Weimar Republic cinema

Vienna in the biggest depression, directly after WW1. In a slum, Lila Leid, the wife of lawyer Leid is murdered, Egon, secretary of one of Leid’s clients is arrested. He was with her, and had her necklace, because he needed some money for his own stock exchange deals. The same deal brings poverty to ex-government official Rumfort, his daughter Greta, who also has lost her job, tries to get some money to get food. She rents a room of the flat she, her young sister and her father are living in to an American Red Cross official, who pays $60 rent, but the money is taken by some of her father’s creditors. But their neighbour, shop owner Mrs Greifer knows how to “help”, she and Mrs. Merkel are running a nightclub with a brothel…Read More »

Also known as Donauwellen.
No written credit. All titles are spoken like the other Oswald film Dreyfus (1930).

Filmed on location in Vienna, this German operetta was originally titled Wien, Du Stadt Die Lieber [sic]. Popular tenor Max Hansen carries most of the plot (what there is of it), singing his heart out to the delight of such delectable leading ladies as Charlotte Ander, Irene Ambrus and Grete Natzler (who, as Della Lynd, would later co-star with Laurel and Hardy in Swiss Miss). For some reason, it was decided to surround the nominal hero with seven top German comic actors, all of whom mugged and glowered outrageously. The worst offender (and the funniest of the batch) is Paul Graetz, who seemed to be having a great deal of fun letting loose. Evidently City of Songs was quite successful, inasmuch as it remained in distribution well into the late 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Note: In this document, this movie was called City of Songs.Read More »

Synopsis:
The young Brazilian journalist Rex Ronney is gathering data for his book on Nordic alcohol smuggling and embarks on a boat trip to Estonia and Finland, where alcohol is prohibited. On the boat, he meets the booze king Kõlgis, whose confidence he wins. Kõlgis issues him a letter of recommendation and sends him to the smuggler Bratt in Tallinn, who is in the service of Mart Martens, who in turn is heavily indebted to Kõlgis. As a result, Betty Martens, his daughter, is compelled to get engaged with Kõlgis. In order to clear her father’s debts, Betty conducts the alcohol transports from Finland herself. When Rex Ronney shows up, it has consequences…Read More »

A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he doesn’t know they once belonged to a murderer.Read More »

This silent film rarity has turkish intertitles only. Reason is that it was restored and shown for a turkish film festival about Muhsin Ertugrul.

Muhsin Ertugrul is a legendary turkish film director who was a pioneer of the turkish cinema.
He started as an extra and minor actor in early german film industry and later learned directing films at the german Ustad Film company, which was specialized in directing films based on the books of famous ( at least in Germany) adventure and travel author Karl May. Lot of his books played in then Turkish Empire and therefore Muhsin Ertugrul seemed to be predestined for these films.Read More »

A nightclub waiter and a manicurist share the same room, she sleeps there by night and he by day. They’ve never met, but they can’t stand each other. Then one day, they meet by chance…Read More »

Quote:
Circus and variety films were a popular genre in the silent film era. This was Robert Reinert’s last film collaboration; he died before the production was finished. It tells the story of a clown who hides his identity while courting a young female artist. The atmospheric sets by Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig, the masterful direction by Arthur Robison, and especially the dramatic performance by Werner Krauss raise the film considerably over other works in the genre. The elaborate digital restoration by the Munich Film Museum displays the film’s visual beauty.Read More »

Quote:
Luise Kolm-Fleck staged a number of melodramas and Heimat films with her husband in Germany and Austria before they fled together to Shanghai ahead of rising fascism. The Filmarchiv Austria has restored several films by this previously forgotten film pioneer which demonstrate her impressive directorial skill and astonishing commitment to the treatment of societal and social problems. The focus of CRUCIFIED GIRL is a young woman whose carefree life changes when she is the victim of rape.Read More »

Plot Synopsis
This is a stripped down (but still excellent) version of “The Brothers Karamazov.” Young Dimitri Karamasoff, on leave from the army, returns home to ask his father for money to get married. When he arrives he finds that his father has become smitten with a young woman of extremely questionable character named Gruschenka. His father gruffly rebuffs Dimitri’s request for money. Dimitri immediately seeks out his fathers lover to demand that she break off the engagement. Things get a bit more complicated when his anger towards her turns to infatuation – and eventually obsession. Dimitri and his father are both mad for Gruschenka, but she doesn’t want anything from either of them – except their money. Things come to a head when the old man is found murdered. Did Dimitri really commit patricide? Or is there more to the story?Read More »