World War II Movies from German Point of View

Conspiracy (2001)

2009-07-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Directed by
-Frank Pierson

Writing credits
Loring Mandel		(written by)

On January 20, 1942, with the tide of war turning in favor of the Allies, a small group of SS officers, government ministers, and Nazi officials met near Berlin to decide the fate of Europe's Jews. Based on the only surviving record of that meeting, Conspiracy is a powerful combination of historical reconstruction and speculation that attempts to offer new insights into a pivotal moment in history.

The cast does a marvelous job of fleshing out the documentary evidence to create convincing characters. Kenneth Branagh is especially chilling as SS Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich, who uses a combination of charm and ruthless power-mongering to gain support for his plans. Colin Firth is fascinating as Wilhelm Stuckart, a lawyer who sees the brutal tactics of the SS as a threat to his own intellectualized anti-Semitism, and Stanley Tucci gives a wonderfully understated performance as Adolf Eichmann.

Conspiracy is a carefully crafted, completely unsensational film that offers ample proof of the banality of evil. There are no histrionics and no comic-book Nazi villains, just a small group of politicians and war-weary soldiers arguing about the meaning of words and the logistics of extermination, calmly preparing to unleash an unimaginable horror on the world. --Simon Leake, by Amazon.com

Cast:

Kenneth Branagh	...	Reinhard Heydrich
	Clare Bullus	...	Maid (as Claire Bullus)
	Stanley Tucci	...	Adolf Eichmann
	Simon Markey	...	Stenographer
	David Glover	...	Supervising Butler
	David Willoughby	...	Orderly #1
	Tom Hiddleston	...	Phone Operator
	David Spinx	...	Cook
	Dirk Martens	...	NCO
	Barnaby Kay	...	Rudolf Lange
	Peter Sullivan	...	SS.Col. Eberhard 'Karl' Schöngarth
	Ben Daniels	...	Dr. Joseph Bühler
	Andreas Günther	...	NCO2 (as Andreas Guenther)
	Ewan Stewart	...	Dr. Georg Leibbrandt
	Brian Pettifer	...	Dr. Alfred Meyer
	Kevin McNally	...	Undersecretary Martin Luther
	Florian Panzner	...	Luher's Driver
	Ross O'Hennessey	...	Adjutant #1
	Colin Firth	...	Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart
	Nicholas Woodeson	...	SS Lt.Gen. Otto Hofmann
	Jonathan Coy	...	Erich Neumann
	David Threlfall	...	Dr. Wilhelm Kritzinger
	Hinnerk Schönemann	...	Stuckart's Driver (as Hinnerk Schonemann)
	Ian McNeice	...	Dr. Gerhard Klopfer
	Owen Teale	...	Dr. Roland Freisler
	Brendan Coyle	...	SS Maj.Gen. Heinrich Müller
	Sebastian Jakob	...	Maid's boyfriend (as Sebastian Jacob)

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This movie could have been entitled, "how to chair a board meeting" or "how not to chair a board meeting" - given that the outcome of the meeting was the "final solution".

Gen. Heidrich with consumate skill and care manipulated the gathered Nazi hierarchy to the pre-arranged and pre-destined solution to the Jewish question.

There are a number of moments of exceptional power in the movie - one is where Kritzinger realises the truth, another is where Heidrich makes it clear to Shtukhard that he will be victimised if he does not cooperate. But the best moment must be when even those in favour realise that they are not there to decide the matter but to be to lend their complicity to the pre-made decision.

The psychology of the writing is insprired. I have never been so totally captivated by the mix of acting, subject matter and drama. This is a must see. (IMDb)

Cuckoo in a Dark Forest (Kukacka v temném lese (1986)

2009-07-19T09:59:00.003-07:00

Director: - Antonín Moskalyk

Writer: - Vladimír Körner (screenplay)

Set in World War 2 as the Germans occupy Czechoslovakia, teenage Emilka's (Miroslava Součková) father is murdered by the Nazis, but she is selected for special treatment by virtue of being blonde. She is billeted with the kommandant of a concentration camp near the Baltic coast, where his kindness towards her provokes his wife's jealousy, but is compromised when Emilka witnesses his brutality towards the prisoners.
As the war ends, he abandons his wounded wife and escapes with Emilka ... but ultimately justice prevails. With its happy ending, this is little more than a simple tale of beautiful Czech girl vs. brutal Nazi, and while this may appeal to Czech patriotic sensibilities, it is otherwise unremarkable apart from 18-year-old Miroslava Součková's fine acting and beautifully expressive face.

Miroslava Souckova	...	Emilka Fejfarová
Oleg Tabakov	...	Otto Kukuck
Alicja Jachiewicz	...	Frída Kukuck
Vilém Besser	...	Teacher
Míla Myslíková	...	Frau Kramer
Jolanta Grusznic	...	Wanda
Rafal Wieczynski	...	Staszek
Jana Andresíková	...	Frau Höpfner
Vera Vlcková	...	Frau Melnik
Jaroslava Tichá	...	Emilka's mother
Karel Belohradský	...	Driver
Pavel Trávnícek	...	Krumey
Alena Karesová	...	Frau Lütke
Zdenek Martínek	...	German doctor
Lena Birková	...	Governess

Germany Pale Mother (Deutschland bleiche Mutter (1980

2009-07-19T09:59:00.001-07:00

Director: - Helma Sanders-Brahms

Writer: - Helma Sanders-Brahms (writer)

Eva Mattes	...	Lene
Ernst Jacobi	...	Hans
Elisabeth Stepanek	...	Hanne
Angelika Thomas	...	Lydia
Rainer Friedrichsen	...	Ulrich
Gisela Stein	...	Aunt Ihmchen
Fritz Lichtenhahn	...	Uncle Bertrand
Anna Sanders	...	Anna

Helma Sanders-Brahms's ''Germany Pale Mother'' is narrated by a woman who says she is telling her parents' story, as well as her country's. Her parents' courtship began during the Nazis' rise to power, and it was, she says, ''perfectly normal, only it happened at this time, in this country.'' Their marriage was marked by long separations, as Hans (Ernst Jacobi) went off to fight in the war, and Helene (Eva Mattes) stayed home, raising her daughter and enduring almost every imaginable physical hardship.

As played by Miss Mattes, Helene is a thick, stolid, long-suffering creature. During the course of the film, she gives birth to a child during an air raid, survives the destruction of her home, is raped by American G.I.'s, has all her teeth removed, and develops a facial paralysis that is so disfiguring that she is forced to wear a black drape at the dinner table. As both a woman and as a metaphor for her country's hardships, Helene is a figure of formidable misery.

''Germany Pale Mother,'' which takes its title from Bertolt Brecht's 1933 poem and which will be playing at the Public Theater for another week, uses a peculiarly changeable style in presenting Helene's unhappy life. The slow, painful realism that characterizes most of the film is occasionally interrupted by more fanciful passages, such as the one in which Helene guides her tiny daughter Anna through the ruins of a Nazi crematorium, cheerfully telling the child a macabre fairy tale. Hans first spies Helene in a scene of similarly heightened tone, as he and a friend spend a beautiful spring day rowing on a river, and happen to watch as Helene is taunted by some Nazis. They let their dog bite her sweater and still Helene does not cry out. Her unusual perseverance is the quality that wins Hans's attention.

Miss Sanders-Brahms establishes virtually everything about her characters early in the film, and begins to repeat herself subsequently; there are, for instance, at least three different lengthy scenes depicting Hans's visit home on furlough, and Helene's unwillingness to have sex with him. ''Germany Pale Mother,'' which begins with a reading of Brecht's poem, seems to descend steadily, as it progresses, from the poetic to the mundane. Its conclusion ought to be startling, but it has very little impact, because the audience, like Helene, has already been through so much.

