Die Standarte

1977's "Battleflag" aka "The Standard" was the first of four Peter Cushing titles after "Star Wars" that sank without a trace at that time. Unlike "Son of Hitler," "Touch of the Sun," and "Black Jack," this co-production between West Germany, Austria, and Spain appears to be an earnest, serious project, which nevertheless never found a distributor outside Europe, neither in Britain nor the US. Set in Belgrade in Oct 1918, during the final days of the First World War, Officer Menis (Simon Ward) does his duty in defending the battle flag of the defeated Austro-Hungarian empire, while his fellow troops, a motley gang recruited from several different countries not loyal to the royal family, simply try to survive by any means possible. The battles are elaborate but far too lengthy, while the romance between Menis and Louise Lang (Veronica Forque), daughter of a wealthy Viennese industrialist, only cripple the pace even further. Considering he was working with three different languages, Ward performs admirably, alongside Jon Finch's Major Charbinsky, and Peter Cushing's cameo as the mysterious Baron von Hackenburg, a 'strange character' and reserve major, with some influence in Vienna. Entering at the 39 minute mark, the bearded Cushing's scenes were shot in Spain, his smoking Baron surrounded by his dogs, carefully observing the battles without ever taking part. His big scene finds him speaking to the standard bearer, revealing him to be a lowly gypsy posing as an aristocrat (a solid five minutes). This was the last time he could be seen astride a horse...just as we first viewed him on screen in 1939's "The Man in the Iron Mask." Peter Cushing was reunited with Simon Ward, his assistant in "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed," and Jon Finch, who had paid his dues in Hammers like "The Vampire Lovers" and "The Horror of Frankenstein," before stardom in Roman Polanski's "Macbeth" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy." Among the other cast members are Lil Dagover (nearly 90), the star of 1919's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," and Austrian-born beauty Maria Perschy, mostly known for her work with Spanish horror star Paul Naschy, and other titles like "No Survivors Please," "Kiss Kiss...Kill Kill," "A Witch Without a Broom," "Five Golden Dragons," "The Castle of Fu Manchu," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Ghost Galleon."

Based on known novel and being shot on historical location, the setting is Belgrade, Oct 1918, the closing days of World War 1, and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Imperial economy collapsed into severe hardship and even starvation, its multi-ethnic army lost its morale and was increasingly hard-pressed to hold its line. Toward the end of 1918, soldiers in the Austrian army were well aware that things were not going well and economic situation had deteriorated. And the governments had failed badly on the homefront. In this story, an army cadet arrives to serve in Belgrade and receives orders to serve in a regiment which is accompanying a Hanoverian princess on her return to Vienna. While in Belgrade, the young man (Simon Ward) and a heir princess (Veronica Forqué) are able to meet, and they fall in love. The cadet knows that it is foolish to expect the Slavs, who have been drafted into the army, to fight very hard for an empire they would happily see dissolved, but his superior officers are oblivious to this simple fact, and as a consequence, they suffer serious military reverses. The regiment's officers fight and die to preserve the regiment's battleflag, which comes into the keeping of the cadet. He is entrusted with the task of returning it to the Hapsburg royal family, but things go wrong until a final twist.

Slow-moving story requires quite thought and patience in which some officers battle against time and themselves , more than the enemies. Based on a novel titled "Die Standarte" written by Alexander Lernet-Holenia and adapted by Herbert Asmodi. The main issue matter of the film are the efforts of the regiment to preserve the battleflag .This is a movie where fundamental aspects of human life are explored, it's no wonder that this movie is filled with scenes of intimacy, heroism and obstinacy in which the honest officers are inspired by their ancient code of military honor. The best scenes take place on a bridge where soldiers rebel against their commanding officers, leading to a horrific massacre. The film is mainly about the typical love story in times of war starring between the two protagonist lovers: Simon Ward and Veronica Forqué, but both give terrible performances, there not being enough love chemistry between them, which spoils the film. Exceptional plethora of actors formed by the greatest players of the European cinema. These include , Germans: Siegfried Rauch, Viktor Staal, Gerd Böckmann, Robert Hoffmann, Wolfgang Preiss, Lil Dagover, Maria Perschy; British: Simon Ward, Jon Finch, Peter Cushing, David Robb and Spanish players: Verónica Forqué, Manuel de Blas, José Canalejas, Hugo Blanco. Spectacular production design filmed on location in Oropesa, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha and Tarancón, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha, España and Viena, Austria (palace). However, the photography is painful because there is no perfect one and very poor; a remastering is really necessary. The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Ottokar Runze.

The historical context in which the story is developed is the following: The dissolution of Austria-Hungary was a major geopolitical event that occurred as a result of the growth of internal social contradictions and the separation of different parts of Austria-Hungary. Furthermore, nationalists within the empire were becoming increasingly embittered as, under expanded wartime powers, the military routinely suspended civil rights and treated different national groups with varying degrees of contempt throughout the Austrian half of the Dual Monarchy. The more immediate reasons for the collapse of the state were World War I, the 1918 crop failure, general starvation and the economic crisis. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had additionally been weakened overtime by a widening gap between Magyar and Austrian interests. Furthermore, a history of chronic overcommitment rooted in the 1815 Congress of Vienna in which Metternich pledged Austria to fulfill a role that necessitated unwavering Austrian strength and resulted in overextension. Upon this weakened foundation, additional stressors during World War I catalyzed the collapse of the empire. The 1917 October Revolution and the Wilsonian peace pronouncements from January 1918 onward encouraged socialism on the one hand, and nationalism on the other, or alternatively a combination of both tendencies, among all peoples of the Habsburg monarchy. The remaining territories inhabited by divided peoples fell into the composition of existing or newly formed states. The multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire started to disintegrate, leaving its army alone on the battlefields. The military breakdown of the Italian front marked the start of the rebellion for the numerous ethnicities who made up the multiethnic Empire, as they refused to keep on fighting for a cause that now appeared senseless. The Emperor had lost much of his power to rule, as his realm disintegrated. As one of his Fourteen Points, President Woodrow Wilson demanded that the nationalities of Austria-Hungary have the "freest opportunity to autonomous development". In response, Emperor Karl I agreed to reconvene the Imperial Parliament in 1917 and allow the creation of a confederation with each national group exercising self-governance. However, the leaders of these national groups rejected the idea; they deeply distrusted Vienna and were now determined to get independence. Legally, the collapse of the empire was formalized in the September 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye with Austria, which also acted as a peace treaty after the First World War, and in the June 1920 Treaty of Trianon with Hungary. Later on, a lot of Austrian and Hungarian lands were ceded to other countries. On 11 November, Karl I issued a carefully worded proclamation in which he recognized the Austrian people's right to determine the form of the state. Karl I's refusal to abdicate was ultimately irrelevant. On the day after he announced his withdrawal from Austria's politics, the German-Austrian National Council proclaimed the Republic of German Austria. Károlyi followed suit on 16 November, proclaiming the Hungarian Democratic Republic.