Franz Herterich

Prince Alexander loves the commoner Vera and defies his uncle the Tzar as well as his peers by arranging his wedding. But Vera leaves him because she does not want to be the cause of him spending the rest of his life as a social outcast.

The fates of five young people, according to post-war Vienna police files: three reckless women get on the wrong track, one man becomes a thief, another a murderer.

It is the year 2000 and the World Global Union is in charge, although other countries are allowed to elect their own government leaders, as long as they support the Union. When Austria's newly-elected president, played by Josef Meinrad, makes his inauguration speech he declares Austria independence and issues an edict ending Austria's financial support for the Global Union.

The political advisor to the French emperor Napoleon, and the Austrian emperor Franz I, arrange a marriage between Napoleon and the Austrian archduchess Marie-Luise in order to prevent another war.

In this convoluted melodrama, an elderly thespian falls for a rising young starlet. He admits his love for her and then announces that he will retire. The young woman pretends she loves him too, but her real motive is to give her struggling lover, also an aspiring actor, a break.

Weaves together the story of a wife who remains faithful despite being unhappy, with attempts at spying on German industrial facilities in Africa.

Franz Schubert toils by day as his father’s clerk while secretly composing in Beethoven’s shadow, gaining little recognition until friends persuade publisher Diabelli to host a public performance where he meets and falls for soprano Therese Grob. Abandoning a teaching career, he moves in with artist and poet friends, finds inspiration for the “Erlkönig,” and together with Therese sustains himself by performing his songs.