''Vienna'' (also known as ''Orson Welles' Vienna''McBride, Joseph (2006) ''What ever happened to Orson Welles?: a portrait of an independent career,'' University Press of Kentucky, p233-4 or ''Spying in Vienna''Brigitte Timmermann, ''The Third Man's Vienna - Celebrating a Film Classic,'' Shippen Rock Publishing, p271) is a 1968

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. It was originally produced as part of his abandoned television special, ''Orson's Bag'', which was made for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. However, in 1969, with the project close to completion, CBS withdrew their funding over Welles' long-running disputes with US authorities regarding his tax status. The film remained uncompleted. Despite its name, ''Vienna'' freely mixes footage shot in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, and a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

studio. An 8-minute segment was restored by the

Munich Film Museum The Munich Film Archive, in the Munich Stadtmuseum, is one of eight film museums in Germany. It has no showrooms and is limited to screening the films in a single cinema with 165 seats, as well as collecting, archiving, and restoring film copies. ...

in 1999.

Plot of restored segment

''Vienna'' is an eclectic blend of faux- documentary and comical skits. Welles presents a leisurely guided tour of "Vienna," commenting on the city and its inhabitants. He visits the Sacher Hotel, and the

Wiener Riesenrad The (; 'Vienna Giant errisWheel'), or simply Riesenrad, is a tall Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater amusement park in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. It is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions, an ...

(Giant Ferris Wheel) at the Prater amusement park, both of which appeared in the 1949 film ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten ...

,'' in which Welles had a starring role.

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

, disguised in a

trench coat A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches. Originally made from gabardine, ...

and dark glasses, appears as Welles' magician assistant. The film concludes with a

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...

spoof, as Welles becomes involved in the abduction of "the most beautiful woman in Vienna" (

Senta Berger Senta Verhoeven (née Berger; ''Austrian German:'' , ; born 13 May 1941) is an Austrian-German actress. She received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include three Bambi Awards, two Romys, an A ...

), the kidnapper portrayed by Mickey Rooney.

References

External links

* 1968 films British short films Canadian comedy short films Short films directed by Orson Welles 1960s English-language films 1960s Canadian films {{1960s-Canada-film-stub