film with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve. Adulturous romance of Archduke Rudolf von Habsburg and the Baroness Maria De Vetsera culminating in their double suicide.

Great Waltz (1938): Hollywood feature film loosely based on the life and loves of Johann Strauss, Jr., the Waltz King.

The Eternal Waltz (1954):  Feature film directed by Paul Verhoeven. German film version of the life of Johann Strauss, Jr. starring Bernard Wicki and Hilde Krahl.

Emperor Waltz (1948): Hollywood musical comedy directed by Billy Wilder, starring Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine. An American phonograph salesman v. Viennese Imperial court.

De Mayerling à Sarejevo (1940): Artfilm by Max Ophuls (French with English subtitles). Satirical look at the “extravagance and absurdity of the ruling class.”

Liebelei (1933) : Artfilm by Max Ophuls. Film version of Schnitzler’s play. German with English subtitles.

The Merry Widow (1952): Hollywood film adaptation of the musical comedy starring Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas.

Young Törless (1965-66):  Artfilm by Volker Schlöndorff. Film adaptation of Musil’s novel.

The Seven Percent Solution (1976): Star-studded Hollywood feature film in which Sherlock Holmes is sent for detoxification (cocaine addiction) to Sigmund Freud in Vienna.

The Third Man (1949):  Artfilm by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles. Spy thriller set in post-WWII Vienna.

Before Sunrise (1994): Hollywood Gen X feature. Ethan Hawke meets Julie Delpy on a train and they spend a night in Vienna.

Wittgenstein (1993):  Artfilm by Derek Jarman with a script by Terry Eagleton. (1993)

Bride of the Wind (2001): Art(?)film by Bruce Beresford about the life and many loves of Alma Mahler.

EXTRA-CREDIT BOOKS           

Morton, Frederic, A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888/89.  A portrait of Viennese culture at the time leading up to the suicide of Archduke Rudolf. (1979)

-----. Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/14. A portrait of Vienna leading up to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of WWI.  (1989)

Duffy, Bruce, The World as I found It.A novel focusing on the life and philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. (1987)

De Chellis Hill, Carol, Henry James’ Midnight Song. (novel/mystery). (1993).

Pryce-Jones, David, The Afternoon Sun. (1986).