Austria à la Carte
name: label: Collection Director
content: Porterfield, Jeanne
label: Collection Director
content: Chickering, Lisa
setName: label: See more items in
content: Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection
label: See more items in
content: Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection / Series 7: Films and film-related sound recordings
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1960
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: HSFA.2015.16, Subseries 7.1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film shot in 1958-1959 and released in 1960 representing various attractions and festivals in Austria over the course of a year's seasons, sponsored by Volkswagen. A variety of ceremonial as well as quotidian activities are represented, including: brief musical performances by a brass band and the Viennese Boys' Choir; riding a Ferris wheel; festivals in honor of miners, cows, and the transition from winter to spring; Maypole and sword dancing; games of fingerslapping and finger wrestling; and winter sports including curling, skating, skiing, and horse racing. Footage of tourist landmarks predominates and includes: the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany; the Ringstraße, State Opera, Hofburg Palace, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Stadtpark, the Belvedere, and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna; the summer retreat of the Vienna Boys' Choir; the village of Heiligenblut and the Großglockner (Austria's highest mountain) in the Austrian Alps; the Mirabell Gardens and the Hellbrunn Palace and Gardens in Salzburg; and a winter sports competition at Zell am See. Footage is devoted to both rural and urban destinations as well as their residents. The finished film is narrated from the perspective of an American tourist and tends toward the informal and humorous. A shorter sound version, Four Seasons of Austria, was edited from the same footage and released in 1962 under contract with Volkswagen.

Locations include: Vienna, Heiligenblut and the Alps, Salzburg, Zell am See.