In the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, everybody is somebody else. May, a single mother who delivers strip-O-grams, dreams of being an actress. She rents one of her rooms out to a pizza-man cum songwriter named Jonathan. Meanwhile, in the next apartment, August, an Austrian bodybuilder, fancies himself the next Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the pressures of everyday life in LA mount, Jonathan and August vie for May's love.
A musician is offered a job in Vienna as stage director, but his disagreements with the aristocratic opera manager end in abrupt firing in spite of a mutual attraction. He's quickly engaged by another theatre and becomes famous for his lavish stage productions and fine acting, which begins their golden age with Suppé and Strauss.
15 years ago Paul Jordan was a star in Hollywood musicals. But then he retired from showbiz and married the rich Joan. Now, after being dependent on his wife's money for many years, he's sick of it and wants to work again. A romantic affair with his stepdaughter, Shirley, gives him the guts to ask for a role. His former agent gets him one but it's with a small company in Vienna, Austria. The stress worsens his alcoholism; the tablets he takes to hide the effects lead him to hallucinations. When his wife and girlfriend appear at the same time, he's no longer capable of handling the situation.
When two Russian captains of cavalry came to a German post station one of them recalls what happened long time ago. He begins to tell the story: Ten years ago a comrade of them made a resting at the post station and fell in love with the station master's daughter. He promised everything to her and finally convinced her to come with him to St. Petersburg. When both arrived there she had to realize that her captain never had the intention to marry her.
This first film adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play about class distinctions was made in 1955 in the Vienna Rosenhügel studios, but it was only premiered five years later. Curt Bois plays the rich capitalist Puntila who only becomes somewhat agreeable when he is drunk (which he is most of the time in this film). In his inebriated state, Puntila not only gets amorously involved with three different ladies but also suggests that his daughter Eva marries his chauffeur Matti. The chauffeur, however, doesn’t really agree…
On his way to Vienna, veterinarian Klaus Wolf meets Biggi, a hitchhiker. Klaus is supposed to examine rhinos in Vienna, but with a monkey addicted to alcohol and other animal problems, Klaus has enough on his plate. He finds it rather inappropriate that he now also has Biggi on his hands. But he soon discovers a new, shy soul who is not as unsuitable as he initially thought.
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.
A young engineer is supposed to do surveyings for a projected nuclear power station in an economically under-developed region and encounters strong opposition by the population. He realizes that the inhabitants are influenced by strange parapsychological occurences released by an elderly man, who also seems to dominate Walpurga, a young woman the engineer falls in love with.
Alois, Wendelin, Schani and Franz operate an auto repair shop in Vienna. One evening, Alois fishes the suicidal Hannerl out of the Danube and takes her to live with him. The timid and taciturn woman soon disappears however, and with her, a large amount of cash out of the shop's cash register. A disappointed Alois wishes to forget about her, but his three friends look for Hannerl and the money. As it turns out, she's married to the smuggler Kerrylis, who forces her to take part in his business; that's why she tried to kill herself. When Kerrylis is found dead, Alois is suspected of being the murderer.
Young Count Georg Wolkersheim is sent to the Congress of Vienna to represent the interests of his country, Reuss-Schleiz-Greiz. Tensions arise between the count, his wife Melanie, and their two chamberlains, and when the four attend a court ball, Melanie leaves Georg, assumes the identity of a famous actress, and attracts the affections of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
Vienna around 1900. Karl Hofeneder, owner of a dance school, puts great importance on teaching his students not only the right steps but also good behavior. Twenty years ago, the bachelor lost the love of his life to his friend and competitor Georges Roublée. The two have been enemies ever since. Hofeneder is annoyed when he finds out that Roublée wants to open a second dance school locally.
The son of an Argentine chemist travels to Vienna, to solve the murder of his father. Step by step, he realizes that his father was internationally entangled in secret service machinations and chemical weapon sales, and ends up in mortal danger himself. Meanwhile, he also realizes that there is no connection between his father's murderess and those dubious activities. Her motive for killing him goes back much futher, to a court hearing during the Third Reich...
The Hungarian noble Nikki von Kormendy is traveling incognito as a blind passenger on the Danube ferry "Fortuna". Captain Korngiebel keeps him busy with various tasks. When the young singer Anny Hofer comes on board, both men fall in love with her and compete for her affactions. Out of sheer jealousy, Korngiebel lets his ship run aground and now fears for his captain's license. But Kormendy generously acquires the boat and leases it to Peter and Anny ... with the sole condition that the ship bear his name from this date forward.
