Cinema
Die vom 17er Haus
Artur Berger · 1932
Synopsis
Vienna, in 2032. In the city archives, an old archivist tells his grandson how the old Vienna had tried to resist the new times. Around them the city has changed: green estates on the outskirts, towers in the centre, and the old cathedral still dominating the new heights.
Context
The film was made for the Viennese regional elections of 24 April 1932, produced by the municipal film agency and given sound with the Selenophon process; Berger wrote the screenplay with Siegfried Bernfeld. The archivist looks at the past through a sort of television, and the future city mixes green housing estates and glass towers around the cathedral. The last image calls for a vote for the Social Democrats.
Who it is for
An hour long, and a political object as much as a film: one must know where it comes from before seeing it, which nothing on screen tries to hide in any case.
Prizes and reception
The last propaganda film of the Viennese Social Democrats before the banning of their party, now issued with the films of the Austrian workers' movement.