At the battle of Solferino Joseph von Trotta, a lieutenant in the Slovenian infantry, is wounded while saving the life of the young Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph I. The Emperor rewards him by elevating him in society to a position quite out of keeping with his social rank, and which entirely alienates him from his farming background: Joseph gets promoted to the rank of captain, and is made a member of the nobility. Years later Joseph von Trotta accidentally finds a description of the battle that changed his life in a text-book belonging to his son Franz. Enraged at the over-emotional, patriotic and sentimental way in which the Emperor's rescue at the hands of "the Hero of Solferino" is depicted, he lodges a complaint at the Imperial Court.
as Baron Franz von Trotta und Sipolje
as Baron Trotta von Sipolje
as Valérie von Taussig
as Dr. Demant
as Kapturak
as Eva Demant
as Graf Chojnicki
as Rittmeister Taittinger
as Kapellmeister Nechval
as Tattenbach
as Herr Knopfmacher
as Kaiser Franz Joseph
as Held von Solferino
as Wagner
as Nachtigall aus Mariahilf
as Catherine Slama
as Junger Kaiser
as Kaiser um 40
