Best Austrian history movies

In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison.

North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.

After a wonderful time in Hungary Sissi falls extremely ill and must retreat to a Mediterranean climate to rest. The young empress’ mother takes her from Austria to recover in Madeira.

A fictional account of one year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Christmas Eve 1877, Elisabeth, once idolized for her beauty, turns 40 and is officially deemed an old woman; she starts trying to maintain her public image.

1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.

The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.

Vice Lieutenant Eismayer is the most feared trainer and model macho in the Austrian Military and lives as a gay man in secret. When he falls in love with a young, openly gay soldier, his world gets turned upside down.

Vienna, 1920. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has collapsed. Peter Perg returns home from the Great War, after years of captivity. But the Vienna he comes home to is nothing like the place he once knew. The new Austrian Republic thrives on social and artistic freedom, but anti-democratic movements and unemployment loom overhead. A stranger in his hometown, his life takes a turn for the worse when one of his former comrades is murdered. Suddenly the mysterious killings of veterans are mounting. Personally connected to the victims, Perg decides to bring the killer to justice. He finds an ally in the cool-headed forensic doctor Theresa Körner, with whom he has a deeper, shared history. Their investigation leads them into the darkest corners of the city, as they confront a brutal and systematic killer and intrigues from within the police force. But when the killer’s net closes around Perg himself, he faces the moral dilemma of his life.

A woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Balkan war.

When Andreas arrives in the remote valley in the Austrian Alps, he is only about four years old - nobody knows for sure. He grows up to become a skilled farmhand and, as a young man, joins a work crew that builds one of the first mountain railroads, bringing light and noise to the valley along with electricity. He also finds the love of his life in Marie, but their happiness is short-lived. Only many years later, when Andreas embarks on his final journey, she is with him once again. And in amazement Andreas looks back at all the years that lie behind him.

Because of the power of love, the last year of Franz Kafka's life becomes his happiest. The well-known writer has never before been able to allow himself to experience intimacy, he suffers from tuberculosis and is dependent on his overbearing family. In the summer of 1923, he met Dora Diamant in the seaside resort Graal-Müritz on the Baltic Sea coast, where he is convalescing and she is working in a Jewish Volksheim. He is a man of world, the 14 years younger woman is from the deep East, he can write, she can dance. She has both feet firmly on the ground, he is always hovering a little above it. She embraces the indicative, he gets tangled up in the conjunctive. But the worldly wise Dora accepts him as he is. And he accepts her. Together they go to Berlin and when Franz's health deteriorates rapidly, to a sanatorium in Austria. They are granted a single year together until Franz Kafka's health deteriorates incurable. However their year together allows them to feel the glory of life.

A story set in a small village in Sudetenland between 1937 and 1945. "Habermann" is based on true events.

Vienna, Austria, 1910. The young painter Egon Schiele is a rising artist, provocative and free, whose work, characterized by eroticism, shocks as much as it fascinates art lovers.

18th century Vienna. Maria Theresia von Paradis, a gifted piano player and close friend of Mozart's, lost her eye-sight as a child. Desperate to cure their talented daughter, the Paradis entrust Maria to Dr. Mesmer, a forward-thinking-physician who gives her the care and attention that she requires. With the doctor's innovative techniques of magnetism, Maria slowly recovers her sight. But this miracle comes at a price as the woman progressively starts to lose her gift for music.

1779. Eight-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven, called "Louis", is already known as a musical prodigy. He learns to go his own way - much to the dismay of the people around him. Some years later, he meets Mozart during times of political upheaval. The unconventional genius and French Revolution are sparking a fire in Louis' heart; he doesn't want to serve a master - only the arts. Facing times of family tragedies and unrequited love, he almost gives up. However, Louis makes it to Vienna to study under Haydn in 1792, and the rest is history. Who was this man, whose music has since touched countless hearts and minds? At the end of his life, the master is isolated by loss of loved ones and hearing. Surely though, he was way ahead of his times.

Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become ensnared in political deception.

