1916 – das Schlüsseljahr des Ersten Weltkrieges, in dem sich ein deutlicher Wandel in der Gestaltung kriegsspezifischer Filme vollzieht: weg von der reinen Demonstration technischer Überlegenheit hin zu Geschichten und Handlungen. WIEN IM KRIEG ist mit seiner Verbindung aus Militärklamotte und Wienklischees ein dafür typisches Beispiel. Der Film unternimmt gefährliche Front-Streifzüge, spinnt gleichzeitig seinen Erzählstrang um den Zugsführer Wamperl und dessen umtriebiges Liebesleben.
The inhabitants of Vienna line the streets to salute the soldiers who go to the war. The butcher and widower Franz Xaver Wamperl succeeds to enroll himself in the army, and so does his son Ferdl, who becomes a platoon leader. Ferdl is a womanizer, who at the same time has three fiancées in Vienna: Franzi, Resl and Poldi. All three girls remain faithful to him, when he's away at the front, and all of them send passionate love-letters to him. On May Day both Ferdl and his father Franz are back in Vienna on a short leave. They are sitting in an open-air café with another soldier, when suddenly Poldi and Franzi turn up at the same time. When the two women find out that Ferdl has a romance with both of them, they start to weep and quarrel. Ferdl tries to escape, but land in a fight between Franzi and Resl. Father Franz steps in as a savior, grabs Resl and walks away with her arm-in-arm. In the meantime Ferdl sneaks away from the tumult
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