From NYTimes

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY - 1957

2009-07-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, screenplay by Howard Clewes, from the book by Kendal Burt and James Leasor; directed by Roy Baker; produced by Julian Wintle; presented by J. Arthur Rank. At the Odeon. Running time: 105 minutes.

What a great little film this is, an quite unique. Hardy Kruger is wonderful in this role (even better than he was in Flight of the Phoenix)and the story is unusual and fast paced. The best part is this is a *true* story too so it's very intriguing to know this von Werra guy was really in the German army...he was hardly a conformist like we always think "Nazi" soldiers would be.

Franz von Werra . . . . . Hardy Kruger
Army investigator . . . . . Colin Gordon
R. A. F. interrogator . . . . . Michael Goodliffe
Intelligence officer . . . . . Terrence Alexander
Commandant . . . . . Jack Cwillim
German prisoners . . . . . Harry Lockart, Robert Crewdson, George Mikell, George Roubicek, John Van Eyssen, Frederick Paeger, Richard Marner, Paul Hansard.

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"THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY," a well-made British film, refers to the only Nazi war prisoner of England who escaped back to Germany. Here, surely, is a heaven-sent plot for a solid suspense drama. Not only that, this J. Arthur Rank presentation, which opened yesterday at the Odeon, is a true story, the foreword reminds us. The result is a generally taut, absorbing and tingling film—a good, British job about a man who couldn't be held down.

The restrained, well-knit scenario, which Howard Clewes has based on a factual book, tells how one Franz von Werra, a young Luftwaffe hero, twice eludes his captors in the English countryside and finally in Canada. Told as a bluntly matter-of-fact escape yarn, from the fugitive's viewpoint, his dogged outwitting of various soldiers and civilians seems just fantastic enough to be true. We defy anyone, toward the end, not to root silently for the Nazi hero, excellently played by young Hardy Kruger. And hero is the only word to describe this cunning, determined fellow. Such is the pulling power of his courage—again, the only word—and that of the picture as an adventure yarn.

However, the early scenes, after Mr. Kruger's plane crashes into English hands, clearly define him as an arrogant, Nazi "glamour boy" (and a phony—half of his exploits are lies). After one interrogation encounter with a disabled British ace. Colin Gordon (a fine, thoughtful scene), the prisoner manages to bolt.

Roy Baker, the director, alertly gives mounting crescendo to the escapee's bland hoodwinking of civilians and his reappearing captors, as he almost gets a plane aloft. Finally (in custody again) hopping a train in Canada, he makes a dogged, panting river crossing into a neutral United States. (The time is 1941.) And the picture does stand firm, as a dogged account of one man's grit and determination.

However, at the cost of power, scope and stature, it is a peculiarly bloodless drama, for its content. Except for an occasional overhead rumble, the war itself seems remote. Also, is it the British way—or anybody's—to trot captives down the road for a "break" and amble them back without an immediate count? Later, too, Mr. Kruger eludes some guards at a railway station simply by loping away.

In addition to Mr. Kruger's sweatingly assured acting, the remainder of the cast is consistently good. If not a milestone, "The One That Got Away" adds up to a consistently good tingler.

From: NYTimes

The Mackenzie Break (1970)

2009-07-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

McKenzie is a remote, understaffed POW camp in Scotland, where an assortment of German fliers, U-boat men, and soldiers are being held prisoner. The restive POWs stage a well-orchestrated uprising in which they essentially take over the camp. When word of the prisoners' siege gets back to British military higher-ups, they assign rogue Irish officer Captain Connor (Brian Keith) to get to the bottom of things. The Germans have been receiving orders directly from Berlin that call for 28 of the submariners to escape and return to the Deutschland's U-boat fleet. The Germans are led by Schlütter (Helmut Griem), an intelligent, articulate graduate of the Hitler Youth; they have devised an elaborate tunnel and a plot to take them to the Scottish coast, where they will rendezvous with a U-boat to take them back to Germany. The hard-drinking Connor learns of the plan, and stakes his career on letting the Germans escape and tracking them down. Keith is excellent as Connor (though his Irish brogue comes and goes), locked into a three-way battle of wills with the determined Schlütter and the stuffy, by-the-book CO of the camp. The movie's pace and suspense swell as Connor's gambit plays out and the Germans make good their escape plans, all set against the breathtaking scenery of rural Scotland. With intelligent, believable characters and tough direction, this is a sorely neglected World War II POW drama that compares well with better-known films such as Stalag 17 and The Great Escape. --Jerry Renshaw (Amazon.com)

Cast:

Actors: Brian Keith, Helmut Griem, Ian Hendry, Jack Watson, Patrick O'Connell
Directors: Lamont Johnson
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Language: English, German
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Mgm Entertainment
Run Time: 106 minutes

Sergeant Steiner (Cross of Iron 2) Das Eiserne Kreuz 2

2009-07-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Directed by: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cast: Richard Burton, Rod Steiger, Robert Mitchum, Curt Jurgens

Title: Teil Steiner - Das Eiserne Kreuz 2
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Status: Released
Country: West Germany
Genre: War

Also released as Sergeant Steiner, Breakthrough is a German war flick helmed by western specialist Andrew McLaglen. Richard Burton stars as Sgt. Steiner, a German who doesn't subscribe to the Nazi party line. When the plot to kill Hitler is hatched, Steiner is persuaded to join the conspiracy by General Hoffman (Curt Jurgens). Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger costar as American officers peripherally involved in the storyline. Intended as a sequel to the successful Cross of Iron, Breakthrough failed to match the box-office performance of the earlier film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast:

Richard Burton	...	Sgt. Steiner
Rod Steiger	...	Gen. Webster
Helmut Griem	...	Maj. Stransky
Klaus Löwitsch	...	Uffz. Krüger
Michael Parks	...	Sgt. Anderson
Werner Pochath	...	Schütze Keppel
Véronique Vendell	...	Yvette
Horst Janson	...	Capt. Berger
Joachim Hansen	...	Capt. Kirstner
Walter Ullrich	...	Schütze Hauser
Dieter Schidor	...	Cpl. Anselm
Bruno Dietrich	...	Schütze Nissen
Sonja Jeannine	...	Jeanette
Günter Clemens	...	Cpl. Dorfmann
Michael Büttner	...	Schütze Junghans (as Wolfgang Büttner)

The Shark and the Little Fish (Haie und Kleine Fische (1957)

2009-07-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Director: Frank Wisbar
Writers: Wolfgang Ott (novel)
Wolfgang Ott (screenplay)

Four young naval cadets begin their military service in 1940; only one of them will survive. Frank Wisbar hoped that by showing war in all its horror, as a "shark" devouring everyone and everything in its path, he could deliver a powerful anti-war message. Many critics felt that, by placing the battle sequences against the backdrop of a young cadet who grows increasingly disillusioned with the war and with life, he negated the political dimensions of the war. Yet using all the available special effects technology for as realistic a portrayal of shipboard life and naval battles as was then possible, Wisbar seems to have captured something of the attitude of many Germans toward their wartime experience.

Germany, 1957, B&W, 119 minutes, English subtitles.

