The Genius Archduke of the Gunpowder Empire - Part 5
(The Bootlegger)
The Van Gogh exhibition held at Augarten Palace concluded without major incident.
Having invited the Theresianum and the upper class connected to my parents, how could the atmosphere possibly be bad?
No matter how deranged someone’s personality, they would try to keep quiet at an exhibition hosted by a brat of the imperial family.
It is, after all, a palace of the Habsburg family hosting an art exhibition—who would act rowdy?
One must act cultured in a cultured place and build connections with each other.
As a bonus, it also became a venue for re-evaluating the works and the artist.
Indeed, there were many people who lingered for a long time, as if feeling something in Van Gogh’s works.
As befits the upper class, they are deeply connected to culture, so they seem to have an eye for art.
But no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t feel a thing.
Did they feel something? Van Gogh’s unique, singular painting style and his individualistic thoughts.
I believe it. This is a master who, even in the 21st century, is called an immortal masterpiece and the greatest of artists; there is no way that would change just because it was revealed a little earlier than in the original history.
The exhibition’s reception was the best, and with this one exhibition, the value of Van Gogh’s remaining works must have skyrocketed several times over.
“Karl, you’ve worked hard.”
After the exhibition ended, Mother stroked my head and praised me.
Truthfully, Johanna had worked harder than me, but everything had begun because of me.
And Mother regarded all of this, big or small, as a precious experience for me.
The image boost was a bonus too.
The image of an imperial family member sponsoring artists at a young age could only be good, not bad.
There are so many artists in Austria, after all.
But this was not what was truly important. The Van Gogh exhibition did not bring me any immediate benefit.
After all, money wasn’t dropping straight into my hands.
What I was focusing on was elsewhere.
“Your Highness, it was a successful exhibition. My deepest congratulations!”
“But I didn’t do anything?”
“How could the credit of Your Highness, who lent the palace and invited the guests, be small?”
Beside me, a man in his mid-twenties smiled brightly with a handsome face.
His name was Otto Tressler. A Viennese theater actor, my mother’s friend, and my business partner.
To explain him would take a while, but first, I must explain my father’s recent situation.
My father, who possesses Augarten Palace and great wealth, is someone to be proud of, but on the surface, he is undeniably a scoundrel.
Even after coming to Vienna, Father did not change much.
He still enjoyed his drink and went out spreading scandal. I might even have another half-sibling by now.
Anyway, in Vienna, the capital of the empire, Father’s rumors could not help but spread, and they eventually reached the Emperor’s ears.
Franz Joseph I was a man who knew well how lonely it was when a spouse paid no attention.
The Emperor’s wife had abandoned all rights and duties to wander the world, so he could not help but feel a sense of shared misery.
But no matter how old the Emperor was, how could he treat his aged nephew carelessly?
Besides, it was the end of the 19th century, so it could not be helped. There were more than one or two men like him.
The Emperor, feeling sorry for Mother, sent a handsome young actor named Otto Tressler.
If someone heard this, they would suspect they had misheard.
No. It is real.
A princess of the House of Saxony in her late twenties, who is also a married woman—my mother—and a handsome theater actor in his mid-twenties.
Ooh, from the outside, it was a deliciously scandalous affair.
No, is it just me? Wouldn’t everyone have all sorts of thoughts?
No matter how pure someone is, a perverted devil is bound to slip into such a pairing.
Where is there friendship between men and women? At least, that is what I think.
But witnessing it directly, I could not help but feel ashamed of myself.
The class difference between Mother, of noble blood, and Otto Tressler, not even a noble, was severe, and my father looked at him without any issue.
Rather, he seemed pleased that Tressler was keeping Mother occupied in his place. Truly an amazing household.
Anyway, Mother and Otto Tressler were on terms where they chatted about the ways of the world like friends. In short, they were friends.
I deeply reflected on my strange imaginations.
But Tressler, sent by the Emperor, became closer to me than to Mother.
The reason we became close was this:
“Your Highness, have you seen a movie? It was truly fascinating to see photographs move.”
It was the topic of movies.
Was that not quite a promising word?
***
Just because one is royalty does not mean they know all the information in the world. How much could I know, going back and forth between Augarten Palace and the Theresianum?
Otto Tressler was someone who could bring me quite interesting information.
I could hear what actors were currently doing and what level movies were at in this period.
Cinema at present was not even at the crawling stage; it was barely more than a newborn infant.
It was an era where they called short clips of less than a minute—nothing more, nothing less than wondrous moving photographs—movies.
Does it not pique your curiosity? I know how much impact and influence the medium of movies will have in the future.
So, if only for a moment, I wanted to leave my name in history.
It was not a difficult thing either. Equipment could simply be bought with money, and could I not just use the palace as a filming location?
We have plenty of spare rooms in our house. And I could just use Tressler as the actor, and hire people for the rest of the miscellaneous work.
It was not as if I was making a blockbuster epic over two hours long.
Considering that current films were less than a minute, it was a simple task.
A film starring Tressler, set against the backdrop of Augarten Palace. A runtime of barely over a minute.
The first film I made received a much better reaction than expected.