1984: Searching for an experience that goes deeper than the superficiality of modern civilization, Bruno Manser travels into the jungles of Borneo and finds it with the nomadic Penan tribe. It is an encounter that changes his life forever. When the existence of the Penan is threatened by relentless deforestation, Manser takes up the fight against logging with a courage and determination that makes him one of the most renowned and credible environmentalists of his time. Eventually, it costs him everything. Based on a true story.

A wide-ranging, energetic period piece tracing the rise of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as he goes from battlefield warrior to France's beloved King Henri IV. Director Jo Baier's epic is a classically entertaining adventure, albeit one with more than a little bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. In late 16th-century France, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots were at war. Seemingly seeking peace, the French dowager queen, Catherine de Medici summons Henry to her court to have him marry her daughter, uniting the two warring factions. However, the Catholics slaughter the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and Henry-now married-must use all his guile to both stay alive and maneuver for the throne. [Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival]

Narrated by Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman, "JFK: A President Betrayed" uncovers new evidence that reveals how JFK embarked on secret back channel peace efforts with Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro and was determined to get out of Vietnam despite intense opposition inside his own government.

A politically naive Viennese butcher manages to survive the Nazi occupation of Austria and the second world war.

Puppets! Pixels! Anime! Live action! Stock footage! Lumpennerd Johannes Grenzfurthner gives an ideotaining cinematic revue about important political concepts. Everyone is talking about freedom! Privacy! Identity! Resistance! The Market! The Left! But, yikes, Johannes can't tolerate ignorant and topically abusive comments on the "Internet" anymore! Supported by writer Ishan Raval, in this film, Johannes explains, re-evaluates, and sometimes sacrifices political golden calves of discourse. Not to be used with false consciousness or silicone-based lubricant.

Germany, 1931. The youth novel "Emil and the Detectives" is being filmed, which will make its author, Erich Kästner, world famous. An unusual friendship begins between the childless author and fatherless Hans, the 9-year-old playing the character Little Tuesday. Their friendship is put to the ultimate test in the Third Reich when Kästner's books are banned and little Hans becomes a Hitler Youth. Based on a true story.

The beautiful account of the powerful drama of love and courage of Austrian Archduke Franz Joseph and Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria. This is a condensed version of the original German language 3-part "Sissi" series.

Lou Andreas-Salomé, the woman who enraptured 19th century Europe’s greatest minds, recounts her life to Ernst Pfeiffer in this German film directed by Cordula Kablitz-Post. A published novelist, poet and essayist, Salomé’s desire to live a life free from convention scandalized society but spurred genius and passion in others, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Rée and her lover, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Under the tutelage of Sigmund Freud, she became the first female psychoanalyst.

A mismatched team of British Special Services agents led by an American must infiltrate, in disguise, a female-run Enigma factory in Berlin and bring back the decoding device that will end the war.

During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: "Our boat is full." A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum: four Jews, a French child, and a German soldier. They seek temporary refuge with a couple who run a village inn. They pose as a family: the deserter as husband, Judith as his wife, an old man from Vienna as her father, his granddaughter and the French lad, whom they beg to keep silent, as their children. Judith's teenage brother poses as a soldier. The fabrication unravels through chance and the local constable's exact investigation. Whom will the Swiss allow to stay? Who gets deported?

A man's story parallels Hitler's rise. Austrian Klaus Schneider, wounded in World War I, recovers in the care of Dr. Emil Bettleheim. Bettleheim discovers that Schneider possesses powers of empathy and of clairvoyance, such that could aid suicidal patients. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name to Eric Jan Hanussen and goes to Berlin, as a hypnotist and clairvoyant performing in halls and theaters. He always speaks the truth, which brings him to the attention of powerful Nazis. He predicts their rise (good propaganda for them) and their violence (not so good). He's in pain and at risk. What is Hanussen's future?

The mavericks who pioneered the modern pit stop made it a raceday staple that takes less than two seconds.