Cast:
Heinz Engelmann, Horst Frank, Karl Lieffen, Siegfried Lowitz, Wolfgang Preiss

The Fox of Paris (Der Fuchs von Paris (1957)

2009-07-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

The Battle of Normandy from German soldiers perspective.Der Fuchs von Paris (The Fox of Paris) is set in Paris, not long after the Allied invasion of the continent in 1944. Hardy Kruger stars as Captain Eustenwerth, a German officer who turns his back on the losing Nazi cause and joins the Resistance. In a similar vein, General Quade (Martin Held) struggles to save the lives of the men he has left by tacitly defying orders from the German High Command. Through a series of unfortunate coincidences and misunderstandings, both of these idealistic individuals find themselves on opposite sides of the fence, culminating in impending execution for Eustenwerth. Director Paul May had helmed a similar story, Duel with Death, in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actors: Martin Held, Marianne Koch, Hardy Krüger, Michel Auclair, Paul Hartmann
Directors: Paul May
Writers: Herbert B. Fredersdorf, Herbert Reinecker
Producers: Kurt Ulrich
Format: PAL
Language: German (Mono)
Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Run Time: 98 minutes

Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever! (Hunde, Wollt Ihr Ewig Leben (1958)

2009-07-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

Director - Frank Wisbar

Writers: - Frank Dimen (writer) - Heinz Schröter (writer)

Set just outside Stalingrad in the winter of 1942, this compelling wartime drama tells the tale of a contingent of German soldiers caught in a Russian vise. Headed by Gen. Paulus (Wilhelm Borchert), the other officers and foot soldiers are slowly surrounded by Russian troops on the offensiveThe battles that ensue as a result of the entrapment are depicted via the experiences of individual officers and enlisted men -- the full story emerges through the eyes of each of these soldiers. There is also a subsidiary tale about a friendship between a Russian woman (Sonia Zieman) and a German officer that ultimately saves the man's life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Cast & Crew: Joachim Hansen, Peter Carsten, Horst Frank, Wolfgang Preiss
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Country: West Germany

The Doctor of Stalingrad - (1958 - Der Arzt von Stalingrad)

2009-07-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Director: Géza von Radványi

Writers:

Heinz G. Konsalik (novel)
Werner P. Zibaso (writer)

Der Arzt von Stalingrad (The Doctor of Stalingrad) was one of four films directed in 1958 by the prolific Hungarian-born helmsman Geza von Radvanyi.
Set in a Russia POW camp during WII, the film concentrates on an imprisoned German doctor, played by O.E. Hasse.
Denied sophisticated surgical tools, the doctor relies solely upon his medical skill to pull his patients through. He manages to win the confidence and respect of his Soviet captors when he removes a brain tumor from the son of the commandant.
Less happy are the results of a wartime romance between the doctor and a female Russian physician. Though not altogether sympathetic to the Russians, neither can Der Arzt Von Stalingrad be considered 100% pro-German. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast:

O.E. Hasse	...	Dr. Fritz Boehler, Stabsarzt
Eva Bartok	...	Kapitän Alexandra Kasalinskaja
Hannes Messemer	...	Oberleutnant Pjotr Markow
Mario Adorf	...	Pelz, Sanitäter
Walter Reyer	...	Dr. Sellnow (as Walther Reyer)
Vera Tschechowa	...	Tamara
Paul Bösiger	...	Fähnrich Peter Schultheiß
Leonard Steckel	...	Major Dr. Kresin, Distriktarzt
Valéry Inkijinoff	...	Oberstleutnant Worotilow, Lagerkommandant (as Valeri Inkishanov)
Michael Ande	...	Sergej, Worotilows Sohn
Siegfried Lowitz	...	Grosse
Eddi Arent
Wilmut Borell	...	Pastor
Til Kiwe	...	Sauerbrunn
Rolf von Nauckhoff	...	Oberst Eklund, Schwedisches Rotes Kreuz

Somewhere in Berlin (1946 - Irgendwo In Berlin)

2009-07-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Director: Gerhard Lamprecht

Writer: Gerhard Lamprecht (writer)

Somewhere in Berlin was about the little people.
The film takes place in the ruined landscape of Berlin, in which children perform feats of bravery by playing with undetonated bombs and climbing in the rubble. One boy is disappointed with his father, who comes home powerless and hopeless from a POW camp. Somewhere in Berlin shows how children convince this weary man to clean and restore his bomb damaged garage, managing in the end to give him new hope.

Directed by Gerhard Lamprecht ; featuring Harry Hindemith, Hedda Sarnow, Charles Knetschke, and Hans Trinkaus. East Germany, 1946, B&W, 79 minutes, German dialogue, English subtitles.

Cast:

Charles Brauer	...	Gustav Iller
Hans Trinkaus	...	Willi, war orphan
Siegfried Utecht	...	'Kapitan', leader of the boys
Harry Hindemith	...	Paul Iller
Hedda Sarnow	...	Grete Iller
Hans Leibelt	...	Herr Eckmann, artist
Paul Bildt	...	Mr. Birke
Fritz Rasp	...	Waldemar Hunke, thief
Walter Bluhm	...	Uncle Kalle
Lotte Loebinger	...	Frau Steidel
Gerhard Haselbach	...	Hansotto
Magdalene von Nußbaum	...	Frau Schelp, Willi's guardian
Lili Schoenborn-Anspach	...	Frau Timmel (as Lilli Schönborn)
Gaston Briese	...	Herr Timmel
Karl Hannemann	...	Kriminalbeamter

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In this third so-called "Trümmer"film director Gerhardt Lamprecht shows with his impeccable and subtle direction a study of a small labourer's community "somewhere in Berlin", one year after WW2. For this he made use of the main element of his 1931 "Emil und Die Detektive", namely a group of children around which the story is centered; this time these children are used as a hope for the future. This reference can be also so seen as a symbol for going further where Germany in 1933 stopped; as such it is interesting to see that no reference is made to the Nazi period other than the misery it has brought the community: there are no ex-nazis in the community.

Until the dramatic events concerning the boy Willy only the rubble and ruins of Berlin are used as background; the drama round Willy is a sign for the community and for the children not to look back again. From that moment Lamprcht mainly uses the parts of Berlin that were not bombed as background; this is a very strong dramatic turning point in the meaning of the image. Note how in this part the petty thief - played superbly by Fritz Rasp (and repeating his role from "Emil und die Detektive"; again the link with that film) - is the only character still seen walking about in the ruins.

The fine cinematography has an almost documentary style, except in the dramatic scene with the boy Willy. In that scene the cinematography has a very different style and certainly the lightning is very different as is the style of mise-en-scene: I had the image of the room (after the boys have entered) freeze-framed for closer study: the scene is composed as a romantic/religious painting, a bit too sentimental maybe. But, as such the complete scene is very well done.

Again Lamprecht shows that he was a master in directing children (children always played an important part in his movies). Complete cast is fine, with Paul Bildt brilliant as the black marketer. The script is well-written with psychologically well-thought out characters, although the way it shows how the father is treated after his return (scene: giving back the stolen wallet) is too simple. I do not agree with remarks in the literature on this film that there are too many sub-plots: the cumulation of these plots make the film into the precise observation of the community.

The only real objection one might have is the last scene and within that scene the last shots: this is very close to making the labourer heroic. But never mind: the film is rewarding viewing and it is far better than Roberto Rosselini's "Germania Anno Zero" (1948) that deals heavily handed with the more or less same subject.
From IMDBb- Author: jan onderwater from Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Marriage in the Shadows (1947 - Ehe im Schatten)

2009-07-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 1947
Director Kurt Maetzig
Screenplay Kurt Maetzig
Directors of Photography Friedl Behn-Grund, Eugen Klagemann
Editor Alice Ludwig
Music by Wolfgang Zeller
Production Company DEFA/Berlin
Principal Cast Claus Holm, Paul Klinger, Ilse Steppat
Length 104 min, 2,845 m
Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1.37
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions French
Sound Technology Mono
German Distributor Progress Film-Verleih/Berlin

Director: Kurt Maetzig

Writers: Hans Schweikart (novel) and Kurt Maetzig (writer)

Actor and actress Hans and Elisabeth Wieland are a happily married couple. In November of 1938, however, Elisabeth, who as a Jew has lost her right to perform on stage, is witness to a terrifying pogrom. She decides to leave her husband and to emigrate. Hans, who is an acclaimed actor, neither can nor wants to separate from his wife. At the outbreak of the war, Hans is mustered into the armed services.

