April 1, 2000
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | April 1, 2000 |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1952 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Liebeneiner |
| script |
Ernst Marboe Rudolf Brunngraber |
| production | Wien-Film GmbH , Vienna |
| music | Alois Melichar |
| camera |
Sepp Ketterer Karl Löb Fritz Arno Wagner |
| cut | Henny Brünsch-Tauschinsky |
| occupation | |
| |
April 1st, 2000 is a satirical science fiction film by the director Wolfgang Liebeneiner , which was produced in 1952 on behalf of and with funding from the Austrian federal government. A star ensemble was available to the director for this work, which is rightly often referred to as a “state film”: Hilde Krahl , Josef Meinrad , Curd Jürgens , Hans Moser , Paul Hörbiger , Helmut Qualtinger . The script was written by Ernst Marboe and Rudolf Brunngraber . After the premiere on November 19, 1952 in the Apollo Cinema , Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl organized a festive premiere in the Vienna City Hall , to which the numerous participants were invited. In Germany he appeared on November 24, 1952 in Frankfurt am Main. April 1, 2000 is one of 150 films that were released on DVD in the edition “ Der Austrian Film ”.
action
It is April 1, 2000 and the newly elected government is being sworn in by the High Commissioners . After countless, unsuccessful negotiations with the victorious Allied powers over the past 55 years, the Austrian Prime Minister asked his compatriots to tear up their four-language identity cards issued by the Allies in order to send a signal. Austria is then indicted by the Allies before the world court of breaking world peace. The implicit message is clear: Just as Austria has been innocently accused of breaking world peace twice in his eyes (namely in 1914 and 1939), this is happening again, in the fictitious year 2000. The Last Judgment floats in Vienna with its rocket and lands in front of Schönbrunn Palace . Reporter Heribert Meisel reports live from the event.
The Austrians now have to prove that they are such a lovable people that they could never break world peace. From Mozart to Prince Eugene , Empress Maria Theresa , Viennese wine, the Viennese waltz, the mountains, music bands etc. everything is produced that supposedly makes Austria lovable. When the country is on the brink of being sentenced, the Chinese delegate finds the (not fictitious) Moscow Declaration of 1943 in the state archive , which states that Austria will regain its independence, which also happens at the end of the film. Back in the present, however, it is complained that all of this will not happen until the year 2000.
background
The film was produced by Wien-Film on behalf of the Austrian Federal Government in the studios Wien-Sievering and Wien-Schönbrunn. The outdoor shots were taken in Vienna and the surrounding area. You can see, among other things, St. Stephen's Cathedral and Schönbrunn Palace . For the buildings was Otto Niedermoser responsible for the production line Karl Ehrlich .
It is a science fiction film that was intended on the one hand to convey a specific “Austrian consciousness” to the Austrians after the separation of Austria from Germany in 1945, which was different from Germany and thus also from the Second World War and the Holocaust delimited. Ironically, this task was entrusted to a director who had a considerable influence on filmmaking during the Nazi era.
The film works very argumentatively with the mentality typical of the country and retouched history (and newly found identity ?), Which was not only constructed from within, but was also disseminated, for example, by the British occupying forces. The two-man team Brunngraber - Marboe made use of this initial advantage, apparently in order to propagate the already existing image of the wet, cheerful and peaceful Austrian.
On the other hand, arguing with this premise, the film was also intended to send a strong signal to the Allies to finally give Austria a state treaty that would restore the country's sovereignty. This wish was finally granted with the Austrian State Treaty in 1955 . The political impact of the film in this regard can be assessed as extremely small, since even numerous Austrian newspapers, in the foreground the communist papers in particular, classed this “Austrian comedy” as being of little use to the State Treaty process.
In the scenes of the four in the jeep , the 24-year-old Helmut Qualtinger has a film role as a Russian. Alfred Solm was the assistant director .
Awards
The FBL gave the film the title particularly valuable. He received the Graf Kolowrat Sascha challenge cup for the best Austrian film in 1952 from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education. April 1, 2000 was also presented at the international film festivals in Cannes, San Sebastián, São Paulo and Mar del Plata.
literature
- Ernst Kieninger, Nikola Langreiter, Armin Loacker, Klara Löffler (Eds.): April 1, 2000 . Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2000.
- Beate Hochholdinger-Reiterer: Jokes, Sexism and Science Fiction: April 1st, 2000. A state stages history . In: Maske and Kothurn , Vol. 50 (2003), ISSN 0025-4606
Web links
- April 1, 2000 at filmportal.de
- April 1, 2000 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Poe's Raven: April 1, 2000 , 2008, badmovies.de
- Andreas Tesarik: April 1, 2000 (review), Version: June 25, 2000, Institute for Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna