Der Kaufmann von Venedig

Featuring a star-studded cast and filmed in part at original locations in Venice, this screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s drama The Merchant of Venice tells the story of the Jewish moneylender Shylock, who tries to take revenge on his debtor for his people’s persecution at Christian hands. Largely forgotten today, the film has survived only in a slightly abridged English export version entitled THE JEW OF MESTRI and has been restored by the Munich Film Museum. “The staging of the great courtroom scene, making incredibly good use of the space that the courtyard of the Doge’s Palace in Venice provided, is a brilliant achievement that can hardly be surpassed. The arrangement of the magnificent and festive scenes is also exemplary,” judged the “Reichsfilmblatt” in 1923. (Filmarchiv Austria)

Live music: Canned Fit (Christine Schörkhuber)