And Elisabeth, in constant fear, can do nothing but wait - with yearning in her heart - for Hans' letters. Elisabeth is assigned work in an armament factory, where she must carry out hard chores of manual labor.

One day she sees how a friend of hers is arrested, and as she returns home, aghast with horror, she finds her husband who, because of his profession, has been discharged from military service. However, the conditions of his military discharge explicitly specify that he must divorce his Jewish wife.

Despite being told not to take his wife to a film premiere, Hans does so anyway. And he must now face the detrimental consequences of his disobedience: his permission to perform on stage has also been revoked, Elisabeth is scheduled to be deported, and once again he is placed under pressure to divorce his wife. Both finally decide to commit suicide.

(From:IMDb/german.films.de)

Hitler: the last ten days - Der Letzte Akt (1955)

2009-07-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Director = Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Writers:

Fritz Habeck (writer)
Michael A. Musmanno (novel)

Albin Skoda	...	Adolf Hitler
Oskar Werner	...	Hauptmann Wüst
Lotte Tobisch	...	Eva Braun
Willy Krause	...	Joseph Goebbels
Erich Stuckmann	...	Heinrich Himmler
Erland Erlandsen	...	Albert Speer
Curt Eilers	...	Martin Bormann
Leopold Hainisch	...	Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel
Otto Schmöle	...	Generaloberst Alfred Jodl
Herbert Herbe	...	General Hans Krebs
Hannes Schiel	...	SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Günsche
Erik Frey	...	General Wilhelm Burgdorf
Otto Wögerer	...	Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim

---

Made only ten years after the actual events, and set in the Bunker under the Reichstag, Pabst's film is wholly gripping. It reeks of sulfurous death awaiting the perpetrators of world war. Haven't seen this in over three decades, but it remains strong in my visual and emotional memory. The characters seem to be waiting to be walled up in their cave. Searing bit of dialog between two Generals: "Does God exist?" "If He did, we wouldn't." Shame this is not more readily available for exhibition or purchase because it would be interesting to view and compare this film with the documentary about Traudl Junge, "Im Toten Winkel" {aka "Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary") and "Downfall" with Bruno Ganz.
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Originally Der Letzte Akt, The Last Ten Days has also been released to English speaking countries as Hitler: The Last Ten Days and The Last Ten Days of Adolf Hitler. This should establish for good and all the subject matter of this film. Albin Skoda plays Hitler, who wanders in and out of delirium as his Third Reich crumbles. He is surrounded by reams of existential dialogue from his generals and associates, courtesy of screenwriter Erich Maria Remarque, who based his script on Judge Michael A. Musmanno's book Ten Days to Die. Oscar Werner costars as a fictional "good" Nazi officer who acts as the film's voice of reason. Filmed in Austria, The Last Ten Days was inadequately remade in 1972, with Alec Guinness as Der Fuehrer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Last Illusion (1949-Der Ruf)

2009-07-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

The Last Illusion (German: Der Ruf) is a 1949 German drama film directed by Josef von Báky.THE LAST ILLUSION, screen play by Fritz Kortner; directed by Josef von Baky; produced in the American zone in Germany, presented by Mrs Ad schulberg and released by Films
International. At the Little CineMet.

Directed by	Josef von Báky
Produced by	Richard König Josef von Báky
Written by	Fritz Kortner
Starring	Fritz Kortner
Cinematography	Werner Krien
Editing by	Wolfgang Becker
Release date(s)	19 April, 1949
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German

Professor Mauthner . . . . . Fritz Kortner
Lina . . . . . Johanna Hofer
Mary . . . . . Rosemary Murphy
Emma . . . . . Lina Carstens
Walter . . . . . Ernst Schroder
Fechner . . . . . Paul Hoffman
Kurt . . . . . Arno Assmann
Elliott . . . . . William Sinnigen
Spencer . . . . . Michael Murphy
Bertram . . . . . Charles Regnier
Rektor . . . . . Hans Fritz
Professor Frankl . . . . . Harold Mannl

Ballad of Berlin, The (1948-Berliner Ballade)

2009-07-18T11:14:00.001-07:00

The Ballad of Berlin is a satire of post-war reality in Germany, presented as a flashback in the year 2048.

Otto Normalverbraucher, an average German citizen, returns from captivity in 1949 to Berlin and has to come to terms with the new post-war situation. He meets bootleggers and reactionaries, looks for work and food, and in the end even finds his "dream woman".

Director:

Robert A. Stemmle

Writers:

Günter Neumann (story)
Günter Neumann (screenplay)

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Cast:

Gert Fröbe	...	Otto Normalverbraucher
Tatjana Sais	...	Frau Ida Holle
Ute Sielisch	...	Eva Wandel, Bäuerin
Aribert Wäscher	...	Anton Zeithammer
O.E. Hasse	...	Der Reaktionär
Hans Deppe	...	Emil Lemke
Werner Oehlschlaeger	...	Raisonneur (as Werner Oehlschläger)
Erik Ode	...	Narrator (voice)
Karl Schönböck	...	Rundfunkreporter
Herbert Hübner	...	Herr Bollmann, politischer Redner
Alfred Schieske	...	Herr Schneidewind, Politischer Redner
Herbert Weissbach	...	Spirituosenhändler
Kurt Weitkamp
Franz-Otto Krüger	...	Einbrecher Franz

Review Summary

Long before he played the corpulent Goldfinger, German actor Gert Froebe was a scarecrow-skinny comedian. In Berliner Ballade, Froebe makes his screen debut as Otto, a feckless Everyman who tries to adjust to the postwar travails of his defeated nation. Stymied by black-market profiteers and government bureaucrats, Otto begins fantasizing about a happier life at the end of that ever-elusive rainbow. Director R. A. Stemmle doesn't have to strive for pathos: he merely places his gangly star amidst the ruins of a bombed-out Berlin, and the point is made for him. Filmed in 1948, Berliner Ballade was later released in the U.S. as The Berliner.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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The Lost One (1951-Germany)

2009-07-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

(Der Verlorene)

German scientist murders his fiancée during World War II when he learns that she has been selling the results of his secret research to the enemy.

Dr. Karl Rothe conducts important research for the Nazis during the Second World War. When he finds out that his fiancée is betraying him with one of his closest colleagues and selling the results of his secret research, he kills her. Rothe wants to be punished for his actions, but the Nazis try to cover up the incident so that he can continue working for them. In a time during which mass murders are committed regularly, one more killer will go unnoticed. And so, Rothe continues to kill and changes his identity. He then works under a different name as a doctor at a collection camp for so-called “displaced persons”. At the camp, he coincidentally meets up with his old rival, who has also changed his identity. Finally, Rothe sees his chance to seek revenge...

