| 38 - Auch das war Wien | |
| Director: | Wolfgang Glück |
| Music: | Bert Grund |
| Cinematography: | Gérard Vandenberg |
| Distributor: | East West Classics |
| Runtime: | 97 minutes |
| Language: | German |
'38 – Vienna Before the Fall (German: 38 – Auch das war Wien|lit=38 - That too was Vienna) is a 1987 Austrian-West German co-produced drama film directed by Wolfgang Glück. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awards.[1] It is set in Vienna in 1937–1938 at the time of the Anschluss.
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. 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 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, 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.