Masquerade in Vienna

Willi Forst’s elaborate story about morality and love takes place in Vienna in the beginning of the twentieth Century. Anita Keller is engaged to the Court conductor Paul Harrandt. At a carnival ball – which is also attended by Paul’s brother, the surgeon Carl Ludwig Harrandt and his wife Gerda --- Anita runs into her former lover, the artist Heideneck. Although Anita flirts with him without inhibition, Heideneck is only interested in Gerda, who has already declined with indignation his invitation, that she return with him to his atelier. Returning home, Heideneck is surprised to discover, that Gerda is there waiting for him. Dressed only in a mask and a muff, she permits herself to be painted. This controversial painting ends up being published in the newspapers accidentally and everyone thinks Anita is the model. Confronted by Paul Harrandt, Heideneck says it wasn’t Anita, but rather a certain Miss Dur. Paul tracks this alleged “Miss Dur” down and believes her to be Leopoldine Dur, who works for Princess Metternich. When Heideneck meets his supposed model, he falls in love for the first time in his life with a decent woman. But a disappointed Anita conjures up a catastrophe for all involved with her jealousy.