----

Director:

Peter Lorre

Writers:

Axel Eggebrecht

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Peter Lorre	...	Dr. Karl Rothe, alias Dr. Karl Neumeister
Karl John	...	Hösch, alias Nowak
Helmuth Rudolph	...	Colonel Winkler
Johanna Hofer	...	Frau Hermann
Renate Mannhardt	...	Inge Hermann
Eva Ingeborg Scholz	...	Ursula Weber
Gisela Trowe	...	Prostitute
Lotte Rausch	...	Woman on Train
Hansi Wendler	...	Secretary
Josef Dahmen	...	Lieske, canteen bartender
Alexander Hunzinger	...	Drunk
Kurt Meister	...	Preefke
Peter Ahrweiler	...	Oberstleutnant
Richard Münch	...	Criminal Inspector

-----

Release Date:

7 September 1951 (West Germany) more

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War | Crime more

From:IMDb/german-films.de

Morituri (1948-Germany)

2009-07-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Morituri
Directed by	Eugen York
Produced by	Artur Brauner Jelka Naber
Written by	Artur Brauner Gustav Kampendonk
Starring	Lotte Koch
Cinematography	Werner Krien
Editing by	Walter Wischniewsky
Release date(s)	24 September 1948
Running time	88 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German

------
Cast:

Lotte Koch - Lydia
Hilde Körber - Irre
Winnie Markus - Maria Bronek
Catja Görna - Stascha Sokol
Josef Sieber - Eddy
Walter Richter - Dr. Leon Bronek
Carl-Heinz Schroth - Armand
Siegmar Schneider - Gerhard Tenborg
Peter Marx - Pjotr, Russe
Alfred Cogho - Roy, Kanadier
Joseph Almas - (as Josef Almas)
Ellinor Saul-Gerlach - Lucie, seine Tochter (as Ellinor Saul)
Ursula Bergmann - Ruth, seine Tochter
Willy Prager - Vater Simon
Annemarie Hase - Mutter Simon
Karl Vibach - Georg, deutscher Soldat
Bob Kleinmann - Janek, 12 Jahre
Michael Günther - Wladek, 16 Jahre
Erich Dunskus - Sokol, polnischer Bauer
David Minster - Der Invalide
Franja Kamienietzka - Frau Steppan
Klaus Kinski - Dutch prisoner
Gabriele Heßmann - Die Schwangere

Trivia:

As there was no money for blank cartridges, the Russian army soldiers cast as extras for the movie shot live rounds.
His bit part as the Dutch prisoner was the film debut for a young Klaus Kinski.

Life Goes On (1945-Propaganda-Germany)

2009-07-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Life Goes On ( Das Leben geht weiter )

Director:

Wolfgang Liebeneiner

Writers:

Josef Goebbels (writer)
Hans Heinrich Henne (writer)

Contact:

View company contact information for Life Goes On on IMDbPro.

Genre: Drama | War

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Actors: Dieter Moor, Hans Abich, Günther Anders, Josef Goebbels, Heinz Graue
Directors: Mark Cairns
Writers: Mark Cairns, Carl Schmitt, Hans-Christoph Blumenberg
Producers: Birger Laube, Carl Schmitt, Jens-Eric Vest
Format: PAL
Language German
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Classification: 15
Studio: Polar Film
DVD Release Date: 19 Dec 2003
Run Time: 86 minute

Cast:

Gustav Bertram	...	Butzke
Luise Bethke-Zitzman
Paul Bildt
Gisela Breiderhoff
Viktor de Kowa	...	Hauptmann Hoeßlin
Will Dohm
Else Ehser
Erich Fiedler
Heinrich George	...	F. W. Wurm
Ursula Grabley	...	Beate Winkler
Wilhelm Große
Wolf Harro
Knut Hartwig
Paul Henckels
Harald Holberg
Marianne Hoppe	...	Lenore Carius
Herbert Hübner
Jürgen Peter Jacoby
Käthe Jöken-König
Ernst Karchow
Friedrich Kayßler	...	Prof. Hübner
Gustav Knuth	...	Dr. Ewald Martens
Waltraud Kogel
Hilde Körber
Karin Korth
Hilde Krahl	...	Gundel Martens
Ernst Legal
Carsta Löck
Lina Lossen	...	Frau Carius
Curt Lucas
Karl Mathias
Kurt Mikulski
Hans Neie
Siegfried Niemann
Wolfgang-Erich Parge
Walter Pech
Nina Raven-Zoch
Maria Rubach
Oscar Sabo
Franz Schafheitlin
Lili Schoenborn-Anspach		(as Lilli Schönborn)
Karl Schönböck
Otto Stoeckel
Heinrich Troxbömker
Viktoria von Ballasko	...	Frau Kolling
Maria von Höslin
Jaspar von Oertzen
Franz Weber
Walter Werner
Gisa Wurm
Maria Zidek

Stukas (1941 - Germany)

2009-07-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Ju87B “Stuka” dive-bomber was a much feared weapon in the German armoury against Crete and the Allied Naval forces. The variant used against Crete was the Ju87B of which pre-production examples flew in late 1938, but it was in volume production by 1941. With its thick “gull wing” and screaming near vertical dive it was feared by the Navy who saw how effective these aircraft could be against large naval vessels, when free of any defending air force fighter patrols.

Third Reich-era classic.

Young, vigor and aggressive German pilots battle their French arch-enemy during the Nazi campaign in the West, May-June 1940. Real aerial footage; close-ups on J-87 and other German hardware of the period; life cycle of a Stuka pilot on the frontlines; “Death for the Fatherland is so sweet” motto; French tanker from hell trying to humiliate captured pilots, and other assorted propaganda perks; Carl Raddatz as an archetypical Luftwaffe officer, role model for J-87 aces like Ulrich Rudel and others.

--
Length: 1 hour 31 min. German, occasional Czech subtitles.

Director: Karl Ritter

Writers: Felix Lutzkendorf, Karl Ritter

Theatrical release: June 27, 1941 (Germany)

Cast: Carl Raddatz - Hauptmann Heinz Bork; Hannes Stelzer - Oberleutnant Hans Wilde; Ernst von Klipstein - Oberleutnant "Patzer" von Bomberg; Albert Hehn - Oberleutnant Hesse; Herbert Wilk - Oberleutnant Günter Schwarz; O.E. Hasse - Oberarzt Dr. Gregorius; Karl John - Oberleutnant Lothar Loos; Else Knott - Krankenschwester Ursula; Marina von Ditmar - Junge Französin; Egon Müller-Franken - Oberleutnant Jordan; Guenther Markert - Oberleutnant Hellmers; Josef Dahmen - Feldwebel Traugott; Erich Stelmecke - Feldwebel Rochus.

Producer: Karl Ritter

Original Music: Herbert Windt

Cinematography: Walter Meyer, Heinz Ritter, Walter Roßkopf, Hugo von Kaweczynski

Editing: Conrad von Molo

Production Design: Anton Weber

Costume Design: Carl Heinz Grohnwald

Production Management: Wilhelm Karras - unit manager, Gustav Rathje - production manager, Fritz Schwarz - unit manager, Arthur Ullmann - unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director: Carl Merznicht - trainee assistant director, Conrad von Molo - assistant director

Sound: Werner Maas

Special Effects: Gerhard Huttula, Theo Nischwitz

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In his diary entry for June 2, 1941, German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels recorded his opinion of "Stukas" after attending a preview:

"New Ritter film, 'Stukas.' Quite good, with some wonderful air footage, but a typical Ritter production. He cannot lead people. Rather too noisy."

The American perspective was decidedly more negative. The broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith offered this scathing description in "Last Train From Berlin:"

"It was a monotonous film about a bunch of obstreperous adolescents who dived bombed things and people. The bombed anything and anybody. That's all the film was - just one bombing after another. Finally the hero got bored with bombing and lost interest in life - so they took him off to the Bayreuth music festival where he listened to a few lines of Wagner's music; his soul began to breathe again, he got visions of the Fuhrer and of guns blazing away, so he impolitely left right in the middle of the first act and dashed back and started bombing things again with the old gusto."

Smith was understandably horrified, but 60 years later the real horror is not in the films depiction of bombing, but in its death-worshiping dialogue.

"Stukas" is the story of a dive bomber squadron during the Battle of France in May-June 1940. The primary characters are the commander, played by Carl Raddatz, who here and in "Wunschkonzert" is the epitome of a Luftwaffe officer, and the flight surgeon, played by O.E. Hasse, best known as the confessed killer in Hitchcock's "I Confess." The pilot Smith described as "bored" is played by Hannes Stelzer, who ironically was killed later in the war.

