Strnad's costume designs however were passed over by Forst in favour of those by Gerdago, whose dress for Paula Wessely contributed both to the success of the film and to Wessely's breakthrough into films. The sets were the creation of Oskar Strnad, a great name of the contemporary Austrian art scene and lecturer at the School of Commercial Art ( Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule, now the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien), assisted by Emil Stepanek. The actors had nevertheless to be constantly instructed to speak louder, which caused a number of problems in scenes in which by their nature it was necessary to speak quietly.Įssential to the visual success of the film was the contribution of the virtuoso of the film camera of 1930s Austria, Franz Planer, with his lively and beautifully lit compositions. Because of the visible shadows that the microphones would have cast under the intense lighting of the film sets they had to be hidden in many scenes behind all sorts of objects such as armchairs, bookshelves and vases. Since the microphones of the period were not very sensitive, they had to be brought as close to the performers as possible. It was also the first film role for the distinguished stage actress Paula Wessely. It was only the second film directed by Willi Forst, but is nevertheless one of his masterpieces.
Filming began in the same month in the Rosenhügel Film Studios of Sascha-Film. In February 1934, in the middle of the brief Austrian Civil War, Walter Reisch and Willi Forst wrote the screenplay of Maskerade in the Hotel Kranz-Ambassador in Vienna. The true identity of the sitter in the portrait remains a mystery, however. He survives, and Leopoldine nurses him back to health. This makes his lover Anita so jealous that she shoots him. Leopoldine Dur however turns out to be a real woman ( Paula Wessely), whose acquaintance Heideneck makes shortly afterwards. When Paul sees it and asks Heideneck some searching questions about the identity of the model, the artist is forced to improvise a story and on the spur of the moment invents a woman called Leopoldine Dur as the alleged model.
The picture is published in the newspaper. This muff however belongs to Anita Keller ( Olga Tschechowa), in secret the painter's lover but also the fiancée of the court orchestra director Paul Harrandt ( Walter Janssen), the brother of Gerda's husband. After a masked carnival ball, Gerda Harrandt ( Hilde von Stolz), wife of the surgeon Carl Ludwig Harrandt ( Peter Petersen), allows the fashionable artist Ferdinand Heideneck ( Adolf Wohlbrück) to paint a portrait of her wearing only a mask and a muff. The film is set in Viennese high society of about 1900.