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1-13 of 13
- Re-enacted true story of successful assault by Nazis, posing as Poles, on a German border radio station so that Hitler could "justify" thereby his invasion of Poland.
- The story of a group of rebellious teens in East Berlin.
- After a crime is committed during the Nazi era in the Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, the aspiring local leader, a ship owner, needs to find an executioner to kill the perpetrators and turns to a butcher.
- In one fairy-tale kingdom, the princess stopped laughing. No one knows the cause of this sudden illness. The worried king promises half the kingdom and a daughter in marriage to the one who will make the princess at least smile.
- After WWII, Berlin lies in ruins. For Gustav, Willi and their friends the rubble provides an adventurous, dangerous playground. Especially for Gustav, it helps pass the time, as he longs for his father's return from a POW camp. One day a stranger arrives, looking helpless and hopeless... Gerhard Lamprecht built his reputation during the 1920s and '30s with films like Emil and the Detectives (1931, script Billy Wilder) and socially-critical Berlin films based on the drawings of Heinrich Zille. In Somewhere in Berlin-his first postwar film, made just months after the cessation of hostilities-he portrays the people of the shattered city with precision and psychological realism.
- Based on the 1947 book "I.G. Farben", by American author Richard Sasuly, and records from the Nuremberg Trial of the chemical giant I.G. Farben, Council of the Gods is a story about the collaboration between international corporations and German scientists, whose research contributed to the death of millions. Featuring music by Hanns Eisler, electronic sound by Oskar Sala (Hitchcocks's "The Birds") and a script by Friedrich Wolf, the film is powerful in its depiction of the moral dilemmas and lessons of the war, as well as of Cold War propaganda. Chemist Dr. Hans Scholz lives through a tortuous political transformation and maturation process. Finally, he becomes wrapped up in his political neutrality and closes his eyes to the fact that poison is being produced in his factory. Standing before the judges at the Nuremberg trials he has to face the fact that he was partly responsible for the deaths of millions in the gas chambers of the extermination camps.
- This early postwar suspense story, based on a well-known 1926 murder trial with Dreyfus-like overtones also represents an East German reflection on Nazism. Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer living in Germany, is falsely accused of killing his booker. Even when the real killer's identity becomes evident, the state prosecutor refuses to accept Blum's innocence. The film explores German reaction to the trial and investigates the relationship between the legal system, antisemitism, and fascism, providing insight into the historical context that allowed Nazism to flourish.
- People are sent off to a Soviet controlled uranium mine in 1950's Germany.
- Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.
- On August 13th, 1961-the night that the Berlin Wall goes up-three people must make a decision that will change their lives forever.... Upon learning of the building of the Wall, the director and scriptwriter changed the story they were working on to center it on this historic event. For four months a small team filmed with mobile cameras on the streets of East Berlin, capturing both its ordinary life and the extraordinary atmosphere of the period with precision and humor. Although the Wall itself would later become a taboo subject for East German filmmakers, And Your Love Too deals openly with the topic. The role of the border guard was one of the first major parts played by Academy Award nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine, Angels & Demons).
- For the corpulent nobleman, Sir John Falstaff, the inn in the small English town of Windsor is the best of all places. Here he can indulge in excessive dining and intemperate drinking, as well as swagger and boast about his adventures, particularly those of an amorous nature. At present, he has designs on the two young women, Mistress Reich and Fluth, who, in turn, lead our paunchy hero mightily by the nose. Mistress Reich indeed has much to deal with: her pretty daughter, Anna, has no lack of suitors and the parents cannot agree on who the future son-in-law should be. Anna, however, has already made her choice: she wants to marry young Master Fenton, a match which fails to suit her parents' plans. She plans a clandestine wedding ceremony in the forest. But it so happens that the townspeople join forces on the same night to sour stout Falstaff's life in Windsor and to drive him out of town. To pull off this dirty trick, Mistresses Reich and Fluth arrange yet another rendezvous with Falstaff in the forest at midnight. The citizens disguise themselves and now appear to the love-sick Sir John as ghosts. This is more than he can take and, horror-stricken, he flees Windsor forever. This musical masterpiece was questioned by the SED prior to its release due to the film's portrayal of societal relations. Great comedic performances.
- A story about a family after the Second World War. The petty bourgeois cashier Karl Weber of Berlin observes from a distance how his son Ernst participates in the building of a new socialist society. Karl does not understand Ernst's visions, instead he confides in his other son Harry. However, Harry becomes involved in illicit business and Karl quickly realizes that it would be best to join his son Ernst in the citizen-owned factory. With this film, director Slatan Dudow (1903-1963) continued the traditions of proletarian German film from the Weimar Republic. As with his first feature film Kuhle Wampe, from a screenplay by Bertolt Brecht, Dudow wanted an art that "cultivates the viewer's psyche." His postwar films were intended to make the viewers realize the importance of supporting the "new order" in East Germany. Our Daily Bread became known as a premiere film of its day under the rubric of "socialist realism." Slatan Dudow's work was convincing mainly through his detailed descriptions of socialist everyday life. Music by Hanns Eisler was the centerpiece of contemporary review. After coming back from his exile in America, the composer created a score that challenged, thrilled, and focused. Berlin's world of ruins is captured in almost documentary fashion.