Although the action focuses on dive bombing, the real theme of the film is the willingness, indeed the necessity, to risk death in the service of Germany. In the moral universe of "Stukas", there is no finer death in the world. Hauptmann Bork (Raddatz) salutes the fallen: "Yes, one does not think about their death, but instead about what they have died for, and remembers them like the young gods that they are." Deeply moved, Doctor Gregorius (Hasse) recites lines from a poem titled ""Death for the Fatherland." The verse reads in part:

"O take me, let me join that circle, so that I will not die a common death! I do not want to die in vain; but I would love to perish on a hill of sacrifice"

"for the Fatherland, to bleed the blood of my heart, for the Fatherland - and soon it is done! To you, dear ones! I come , to join those who taught me to live and to die!"

This ode to death must rank as one of the most chilling speeches in any film, especially given the nature of the cause that it honors.

For further insights into "Stukas" and other films of the period, I highly recommend Jay W. Baird's "To Die for Germany" from which the above quotations were drawn. This is perhaps the best book ever written on Nazi aesthetics and their integral cult of death.

----

From: IMDb/wikipedia/nazi.org.uk

Fronttheater (1942 - Germany)

2009-07-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

Directed by
Arthur Maria Rabenalt

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
George Hurdalek		writer
Hans Fritz Köllner		writer
Werner Plücker		writer
Werner Scharf		writer

-------------------------
Cast:

Heli Finkenzeller	...	Lena Meinhardt-Andres
	René Deltgen	...	Dr. Paul Meinhardt
	Lothar Firmans	...	Langhammer, Regisseur
	Hedi Höpfner	...	Hilde Keller, Monikas Schwester
	Margot Höpfner	...	Monika Keller
	Wilhelm Strienz	...	Kammersänger Herrmann
	Willi Rose	...	Alwin Sommer
	Rudolf Schündler	...	Walter Hülsen
	Bruni Löbel	...	Gerda Hoffmann
	Hilde von Stolz	...	Edith Reiß
	Gerhard Dammann	...	Pietsch
	Adolf Fischer	...	Otto Zielke
	Armin Münch	...	Kummer
	Alice Treff	...	Beamtin beim Arbeitsamt
	Peter Elsholtz	...	Stabsarzt bei der 'kranken' Edith Reiß
	Elsa Wagner	...	Alte Schauspielerin
	Franz Zimmermann	...	Der Marineoffizier der die Kulisse malt
	Ernst René	...	Bosco
	Ernst Bader	...	Soldat, der heißes Wasser für die Badewanne bringt
	Günther Ballier
	Elmer Bantz	...	Der deutsche Feldpostangestellte in Griechenland
	Fredy Barten
	Albert Bessler	...	Ein Offizier
	Bill Bocket		(as Bill Bocketts)
	Ilse Buhl
	Fritz Gerlach	...	Der Junge mit seinen Eltern auf dem Bahnhof
	Helmut Heyne
	Oskar Höcker	...	Taxichauffeur
	Kurt Holhart-Hunger
	Käthe Jöken-König	...	Fau Krüger
	Josef Kamper
	Ernst Karchow	...	Dr. Gall
	Melitta Klefer	...	Frau Born
	Fred Krüger
	Fritz Lafontaine	...	Flakwachtmeister beim feindlichen Panzerangriff
	Artur Malkowsky	...	Der 'Kammersänger' - Leiter der Opernfronttruppe
	Monika Möbius
	Hermann Pfeiffer	...	Der Reiseleiter einer Künstlertruppe
	Klaus Pohl
	Gustav Püttjer
	Willi Puhlmann
	Erik Radolf	...	Hauptmann der Flakeinheit
	Walter Ringelwald
	Elisabeth Scherer
	Anita Schulz
	Wera Schultz	...	Angestellte beim Rundfunksender Berlin
	Eckard Schulz-Ewart
	Maria Sigg	...	Martha, Hausmädchen bei Meinhardts
	Walter Steinweg
	Hans Hermann Strömer
	Leo Vieten	...	Angestellter beim Rundfunksender Berlin
	Egon Vogel
	Arthur Reinhardt	...	Ein Kamerad der Flakeinheit
	Theodor Vogeler	...	Der Major der Fronteinheit
	Rudolf Günther Wagner	...	Klavierspieler der Lena bei ihrem Liedervortrag begleitet
	Helga Warnecke
	Eduard Wenck
	Willi Witte
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Kurt Cramer	...	Soldat, der heißes Wasser für die Badewanne bringt (uncredited)
	Heinz Rühmann	...	Selbst / Himself (unconfirmed) (uncredited)
	Hans Söhnker	...	Selbst / Himself (unconfirmed) (uncredited)

The Devil's General (Des Teufels General) - 1955

2008-09-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Directed by Helmut Käutner

Writers:

George Hurdalek (writer)
Helmut Käutner (writer)

In 1955 in West Germany, "Des Teufels General" was adapted into a black and white film of the same title. The film features Curd Jürgens as Harras, Marianne Koch as Dorothea 'Diddo' Geiss, Viktor de Kowa as SS-Gruppenführer Schmidt-Lausitz, Eva Ingeborg Scholz as Waltraut 'Pützchen' Mohrungen, and Harry Meyen as Leutnant Hartmann. At the German Film Awards of 1955 Marianne Koch won the Film Award in Silver for Outstanding Individual Achievement: Supporting Actress for her performance in the film.

Des Teufels General is a 1946 play written by German author and playwright Carl Zuckmayer. Translated directly, the title means "The Devil's General," referring to the main character of the play, General Harras, who is working under Adolf Hitler during World War II. The play is based upon his struggles during the war, simultaneously working under and openly being against the Nazi Party. Despite the serious scenario of it, a comical and satirical tone is often used throughout the play.

Harras, whose character is based upon actual German Luftwaffe General Ernst Udet.
Lüttjohann, Harras' adjutant.
Korrianke, Harras' Chauffeur.
Friedrich Eilers, Colonel & leader of the war front and military.
Hartmann, aviation officer.
Writzky, aviation officer.
Hastenteuffel, aviation officer.
Pfundtmayer, aviation officer.
Sigbert von Mohrungen, President of purchasing for crude metals.
Baron Pflungk, Attaché for the ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Schmidt-Lausitz, cultural leader.
Der Maler Schlick
Oberbruch, Engineer in the Air-Travel Ministry.
Anne Eilers, wife of Friedrich Eilers.
Waltraut von Mohrungen, who goes by the alias Pützchen. Anne's sister.
Olivia Geiss, diva.
Diddo Geiss, Olivia's niece; love interest of General Harras, despite how much younger than him she is.
Lyra Schoeppke, named "die Tankenstelle," which means "The Gas Station."
Otto, restaurant manager.
Francois, french speaking restaurant waiter.
Herr Detlev, restaurant waiter.
Buddy Lawrence, an American journalist.
Zwei Arbeiter, two workers.
Ein Polizeikomissar, a police commissionar.

Decision Before Down (1951)

2008-09-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Director: Anatole Litvak

Writers:

George Howe (novel)
Peter Viertel (writer)

Within the inflexible framework of a straight undercover spy film, which in this case goes by the title of "Decision Before Dawn," Twentieth Century-Fox and Anatole Litvak have packed not only lots of thrills but a clear and cold look at Western Germany in the last year of World War II. They have also worked into this thriller, which opened at the Rivoli yesterday, a persuasive amount of compassion for a German soldier who turns traitor on his own.

Lest this sequential information should lead anyone to suppose that the produce

rs are up to something such as the recent "Desert Fox," let this be acceptable assurance that there's no fraud in "Decision Before Dawn." Neither is there endeavor to whitewash the guilty or corrupt.

The humble hero of the adventure that is tensely unfolded in this film is a young German medical corpsman who has been, captured just west of the Rhine. On giving reliable indication that he is willing to serve as a spy, he is trained by American Intelligence and then dropped behind the German lines to locate and report the position of a panzer division that supposedly wants to quit. The major part of the story is of his adventures behind the lines.

