La Ville sans Juifs

this movie is more or less a document about a book (Die Stadt ohne Juden) from Hugo Bettauer. As a movie itself it shows the typical problems of a film industry in Vienna in the beginning of the 20's.

It is on a meta level a great pleasure. A lot of very interesting people and locations. In the historical context the movie is one of the most interesting documents we have in the movie history of central Europe. It shows that people had an idea what there future would like to be. The most interesting part is the vision of a Vienna without an important minority. It seems like a vary of stereotypes but its a fact that some visions turned into real.

The locations are partly showing buildings and interiors of the 20's and were later identified as "typical Jewish". Like the sanatorium Purkersdorf , or the "jugenstil" interior.

The movie is a great puzzle of statements of the early 20's in an community before the big economic crises and the Holocaust.

This warning against anti-semitism is well-meant and may have had its purpose at the time, but it is made without the slightest notion of how to make a film. The director has no idea about mise-en-scene; the cast varies from bad till even worse.

The great Austrian comic Hans Moser is wasted. In his part he ends in an asylum for the crazy, that is designed as a set from Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari; one wonders whether the makers had all their mental capabilities.

The restored copy I saw (Dutch Filmmuseum) gives the impression that some scenes were not put into the right place, but may be the original editing was bad as well.

It is somewhat ironically apposite to watch this now in the UK where we are still having politically charged conversations about anti-Semitism. This silent film is a wonderfully satiric rendition of the Bettauer story about the citizens of a city who fear that it is steadily being taken over by the Jews. Via a series of regulations and eventually law the Jewish are persecuted then ultimately banished. Thereupon, their chickens come home to roost; their city collapses into chaos and the Jews are invited to return - very much on their own terms. The futility and short-sightedness of a "blame culture" is writ large. Personally, I didn't see this as a precursor of the Holocaust; though I can see how the polarised vision of Jewish faith and ethics could certainly provide the oxygen ultimately required for such irrational hatred. It also served to remind me of the huge talents of the musicians who provided the accompaniments to many films like this.

"Die Stadt ohne Juden" ("The Nation without Jews") is a weird political allegory, almost a fantasy. It has no supernatural elements, yet still feels like a fantasy due to its air of unreality. The story seems very far-fetched, and yet - in light of what actually happened to the Jews in Europe only a few years after this film was made - this far-fetched story is less extreme than the bizarre reality of the Holocaust. This film goes a long way towards making the Holocaust look dull and boring.

The film takes place in the far-future world of 1976, in the faraway city of Vientria. The good burghers of Vientria have just passed a new law, expelling all the Jews from their city. Leo Strakosch, a local Jew, is betrothed to the fair Lotte, a Gentile. Reluctantly complying with the law, Leo prepares to leave Vientria, but he confidently tells Lotte that he will return for her soon.

A few years pass. Without the contributions of its former Jewish citizens, the city of Vientria has now plunged into economic depression and artistic stagnation. (Unfortunately, this fits the anti-Semitic stereotype that Jews secretly control the economy.) With the entire city in decline, the burghers are starting to consider rescinding the law and allowing the Jews to return.

One Jew has already returned to Vientria: Leo Strakosch, wearing a ridiculous black moustache which is apparently meant to disguise him as a Gentile, but which only makes him look more Jewish. Posing as a non-Jew, Strakosch now gets involved in local politics and stands for office, hoping to get elected to the city's council so that he can rescind the law against the Jews.

"Die Stadt ohne Juden" features dull acting, ponderous photography, and very little of genuine interest. A title card at the beginning of the film identifies the year as 1976, but everything looks like 1924. This film is preaching to the choir. In 1924, a few people were already aware of the growing trend of European anti-Semitism and its danger to everyone. But most adults in 1924 either didn't give a damn about European Jews, or actively supported the politicians who advocated "relocation" of unwanted Jewish citizens.

I'll give this film high marks for good intentions but very low marks for actual execution: one point out of 10.

Of the many remarkable stories concerning the recovery and restoration of lost films, none is more remarkable than the story of THE CITY WITHOUT JEWS. In fact it's downright incredible. This 1924 Austrian silent movie about the expulsion of the Jewish population from a major European city and the disastrous circumstances that follow, was a commercial success and circulated until 1933. Not surprisingly it was totally suppressed by the Nazis after taking over Austria in 1938 and it then disappeared for over 70 years. 13 years earlier in 1925 Hugo Bettauer, the author of the book on which the film is based, was murdered in Vienna by a member of the Nazi party. The murderer was convicted on a plea of "temporary insanity" but then freed after only 2 years in an "Asylum for the Criminally Insane" Tragically it proved to be an prophetic omen of things to come.

The story concerns the fictional city of Utopia (a barely disguised Vienna) whose politicians vote to expel the Jewish population after blaming them for the economic and social unrest following World War I. The expulsion results in the city being financially boycotted by European banks and a drastic decline in quality merchandise. Tourism also dries up and the city is in far worse shape than it was before. A former Jewish citizen, posing as a Roman Catholic French artist, rents the largest suite in the finest hotel and then secretly begins a campaign to get the law repealed. As this is a movie, he eventually succeeds and the Jews are welcomed back. Things return to normal and everyone except certain politicians are happy. Unfortunately movies are not real life and we all know that world history would take a different tack and the Holocaust would be the result.

Now for the incredible part. 60 years after it disappeared, part of the film resurfaced in The Netherlands. Then in 2015 the rest of the missing footage was discovered in a flea market in Paris. A publicly funded campaign to pay for the movie's restoration followed the discovery and now 5 years later it is available for streaming and on home video. The restoration by Film Archiv Austria is beyond remarkable as the finished product looks astonishing (compare it with the restoration of the complete METROPOLIS). The silent movies of Weimar Era Germany are well known but those of Austria from the same time period are not. This makes THE CITY WITHOUT JEWS a major discovery in more ways than one...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.