German

  • Claus Peymann – Thomas Bernhard: Ritter, Dene, Voss (1987)

    Drama1981-1990AustriaClaus PeymannPerformance

    Ritter, Dene, Voss is a stage play by Thomas Bernhard from 1986. After the Premiere the same year at the Salzburger Festspiele under the direction of Claus Peymann, the play was taken into the repertoire of the Burgtheater in Vienna.

    It was named after the three actors that were to play the roles in the world-premiere: Ilse Ritter, Kirsten Dene and Gert Voss. Thomas Bernhard started off writing it with a note saying “Ritter, Dene, Voss. intelligent actors”.
    The play was inspired by the family of Ludwig Wittgenstein and his (Wittgensteins) nephew Paul, who was a friend of Bernhard and protagonist of his novel “Wittgensteins Nephew” from 1982.Read More »

  • Claus Peymann – Thomas Bernhard: Der Theatermacher AKA Histrionics (1990)

    Drama1981-1990AustriaClaus PeymannPerformance

    Der Theatermacher (“The Theatre Maker”) is a play by austrian writer Thomas Bernhard. It was released in 1984 and had its world-premiere the following year at the Salzburger Festspiele under Claus Peymann. Centered around main protagonist Bruscon, it is full with allusions to the famous festival in Salzburg.

    During a break in his latest tour the actor Bruscon tries to stage his play „Das Rad der Geschichte“ (“The wheel of history”) in the small village Utzbach. He involves his whole family in the production as actors – wife, daughter and son.Read More »

  • Boris Hars-Tschachotin – Phänomen Blade Runner AKA Phenomenon Blade Runner (2021)

    2021-2030Boris Hars-TschachotinDocumentaryGermany

    Synopsis
    An exploration of the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner. Slated when first released, it has since built a cult following for its visionary urban setting as well its unique futuristic film noir atmosphere.
    (arte.tv)Read More »

  • Richard Oswald – Wien, du Stadt der Lieder AKA Vienna, City of Song (1930)

    1921-1930ComedyGermanyRichard OswaldWeimar Republic cinema

    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 »

  • Jürgen Böttcher – Die Mauer AKA The Wall (1991)

    1991-2000DocumentaryGermanyJürgen Böttcher

    A documentary about the deconstruction of the Berlin Wall which makes no use of vocal commentary but instead focuses on visual elements. From the Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Gate, the camera captures the historic events from all sides and different angles: on the one hand there are news reporters and tourists from all over the world taking pictures, children selling pieces of the wall to passers-by, and people celebrating New Year’s Eve, on the other we see abandoned subway stations and officials with blank looks on their faces.Read More »

  • Werner Herzog – Stroszek [+commentary] (1977)

    1971-1980ArthouseDramaGermanyWerner Herzog

    Quote:
    In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.

    Quote:
    Who else but Werner Herzog would make a film about a retarded ex-prisoner, a little old man and a prostitute, who leave Germany to begin a new life in a house trailer in Wisconsin? Who else would shoot the film in the hometown of Ed Gein, the murderer who inspired “Psycho” (1960)? Who else would cast all the local roles with locals? Who else would end the movie with a policeman radioing, “We’ve got a truck on fire, can’t find the switch to turn the ski lift off, and can’t stop the dancing chicken. Send an electrician.”Read More »

  • Harald Braun – Nora (1944)

    1941-1950DramaGermanyHarald BraunThird Reich Cinema

    letterboxd:
    The film is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House. The film uses Ibsen’s alternate ending where the unhappy couple are reconciled at the end.Read More »

  • Peter Lorre – Der Verlorene AKA The Lost One (1951)

    1951-1960CrimeDramaGermanyPeter Lorre

    Shortly after the end of the war in 1945 in Germany: the doctor and former scientist Karl Rothe (Peter Lorre) works under a false name in a refugee and reception center. He is a “lost” man who has taken personal guilt on himself. He meets a newcomer named Nowak (Karl John). This was already in the war year 1943 his coworker and is actually Hösch. In flashbacks one learns that Rothes then fiancée, Inge Hermann (Renate Mannhardt) spied for the Allies and forwarded information to England. She agreed to an affair with the opportunist Hösch. Rothe killed his lover, more out of jealousy than loyalty to the line. But he was not punished for this crime. Hösch covered him out of “higher” interest. His research was more important to the Nazis than the atonement of murder. The terrible beginning of a deadly spiral …Read More »

  • Dominik Graf – Tatort: Der rote Schatten (2017)

    2011-2020CrimeDominik GrafGermanyThriller

    Christoph Heider is caught as he abducts the body of his wife from the cemetery chapel. Marianne Heider allegedly died in a bathtub accident, but Heider considers her current partner Wilhelm Jordan guilty and would like to have her autopsied again abroad.Read More »

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