Barely 22, Franz Klammer finds himself at the “eye of the storm” when he shows up for the men’s downhill competition at the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. Since the previous season the charismatic newcomer has won virtually every race. The pressure from the media and the public and the hopes of an entire nation are off the scales. His sponsor is pushing him to switch equipment right before the competition, the weather is getting steadily worse, and his toughest rivals know that Franz has to do better than just a flawless run. Franz senses that he has to find his own path and that only the love of his life can give him the strength to do that. This is the most important race of his life in which he skis a line that nobody even thought was possible and which will make him to this day a legend in the sport of downhill skiing.

Marthe is a girl with a special gift: she can cure illnesses. But the time she lives in is marked by superstition and godliness. When Marthe can not help the burgrave's wife from her village, the girl has to flee. Your path crosses that of Ritter Christian, who moves eastward into the Mark Meissen with a group of Frankish settlers. In the Middle Ages an unimaginably long and arduous way. Christian has a hard time avoiding the fascination of Marthe, but their diverse backgrounds make a relationship impossible and the settlers are afraid of the weird girl.

Trapped in a loveless arranged marriage to the immature future Czar, a young German Princess proves a skillful political infighter and rises to become Catherine the Great.

Begun in Austria in 1944/45, finished and released in 1949, this is a biography of the minor Austrian composer Carl Michael Ziehrer, who overcomes hypersensitivity in competitive situations which leads initially to failures in both career and romance.

Germany, 1945: The 25-year-old Ellen is active in the resistance movement against the Nazis. When she meets Robert, a charismatic English secret agent, the two begin to have an affair. Ellen is ordered to spy on the German naval officer Hans. He is scheduled to serve as Chief Officer aboard the submarine U 864, which has been given a secret mission. Against her will, Ellen falls for Hans. Although he is engaged to another woman, Hans is strongly attracted to her as well. Eventually, Ellen succeeds in delivering critical information the submarines precise route to Japan. The English had suspected that Hitler planned to deliver his ominous wonder weapon to the weakened Japanese. The U 864 leaves its port. Because the war has been going badly for the Germans, the mood onboard is grim.

A real time recreation of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, in which leading SS and Nazi Party officals gathered to discuss the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". Led by SS-General Reinhard Heydrich, the Wannsee Conference was the starting point for the Jewish Holcaust which led to the mass murder of six million people.

1938. Austria has been annexed by Nazi Germany, and Switzerland has closed its borders for Jewish refugees - a death sentence for thousands. But not all Swiss officials observe this inhuman order.

A story about of one of the darkest periods in German history, an era in which the belief in occult forces was widespread. In Bamberg, witch hunts were fostered by a greedy and delusional Bishop Prince and reached their peak around 1630. This Bamberg ruler used the witch trials to purge his political enemies and enrich himself with their goods. Almost 1000 innocent men, women and children became his victims. BURNING SOULS deals with the era seen through the eyes of Johanna Wolff, a pharmacist's daughter, and the young physician Cornelius Weinmann. To save the innocent, he and a few courageous men revolt against the Bishop Prince.

A great Empire, once famous for its enlightened traditions, is taken over by a ruthless political establishment. Religious fundamentalists and national separatists are tearing at the fabric of its liberal society. Under the influence of his conservative advisors, the Emperor fails to initiate the reforms that could save the Empire from annihilation. One man alone can avert the cataclysm to come. The year is 1888 and the 600-year-old Empire of Austria-Hungary is at a cross-road of history. Crown-Prince Rudolf, son of fabled Empress Sisi, the most beautiful woman of her time, is the man with the vision and the ability to lead his Empire into the 20th century. Yet his enemies, the all-powerful Prime Minister first and foremost, scheme to isolate Rudolf from his father and from access to power. Against the backdrop of one of the most dangerous, exciting and colorful periods in history, at the dawn of the modern age...

The glorious and tragic story of American athlete and actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904-84), Olympic swimmer, water polo player and the only true Tarzan, an archetypal character and myth of cinema, that of the original Hollywood blockbusters (1932-48).

South African enfant terrible filmmaker and artiste-cineaste Manus Oosthuizen meets with Rotten Tomatoes-approved indie film critic Babette Cruickshank in an Echo Park sound studio. With key members of Manus's crew joining, they record an audio commentary track for his new elegiac feature documentary Razzennest. But the session goes down a different path... cazzart! The ultimate elevation of arthouse horror, just not as you might expect.

