Maskerade

Directed by Willi Forst (1934)
In German; English subtitles. 90 min.

Vienna around 1900. After a masked carnival ball, the famous painter Heideneck draws the wife of a society doctor, depicted wearing only a mask and a muff. The picture is published in the newspaper the next day and the artist is pressed for the model’s name. Since he cannot reveal it, he comes up with the fictional name Leopoldine Dur. Leopoldine Dur, however, turns out to be a real and respectable young woman, who gets drawn into the other characters’ deceits and love affairs. Maskerade is a classic of German-language cinema.