And it is in this phase of the story that Peter Viertel, who wrote the script, and Mr. Litvak, who directed (as well as co-produced), have packed as stirring a drama as any you'll want to see, as well as a fair approximation of a nation's moral collapse. For in the soldier's narrow encounters while posing as a loyal Luftwaffer on leave, in his fortuitous meetings with German civilians in the depths of despair and in his fearful observations of the brutality of the Nazis' death-grip are caught not only twanging tension but a sobering sense of profound fatality. That which we see is the consequent degradation of a conqueror's shattered dreams, and the fact that the soldier is finally swallowed up in it completes the sense of doom. There is plainly no sentimentalizing, no passing the buck in this film.

To assure himself of authenticity, Mr, Litvak not only checked his script with the proper military authorities, but he went right to Germany and photographed his story in its shattered cities and still uncovered ruins. Here are the gaping shells and rubble in which the Germans lived the last years of the war, here are the broken bridges, the barbed-wire "check points," the crumbling autobahns. And here, in a cast of German actors, Mr. Litvak has reproduced some various types of Teutons that went down the Nazi drain.

First, there is Oskar Werner, a young actor from the Viennese stage, who does a remarkable job of making the hero a solid human being—a lad of very tentative courage but of decent instincts, none the less, who assigns himself to be a traitor and goes through with it because he thinks it best; Then there is Hans Christian Blech, who does an equally fine but briefer job as a suspiciously treacherous ex-criminal who also turns traitor for the gold.

As a watery-eyed "hostess' in a German cafe, Hildegarde Neff is affecting, too, conveying the pathos of desertion without making any piteous appeals. And, as assorted Nazi soldiers, Wilfried Seyferth, O. E. Hasse and several more give convincing illusions that you are seeing the genuine things.

In the roles of American officers who operate the intelligence machinery with impressive élan and efficiency, Richard Basehart and Gary Merrill put starch into the first part of the film. Only Dominique Blanchar is unconvincing as a French underground glamour girl.

True, there's nothing morally elaborate or conclusive about "Decision Before Dawn." But it packs some impulsive excitement and it plants a seed of understanding in the mind.

DECISION BEFORE DAWN, screen play by Peter Viertel, based on the novel "Call It Treason" by George Howe; directed by Anatole Litvak; produced by Anatole Litvak and Frank McCarthy, for Twentieth Century-Fox. At the Rivoli.
Lieutenant Rennick . . . . . Richard Basehart
Colonel Devlin . . . . . Gary Merrill
Happy . . . . . Oskar Werner
Hilde . . . . . Hildegarde Neff
Monique . . . . . Dominique Blanchar
Oberst von Ecker . . . . . O. E. Hasse
SS Man Scholtz . . . . . Wilfried Seyfert
Tiger . . . . . Hans Christian Blech
Fraulein Schneider . . . . . Helene Thimig
Paul . . . . . Robert Freytag

from: NYTimes

Sophie Scholl

2008-09-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

HTML clipboard

Julia Jentsch	...	Sophie Magdalena Scholl
Gerald Alexander Held	...	Robert Mohr (as Alexander Held)
Fabian Hinrichs	...	Hans Scholl
Johanna Gastdorf	...	Else Gebel
André Hennicke	...	Richter Dr. Roland Freisler
Florian Stetter	...	Christoph Probst
Maximilian Brückner	...	Willi Graf
Johannes Suhm	...	Alexander Schmorell
Lilli Jung	...	Gisela Schertling
Klaus Händl	...	Lohner
Petra Kelling	...	Magdalena Scholl
Jörg Hube	...	Robert Scholl
Franz Staber	...	Werner Scholl
Maria Hofstätter	...	Wärterin
Wolfgang Pregler	...	Jakob Schmid

2005 Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Sophie Scholl - The Final Days is the true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine brought to thrilling, dramatic life.

Sophie Scholl stars Julia Jentsch (of recent cult fave The Edukators) in a luminous performance as the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose.

Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life: a heart-stopping journey from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence in 1943 Munich. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to her comrades, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless.

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2008-09-07T20:07:00.001-07:00

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Valkyrie (2008)

2008-09-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

Director: Bryan Singer

Writers: Christopher McQuarrie (written by) and
Nathan Alexander (written by)HTML clipboard

Tom Cruise	...	Col. Claus von Stauffenberg
Manfred-Anton Algrang	...	Albert Speer
David Bamber	...	Adolf Hitler
Matthias Freihof	...	Heinrich Himmler
Stephen Fry
Andy Gatjen	...	Angry SS Officer
Christian Oliver	...	Sgt. Adams
Christopher Karl Hemeyer	...	Major Bunker
Carice van Houten	...	Nina Von Stauffenberg
Eddie Izzard	...	Erich Fellgiebel
Justus Kammerer	...	Heimeran
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Otto Ernst Remer
Bill Nighy	...	Friedrich Olbricht
Florian Panzner	...	Hans Wilhelm Hagen
Halina Reijn	...	Fraulein Van Oven

At the height of WW2, a group of high-ranking German officers hatched a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and seize power of the military command in order to end the war. The operation was codenamed "Valkyrie", for the emergency plan that was meant to be used in case of a revolt against the Nazi government. This plan had been modified by the conspirators to ensure their success, but for various reasons the plot failed when finally carried out on 20 July 1944. The conspirators of the inner circle were shot after a kangaroo trial or sentenced to death soon after.

Kenneth Branagh as General Henning von Tresckow. From a Prussian noble family, he was born in 1901 and was one of the youngest soldiers of the First World War, earning the Iron Cross (1st Class) at the Second Battle of the Marne. “Hitler is not only the arch-enemy of Germany, but the arch-enemy of the world.”

Bill Nighy as Gen. Friedrich Olbricht, a Saxon and son of a mathematician. Another veteran of the First World War, Olbricht was an early opponent of National Socialism, being wary of the movement from their unsuccessful Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, ten years before Hitler came to power. Germany plays herself in the film, though there are also a few scenes shot in Bohemia.
Terence Stamp as Gen. Ludwig Beck. Beck was originally a German expansionist, hoping to restore his native land to her previous military might. Yet he had become increasingly aware of Hitler’s madness so that by the time of the Czech crisis of 1938 he had primed an army plot to overthrow Hitler.

From: IMDb; Norumbega

Stauffenberg (2004)

2008-09-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

July, 1944. As WWII raged on, a group of conspirators, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, plotted to assassinate Hitler and end his reign of terror. Using rare color footage, painstakingly recreated dramatizations, detailed CG reconstructions and exclusive interviews with leading historians, this thrilling documentary presents the definitive record of what happened before, during and after these pivotal events. Produced in collaboration with the German Resistant Organization Forschungsgemeinschaft 20 Juli 1944, Operation Valkyrie: The Stauffenberg Plot to Kill Hitler also features over 2 hours of in-depth bonus features. (by Amazon.com)
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In 1944, a group of high command officers plot an attempt against Hitler, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy, Stauffenberg (Sebastian Koch), goes to a meeting with the Fuhrer in charge of exploding the place. However, Hitler survives and the officers are executed. This unsuccessful operation was called "Valkyrie Operation", and this realistic movie discloses this true event. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (IMDb)

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Sebastian Koch	...	Oberst Claus Graf Schenk v. Stauffenberg
Ulrich Tukur	...	Henning v. Tresckow
Hardy Krüger Jr.	...	Werner v. Haeften
Christopher Buchholz	...	Berthold Graf v. Stauffenberg
Nina Kunzendorf	...	Nina Gräfin v. Stauffenberg
Stefania Rocca	...	Margarethe v. Oven
Axel Milberg	...	Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm
Olli Dittrich	...	Joseph Goebbels
Katharina Rivilis	...	Polja
Karl-Heinz von Liebezeit	...	Oberfeldwebel Kolbe
Michaela Wiebusch	...	Sekretärin Alix von Winterfeldt
Michael Lott	...	Schweizer
Christine Sommer	...	Deliah, 2. Sekretärin Stauffenberg
Thorsten Merten	...	Peter Graf Yorck v. Wartenburg
Joachim Bissmeier	...	Generalfeldmarschall Erwin v. Witzleben

