Books, Arts & Manners: Clipped Wings

The title 38: Vienna before the Fall would not be especially catchy for a documentary; for a fiction film, it is deplorable. The movie is based on a novel by the writer, dramatic critic, and editor Friedrich Torberg, This Too Was Vienna, and this, too, should have been the film’s title. I once spent a

very pleasant day with Torberg in Vienna and hope that this witty, wily man is still alive, although this kind of title change usually occurs over a writer’s dead body.

JS

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John Simon

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The title 38: Vienna before the Fall would not be especially catchy for a documentary; for a fiction film, it is deplorable. The movie is based on a novel by the writer, dramatic critic, and editor Friedrich Torberg, This Too Was Vienna, and this, too, should have been the film’s title. I once spent a

very pleasant day with Torberg in Vienna and hope that this witty, wily man is still alive, although this kind of title change usually occurs over a writer’s dead body.