German

  • Franz Antel – Der Bockerer AKA The Stubborn Mule (1981)

    1981-1990AustriaDramaFranz Antel

    Quote:
    The story of the Viennese butcher Karl Bockerer from the moment the Nazis took power until their end. He and his family are no noble men, and they all don’t seem to be gifted with wisdom. But while the rest of his family follows the Fuehrer, Karl Bockerer refuses to get assimilated by the new system. With his aggressive but charming behavior but also with a whole lot of luck he survives through the years…Read More »

  • Jürgen Böttcher – Der Sekretär AKA The Secretary (1967)

    1961-1970DocumentaryGermanyJürgen Böttcher

    Quote:
    Presentation of a commited State Party (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) secretary at the Chemicals Combine in Buna. A former miner and small farmer rises to a leading political position – symbol of a typical Party career.Read More »

  • Christoph Schlingensief – My Wife in 5 (1985)

    1981-1990Christoph SchlingensiefExperimentalGermanyShort Film

    Quote:
    Between Broadway act, classical music and operetta – cinema never came that close to the good old mixtape!

    In MY WIFE IN FIVE, Schlingensief composes tracks and takes to a shimmering cinematic music piece. The playlist changes constantly between the styles, as if this record had a jump – Irving Berlin’s This Is The Army, Mr. Jones, an Ave Maria Variation and Jacques Offenbach’s world-famous Infernal Galop can be heard. Equally to the music the pictures also have scratches.

    The music film MY WIFE IN FIVE was created during a sound seminar by Christoph Schlingensief with students of the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach. It already contains all forms of cinematic means and alienation, which he later used in his theatre and opera productions.Read More »

  • Siegfried Kühn – Das zweite Leben des Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Platow (1973)

    Drama1971-1980GermanySiegfried Kühn

    SYNOPSIS
    Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Platow worked for the railways his entire working life. He took up service at the small station of Luege 34 years ago. Now, the line is to be electrified and Platow, who cannot cope with the new technology, has to work on a secondary local line. Georg, his son, a railway worker as well, is to attend a training course, but Georg refuses to go. Then his father comes to a surprising and highly unusual decision. He pretends to be Georg Platow, making himself twenty years younger than he really is and registers for the course.Read More »

  • Otto Preminger – Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach AKA The Virgin on the Roof (1953)

    USA1951-1960ComedyOtto Preminger

    “Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach” (English translation: “The Virgin on the Roof”) is a comedy film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Carl Zuckmayer is a German language translation of the script for “The Moon is Blue” by F. Hugh Herbert, based on his 1951 play.
    A comedy of manners, the film centers on virtuous actress Patty O’Neill, who meets playboy architect Donald Gresham on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and accepts his invitation to join him for drinks and dinner in his apartment. There she meets Donald’s upstairs neighbors, his ex-fiancée Cynthia and her father, roguish David Slader.Read More »

  • Rüdiger Neumann – Rüdiger Neumann – Archiv der Blicke (1980-1993)

    1981-1990ExperimentalGermanyRüdiger Neumann

    Quote:
    Rüdiger Neumann is a filmmaker and professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg whose teaching has influenced two generations of filmmakers, many of whom now play an active role in shaping German cinema today. In the 1980s and 1990s, the HfbK was the only experimental and political alternative to the film schools in Munich and Berlin. Rüdiger Neumann’s controversial Thursday seminars are legendary. These five keys films by Rüdiger Neumann are released for the first time on this DVD.Read More »

  • Hans Steinhoff – Hitlerjunge Quex: Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend AKA Our Flags Lead Us Forward (1933)

    1931-1940GermanyHans SteinhoffPoliticsThird Reich CinemaWar

    Young Heini Volker has a problem. His unemployed father demands he joins Berlin’s young communists. But his heart belongs to the Hitler Youth. As violence escalates between these camps, Heini’s quandary deepens. How he finds his way to National Socialism is the story of Hitlerjunge Quex. Produced in 1933, just after Hitler’s ascension to power, this movie draws from the real-life story of Herbert Norkus, a Hitler Youth killed by communists in 1932. With its vivid recreations of Depression-era misery, it offers a fascinating portrait of Berlin’s working-class life viewed through the transformative lens of Nazi ideology. An immediate box office success, the film became a Nazi propaganda staple, viewed by 20 million by 1945.Read More »

  • Willi Forst – Mazurka (1935)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaGermanyThird Reich CinemaWilli Forst

    Quote:
    A female cabaret singer is put on trial for murdering a predatory musician.

    Wikipedia wrote:
    Warner Brothers Studios acquired the U.S. distribution rights but shelved the film in favor of its own scene-by-scene 1937 English language remake, Confession, which starred Kay Francis. Mazurka’s sets were designed by the art director Hermann Warm. It was partly shot on location in Warsaw. The film was made by Cine-Allianz whose Jewish owners Arnold Pressburger and Gregor Rabinovitch were dispossessed during pre-production of the film.Read More »

  • Georg C. Klaren – Wozzeck (1947)

    Drama1941-1950Georg C. KlarenGermany

    Plot:
    The body of Franz Wozzeck lies on a table in an anatomy lecture of a small German university. Whereas the doctor in charge of dissecting the cadaver can only see the murdered corpse lying on the table, Buechner, a medical student, sees the corpse of a “human being.” “A human being” he adds, “that we have murdered.” Buechner then proceeds to tell the story of Franz Wozzeck. Franz Wozzeck was a poor soldier. He endured the harassment and humiliation of his military superiors. His meager soldier’s pay allowed him to provide for his beloved wife, Marie, and their child with the bare necessities and secure a modest future for them. It was this basic desire to earn money for his family that lead Wozzeck to be the guinea pig in a series of harsh medical experiments – for his participation in the experiments Wozzeck earned a few pennies. Read More »

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