35 Films from the Golden Age of German Cinema
by Dibyayan_Chakravorty | created - 01 Sep 2017 | updated - 01 Sep 2017 | PublicFollowing the end of WWI, the period from 1918 to 1933 is regarded by film historians as the 'Golden Age' of German cinema. Some of the most critically acclaimed German films of all time were produced during this period.
These are the top 35 most popular films from the Golden Age of German Cinema. Which one would you most like to discover?
After voting, you may discuss the poll here.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Metropolis (1927)
Not Rated | 153 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Votes: 185,477 | Gross: $1.24M
2. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,419 | Gross: $0.03M
3. Nosferatu (1922)
Not Rated | 94 min | Fantasy, Horror
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder
Votes: 105,399
4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,041
5. Vampyr (1932)
Not Rated | 75 min | Fantasy, Horror
A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz
Votes: 20,514
6. Faust (1926)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard
Votes: 16,618
7. Der blaue Engel (1930)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Music, Romance
An elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti
Votes: 16,291 | Gross: $0.08M
8. The Last Laugh (1924)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
An aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz
Votes: 15,200 | Gross: $0.09M
9. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Not Rated | 122 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A criminal mastermind uses hypnosis to rule the rackets after death.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke, Thomy Bourdelle, Gustav Diessl
Votes: 13,594
10. Pandora's Box (1929)
Not Rated | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz
Votes: 11,852 | Gross: $0.01M
11. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Not Rated | 242 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel
Votes: 9,172
12. The Golem (1920)
Unrated | 91 min | Fantasy, Horror
In 16th-century Prague, a rabbi creates the Golem - a giant creature made of clay. Using sorcery, he brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.
Directors: Paul Wegener, Carl Boese | Stars: Paul Wegener, Albert Steinrück, Ernst Deutsch, Lyda Salmonova
Votes: 8,537
13. Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
Not Rated | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Paul Richter, Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos, Gertrud Arnold
Votes: 6,550
14. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Not Rated | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.
Directors: Lotte Reiniger, Carl Koch
Votes: 6,888
15. Destiny (1921)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Bernhard Goetzke, Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Hans Sternberg
Votes: 6,689 | Gross: $0.01M
16. Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Not Rated | 79 min | Drama
After falling pregnant by a pharmacist and refusing to marry, a young woman is ejected from her home and sent to a strict girls' reform school.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Louise Brooks, Josef Rovenský, Fritz Rasp, Edith Meinhard
Votes: 4,821
17. Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924)
Not Rated | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Princess Kriemhild vows to avenge her husband's murder but must overcome her brothers who swore allegiance to Hagen. She marries Etzel, King of the Huns, and persuades his army to attack Hagen, but she loses more than she bargained for.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Margarete Schön, Gertrud Arnold, Theodor Loos, Hans Carl Mueller
Votes: 4,995
18. Berlin: Symphony of Metropolis (1927)
Not Rated | 65 min | Documentary
This movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
Director: Walter Ruttmann | Star: Paul von Hindenburg
Votes: 4,793
19. Spies (1928)
Not Rated | 90 min | Romance, Thriller
The mastermind behind a ubiquitous spy operation learns of a dangerous romance between a Russian lady in his employ and a dashing agent from the government's secret service.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gerda Maurus, Willy Fritsch, Lien Deyers
Votes: 3,942
20. Woman in the Moon (1929)
Not Rated | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A tenacious scientist blasts off for the moon in hopes of riches that may be found there.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus, Klaus Pohl, Fritz Rasp
Votes: 3,857
21. People on Sunday (1930)
Not Rated | 73 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.
Directors: Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese, Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen, Christl Ehlers
Votes: 3,547
22. Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Passed | 87 min | Drama, Romance
At an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
Directors: Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich | Stars: Dorothea Wieck, Hertha Thiele, Emilia Unda, Hedy Krilla
Votes: 3,737
23. The Threepenny Opera (1931)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Rudolf Forster, Lotte Lenya, Carola Neher, Reinhold Schünzel
Votes: 2,538
24. The Pleasure Garden (1925)
75 min | Drama, Romance
Two couples' romances are fancifully intertwined.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Virginia Valli, Carmelita Geraghty, Miles Mander, John Stuart
Votes: 2,881
25. The Hands of Orlac (1924)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
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.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Strassny, Paul Askonas
Votes: 3,382
26. Tartuffe (1925)
Not Rated | 70 min | Comedy, Drama
A young man shows his millionaire grandfather a film based on Molière's Tartuffe, in order to expose the old man's hypocritical governess who covets his own inheritance.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Hermann Picha, Rosa Valetti, André Mattoni, Werner Krauss
Votes: 2,712
27. Waxworks (1924)
Not Rated | 107 min | Fantasy, Horror
A wax museum hires a writer to give the sculptures stories. The writer imagines himself and the museum owner's daughter in the stories.
Directors: Leo Birinsky, Paul Leni | Stars: Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss, William Dieterle
Votes: 2,310
28. Michael (1924)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Romance
Triangle story: painter, his young male model, unscrupulous princess.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Walter Slezak, Benjamin Christensen, Nora Gregor, Alexander Murski
Votes: 2,043
29. The Doll (1919)
Not Rated | 66 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Forced into marriage by his uncle, a man decides to fool him by marrying a life-like mechanical doll instead.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Ossi Oswalda, Hermann Thimig, Victor Janson, Max Kronert
Votes: 2,362
30. The Oyster Princess (1919)
Not Rated | 60 min | Comedy
An American heiress seeks the hand of an impoverished German prince.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Victor Janson, Ossi Oswalda, Harry Liedtke, Julius Falkenstein
Votes: 2,162
31. Phantom (1922)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Romance
A shiftless young man becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman and yearns to find her again.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Alfred Abel, Frida Richard, Aud Egede-Nissen, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Votes: 1,955
32. Ghosts Before Breakfast (1928)
6 min | Short
Hans Richter, noted for his abstract shorts, has everyday objects rebelling against their daily routine.
Director: Hans Richter | Stars: Werner Graeff, Walter Gronostay, Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud
Votes: 1,977
33. The Joyless Street (1925)
125 min | Drama
In post-WWI Vienna, Greta (Greta Garbo), her kid sister, and retired dad try to make it through tough times.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, Ágnes Eszterházy, Werner Krauss
Votes: 1,720
34. Diagonal Symphony (1924)
7 min | Animation, Short, Music
A tilted figure, consisting largely of right angles at the beginning, grows by accretion, with the addition of short straight lines and curves which sprout from the existing design. The ... See full summary »
Director: Viking Eggeling
Votes: 1,479
35. Playing at Love (1933)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance
Vienna in the beginning of the twentieth century. Cavalry Lieutenant Fritz Lobheimer is about to end his affair with Baroness Eggerdorff when he meets the young Christine, the daughter of ... See full summary »
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Carl Esmond, Magda Schneider, Luise Ullrich
Votes: 1,542
Tell Your Friends