A story about a group of Austria-Hungarian soldiers in the 1st World War. They hold an artillery post in the mountains on the southern front to Italy. The group is cut off from their own troops and under heavy artillery fire from the Italian. When the post receives a fatal direct hit from a shell, killing the comrades, private Jacob Lindner and the seriously injured captain Jan Kopetzky are the only survivors of the post. Jakob has to suffer the madness of this hellish war in all its human atrocities. Without care, help from the command, food and water, to survive becomes an existential challenge. The young soldier tries desperately with humanity and dignity to save his and the injured captains life.

The Habsburg Dynasty had ruled large parts of Europe and the world for 650 years. During World War I, however, the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire sowed the seeds of its own demise. At the height of World War I, the world of the Habsburgs was on the brink of collapse. Almost exactly 100 years ago to the day, in April 1918, the most sensitive diplomatic mission of the First World War became a Europe-wide scandal: the so-called "Sixtus Affair". Secret negotiations between the Austrian imperial family and France were supposed to bring peace to the Danube monarchy – and their failure caused the war to escalate and the Habsburgs to fall.

Vienna, 1947. Bockerer and his wife Binerl have survived the war, though his butcher's shop was destroyed by bombs. Karl Bockerer opens up a new establishment in the center of the city. Post-war Vienna is divided into four zones in which the Allies run things and ensure that law and order prevails. This is the story of two lovers: Gustl, just returned form a POW camp, and the Russian interpreter Elena. Bockerer becomes the patron of their love. Elena's father was executed by Stalin, and the only way she can escape a similar fate is to marry an Austrian. Bockerer "buys" a husband for Elena and, full of tricks as ever, he succeeds in pulling the wool over the Russian occupier's eyes.

A semi-documentary feature about one of the biggest criminal cases in Austrian history – the letter bomb attacks of Franz Fuchs.

In 1731, nineteen "vampires" were burned at the stake near Olomouc, including seven children. In Banat, a part of present-day Serbia, reports of "people drained of blood" became more frequent. Empress Maria Theresa wanted to put an end to the goings-on and commissioned her personal physician Gerard van Swieten to shed light on the matter.

The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph falls in love with the young Elisabeth. It's love at first sight but Franz Joseph's mother Sophie doesn't approve this love.

It is the world's most mysterious manuscript. A book, written by an unknown author, illustrated with pictures that are as bizarre as they are puzzling - and written in a language that even the best cryptographers have been unable to decode.

In the spring of 1902, Viennese working-class daughter Marie König runs away from her beating father and is lured into a high-class brothel by an agent. Instead of the promised self-determined life "with horse-drawn carriage rides and silk dresses", she experiences closed doors, violence and exploitation. Only after years of agony does Marie confide in the journalist Emil Bader, who makes the conditions in the brothel public and takes the owner, Regine Riehl, to court.

In the 14th century, a young merchant's daughter from southern Germany sets off on the adventurous Way of St. James to faraway Santiago de Compostela to fulfill her father's last wishes and bring his heart there. Disguised as a man, the pilgrim is hunted by pursuers set on her by her conniving brother.

A family displaced by war is ambushed by highwaymen. The encounter takes a turn when one of the robbers recognizes the father as his old brother in arms.

King Louis XIV has without his knowledge a twin brother, Philippe, but when he is told, he immediately locks up his brother in the Bastille. The king wants to increase his popularity and stages an assassination against himself where Philippe is dressed as king Louis. But Philippe manages to escape the assassination and everybody believes him to be the real king...

Falcino, a small town in the south of Italy. No one sees. No one hears. Nobody talks. But everyone knows. And so they all become accomplices of a tragedy against women, against kids, against a family. A story of violence and slavery. Indifference is stronger than their conscience. Maria, a young mother of a family, lives with her husband Gerardo and her two children, Rocco e Carmela, on her father-in-law's farm: "grandpà" Giuseppe. Gerardo decides to emigrate to Austria to earn more money so as to allow a more comfortable life for the family. This absence will be the beginning of a nightmare that will lead Maria and her daughter to be victims of abuse of an unscrupulous ogre (monster).