“Your Highness, this is truly ingenious.”
“For something like this?”
“I have never seen a film that uses this technique.”
No matter how sweet the flattery, too much of it is worse than none.
To flatter me over a mere close-up technique—how could I be pleased?
But I was glad to leave even a small mark on the film industry. It was possible that this was not the case, but this might be the first film to use the close-up technique.
Even if not the first, would a film shot at Augarten Palace by a young royal and a handsome young actor truly be forgotten?
I should hide it away somewhere. It might be nothing now, but later it will be worth more than ordinary treasure.
“I think I now understand why Your Highness’s name is being heard in Vienna.”
I had made the film half as a joke, and Tressler began to court my favor.
Well, it is not bad. It is only natural for one’s heart to thump with joy at someone’s cheers.
I am someone in a position to enjoy and accept such things.
Even now I stand above others, and later I must reign over all people.
“Your Highness, would you not make a few more?”
I nodded at Tressler’s proposal, his eyes filled with desire.
Well, I had plenty of time.
And I did not know this would turn out to be more profitable than expected.
***
At first, I had no intention of holding onto the movie business for long.
How different could the current film market be from the modern era?
In the 21st century, enormous capital moved due to the massive market scale, earning fortunes, but this era is not like that.
The money one could grasp would be limited. To earn a bit more, a massive industry would be necessary.
I was more interested in tanks and aircraft to be used in the world-burning Great War.
How much help would filming some movies be?
Still, to properly create childhood memories, I put some effort into making films.
In an era where clips of less than a minute were called films, I made a movie of over five minutes.
The story was simple. What profound tale could fit in a five-minute film?
It was the story of a bicycle delivery boy in Vienna and a noble young lady living in a magnificent mansion (Augarten Palace).
And this became a nuclear bomb in the nascent film industry, beyond my expectations.
“The Bible of newborn cinema has arrived. The film industry will pay homage to and learn from this film for decades.”
“It is one enormous shock that cinema can deliver!”
“In the first screening, my soul was stolen. In the second, I struggled to escape, and only in the third did I realize how great this film is.”
The film industry was at a scale too embarrassing to call an industry, but rumors spread as fast within the narrow field.
I am used to being called a genius, but being praised so highly was quite embarrassing.
I thought it would be my last, so I put some real effort into it. I simply incorporated things I had seen in movies and dramas in my previous life.
But what was familiar to me was a revolution, an art, in this era.
Had it been released in the 21st century, they would have cursed me for throwing money into the air. Critics would have lashed out, asking if I thought the film industry was easy.
Or it might have been so trashy that no reviews came out and it sank into the abyss.
But this era was different.
“Your Highness, you are someone who has left a great mark on the film industry!”
Thanks to this, Tressler, whose career was now made solely of films that left great marks on the industry and who received much attention, looked at me like a savior.
In fact, when we increased screenings in Vienna, the reception was quite good, and it turned out to be more profitable than expected.
To think people would pay money to watch such things—truly the end of the 19th century.
In a fit of excitement, I created a company. Its name was Karl & Otto Pictures.
I worried over the name a lot, but ultimately chose Pictures. This way, the studio vibe came through strongly.
After founding the company, I spewed out every idea that came to mind, and Tressler worked hard gathering people and filming movies.
As experiments, I made several one-minute films, and longer films accumulated, incorporating compositing and techniques obtained through those experiments.
And I made a film of over fifteen minutes. A story about traveling to the moon by train.
It was not completely original. I borrowed some from a work my father’s generation had watched in the 21st century.
Now that I am faster, it does not matter, right?
The first science fiction film, a masterpiece that presented shocking techniques.
The screen captured the majestically moving train and scenes of traveling to the moon through compositing.
Even if they did not know my name, wouldn’t someone dreaming of cinema in the 21st century study this work?
This work and the films accumulated so far spread not only in Vienna but also to London in England, Paris in France, Berlin in the German Empire, Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire, and beyond.
What else did people of this era have to enjoy but alcohol?
Wasn’t this an era without even newspaper crossword puzzles?
Movies were more profitable than expected. There were no producers of such high rank as me, and they lacked both capital and connections.
It was a small-scale market, but since I monopolized it, it became a surprisingly large sum of money.
And in a life of constant success, I grew quite arrogant. How many worries could an imperial family member living in a palace have?
I had not thrown myself into a place already full of entrenched interests, so there was no one to obstruct me.
But the world is a scarier and more frightening place than one thinks.
“In America?”
Tressler had come to Augarten with a troubled expression while I was busy selling films and raking in money.
Money is best in large amounts, and after Europe, the market to advance into was America.
Frankly, where could we sell films in this era? We could only sell them in Europe, the center of the world; we could hardly sell them in Africa or Asia.
It is hell there. How could one find the time and place to watch movies in a world too busy just trying to survive?
But America is different. Though currently treated as a third-rate power far lacking compared to the America of the 21st century, economically it was certainly a mouthwatering prospect.
But I encountered the first obstacle of my life.
“Our films are already being screened in America?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Is it not just the same name?”
“No. From the title to the content, everything is exactly the same.”
So there are bootleggers even in this era?