Ultimatum

Robert Wiene's swansong was finished by Robert Siodmak ;the film somewhat suffers for it ;the script is sometimes confused , taking the viewer from Belgrad to Vienna and the other way about;nevertheless,it's interesting ,because it is a storm warning ,like Max Ophul's "de Mayerling à Sarajevo "(1939)which depicted the Franz -Ferdinand /Sophie Chotek marriage and their assassination in Sarajevo.

The title is the ultimatum Vienna issued to the Serbia after the tragedy .Anna (Dita Parlo) is an Austrian married to a Serbian officer .Hence her dilemma .He's on a secret mission in Vienna ,sent by his superior (Von Stroheim,in a wheelchair)and captured .Anna's childhood's friend comes to Belgrad as a spy in the pay of Austria ;so it becomes a story of love and of friendship ; pessimistic ending and the final pictures will remind you of Max Ophuls' film mentioned above .