In the year 1968, the “Bockerer” has decided, after many attempts, to marry his long-time widowed housekeeper, Anna. Gustl, whom he as taken in like a son after the war, will open a butchery in the Czech small town Kostelec and invites the Bockerers to spend their wedding journey with him and his Elena. The “Prague Spring”, of which everywhere is talked so much about, promises a nice honeymoon, and their friend Hatzinger is taken along on the journey as well. Soon after their arrival, the Bockerer has to realize that “Communism with a human face” is still an idle wish.

An account of the troubled life of Richard Sorge (1895-1944), a Soviet spy of German origin who played a decisive role in the outcome of World War II.

Concerning the Mátyás era in Hungarian history, during the reign of Matthias Corvinus (1443–1490), the film focuses on three eras of the king's life: the young Mátyás fights for the throne, the older Mátyás as king, and the fate of the royal crown and the royal heir after his death.

Explore the origins of the Celts, uncovering their culture through preserved salt mines, ancient artifacts, and the mystery of a 2,400-year-old tomb.

It was the battle that decided the future of Europe: on August 26, 1278, two dynasties faced each other at Marchfeld. On one side was the Roman-German King Rudolf I from the House of Habsburg, on the other Ottokar II from the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty. Rudolf's victory over Ottokar laid the foundations for the unprecedented rise of the Habsburg Empire, which was to play a decisive role in Europe for more than six centuries.

Young director Honza David films the Russian invasion in in Prague in August 1968. With Eva the love of his life he tries to get out of the country. He wants to bring the explosive material to Vienna, to the director of the Austrian Television Helmut Zilk. He knows Eva very well but the Czech Secret Service even better ...

This rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family uncovers the story behind the family's phenomenal economic success. The film tells the dynasty’s incredible saga, from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto to the halls of royal palaces, all the while emphasizing the importance they placed on family unity and the profound role Judaism played in their lives, later using their influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe. A definitive work of documentary cinema with a thoroughly engaging narrative, The Rothschild Saga brings their mysterious and fascinating history to life.

Rosa, a young and self-confident woman, used to live a happy life in a small valley in the Alps, but after the second world war broke out, everything changed.

Two brothers who could not have been more different. The eldest, Hermann Göring (1893-1946), was a prominent member of the Nazi regime, head of the German Air Force, and a war criminal. The youngest, Albert Göring (1895-1966), opposed tyranny and was persecuted, but today he is still unjustly forgotten, although he saved many lives while his brother and his accomplices ravaged Europe.

Hanna Leitner, wants to escape the bourgeois corset and her husband Anton, who sexually harasses her. She goes into therapy with Otto Gross and follows him to Monte Verità, where she discovers the fascination of photography.

Germany's economic movers and shakers get a thorough going-over in Friedl's docu-fiction hybrid, which doesn't hesitate to point fingers at those partially responsible for Europe's financial woe.

A chance meeting between British nobleman and lovely young Mistral foils a plot by her manipulating Aunt Emilie to avenge the death of her sister, Mistral's mother, who died in childbirth. But when an unscrupulous blackmailer and a rapacious Rajah enter the plot, the growing attraction between Lord and convent girl becomes yet more fraught with Danger.

March/April 1917. The first world war is already a couple year to pace. A sealed train with Russian emigrants keeps on driving from Zürich Germany and Sweden to Sint-Petersburg. The outlaws stand under the guidance of Vladimir J. Lenin. Two senior officers support the revolutionary bomb "to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Yet there are some unpleasant clashes between Socialists and enthusiastic workers who are worried about the war. During train travel there comes an end to Lenin's affair with the gracious Inessa, and his wife Nadja is prepared take back him. The triumphant entrance in St. Petersburg will exceed all expectations....

An account of the life and work of the influential Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), an iconic figure and a godless demigod who dared to enter the darkest depths of the human mind; through his correspondence and his own voice, and that of his family and friends.