The Night of the Generals

2008-09-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Directed: Anatole Litvak

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... Peter O'toole	General Tanz
Omar Sharif	...	Major Grau
Tom Courtenay	...	Lance Cpl. Kurt Hartmann
Donald Pleasence	...	Maj. Gen. Kahlenberg
Joanna Pettet	...	Ulrike von Seydlitz-Gabler
Philippe Noiret	...	Insp. Morand
Charles Gray	...	General von Seidlitz-Gabler
Coral Browne	...	Eleanore von Seidlitz-Gabler
John Gregson	...	Col. Sandauer
Nigel Stock	...	Sgt. Otto Kopkie
Christopher Plummer	...	Field Marshal Rommel

As for the movie itself, it's in color, letterbox format, and it's just spectacular! It's a combination of two film genres, mixing a WW II film with a murder mystery -- and the scenes, setting, scenery, casting, special effects, storyline, soundtrack, and cinematography are all spot-on, terrific!

The story is about a Nazi officer (a really ethical guy!) who is assigned to investigate (like a regular policeman) the murder of a prostitute and to bring the perpetrator to justice. He soon discovers that very similar depraved murders have occurred in the past and, due to one terrified witness glimpsing the red stripe down a uniform trouser leg, a uniform feature which was exclusive to Nazi generals, the investigator knows that this will definitely be a difficult case to resolve.

He soon narrows the suspect generals down to three men, all of whom had both the bad temperment as well as the opportunity to kill and mutilate these women. But soon, most of the focus begins to center on one VERY strange general in particular (one of the three). All this takes place during an aggressive and brutal Nazi purge of "dissidents" in the town and that is the war side of the film. There's a lot more to the story, sub-plots, etc., but I don't want to convey any spoilers.

So, I guess I'm saying that if you can somehow obtain a good copy of this most excellent film, then go for it! My highest recomendation. (Amazon Customer)

Amen

2008-09-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Amen

Directed by Costa-Gavras

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Amazon Customer Reviews:

An important film, but flawed a bit historically and technically...
Overall, this is a must-have flick for WWII history buffs. It tells the story of Kurt Gerstein reasonably well and the fellow playing his part does a great job. The characters are good, the storyline is good, the historical events are a little off here and there, but overall, the movie stays on course and is worth buying.

My peeves with this movie may seem trivial, but I am a history buff and if you're going to do a movie like this, get the details right because those details kept distracting me. There were many errors in the movie regarding uniforms, rank insignia, flags, and a number of other things. The sinister looking black SS uniforms are used throughout the movie by Concentration Camp officers and SD personel, when in reality, those uniforms were gone by 1940. SD/SS officers also did not wear "SS" collar patches, nor did concentration camp personel. SD men wore blank black collar patches, camp guards and officers wore the Totenkopf skulls or blank black collar patches as well. Also, Gerstein's rank insignia changes inexplicably several times in the movie, which would seem to be a continuity problem. In addition to that, for some reason, the SS offices throughout the movie are festooned and bedecked with Hitler Youth flags, which made no sense to me at all, and early in the movie, SA and SS troops are marching carrying Hitler Youth banners - just seems like poor research on the technical end.

Lastly, the gassing which Gerstein witnessed is not portrayed accurately and I have no idea why, as this is the most important part of the movie. His "confession" is easily found and he describes the scene, and the scene in the movie doesn't match at all. Why? I have no idea.

Overall, despite all this, I like the movie a lot and highly recommend it. It does point out the Catholic church's refusal to deal with the persecusion of the Jews, and finally, it gives the outside world a look at Kurt Gerstein, who's been largely forgotten by history. Not all SS men were Godless monsters, and finally there's a movie which dares to touch on that subject.

All Catholics should watch this DVD
This film, in the framework of World War II, helps Catholics understand the silence of many local church leaders on injustices happening right now. Consider the Iraq War. John Paul II and Benedict XVI made multiple powerful statements that the Iraq War is unjust. Nonetheless, many Catholics are unaware of this in the US as US church leaders fear losing memberships and even student enrollments as some members earn their income from participating in the violence.

COSTA-GAVRAS, OPUS
***1/2 2002. Co-written and directed by Costa-Gavras. Seven nominations for the French César awards but only one win in the Best Writing category. The real story of SS Kurt Gerstein who tried to alert the world about concentration camps. The problem with this kind of film is that the people who should watch it will never buy or rent such a movie.

Aimée & Jaguar

2008-09-07T18:54:00.001-07:00

Aimée & Jaguar is a 1999 German war and drama film set during World War II. It was written and directed by Max Färberböck, based upon Erica Fischer's book, chronicling the actual lives of Lilly Wust and Felice Schragenheim during that time period. The book also contains photos of the many letters shared between the two, and official correspondences post WWII with regards to Felice's whereabouts. It stars Maria Schrader, Juliane Köhler, Johanna Wokalek, Elisabeth Degen, Heike Makatsch, Detlev Buck.

The film explores the lives of the characters Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader), a Jewish woman who assumed a false name and who belongs to an underground organization, and Lilly Wust (Juliane Köhler), a married mother of four children, unsatisfied with her husband (a German soldier). Felice takes the initiative in the love affair. Lilly, fascinated with the strength of Felice and her friends, falls deeply in love because she realizes that she can give love with a cosmopolitan woman rather than merely receive love from a man. The film features both sensual erotic encounters and sentimental love poems (quoted from the book), and during one love scene a poetic line emerges in which Lilly is an Aimée to Felice as Jaguar.

Then one day Lilly’s husband gets leave from the front and arrives home, only to see Felice and Lilly in bed. Although he then hoped merely to punish her for her indiscretion so that his marriage would return to normal, Lilly surprises him by asking for a divorce. He later dies at the front. Felice and her friends stop seeing Lilly for the sake of her own survival.

On one occasion, Lilly erupts in anger over Felice’s unexplained absence for days, so Felice shares her secret that she is Jewish. After the July 20 Plot Lilly’s friends fear for their lives and arrange to flee Germany before they are rounded up. Felice prefers to take her chances in order to enjoy the love of her life, though unfortunately not for long, as Felice is captured by the gestapo. She died during a march from Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Poland to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

The story has two bookends. When the film begins in 1997, an 83-year-old Lilly (then played by Inge Keller) is taking up residence in a dilapidated flat that once served as an underground hideout. Lilly’s German maid Ilse (played by Johanna Wokalek in the 1940s, by Kyra Mladeck in 1997), who was rounded up during 1945, is already a tenant. Lilly and Ilse reminisce as the film ends. Lilly, though saddened by the tragedy that she caused her friends and lovers, is unable to imagine how her life could have been any different, given her obsessive live-for-today-for-tomorrow-we-die mood, common among besieged Berliners.

Lilly Wust lived in Berlin till the day of her death on 31st March 2006. The tagline of the film, "Love Transcends Death," underscores how the book and film serve as sentimental memorials to Felice Schragenheim. However, the life of Lilly Wust is a paradigm of sorts for contemporary Germany.

The movie was nominated and won many German awards (both Köler and Schrader notably won the best actress Silver Bear) and also was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.

Directed by	Max Färberböck
Produced by	Hanno Huth Günter Rohrbach Lew Rywin
Written by	Max Färberböck Erica Fischer (book) Rona Munro
Starring	Maria Schrader Juliane Köhler
Music by	Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Cinematography	Tony Imi
Editing by	Barbara Hennings
Distributed by	Senator Film
Release date(s)	February 10, 1999
Running time	125 mins
Country	Germany
Language	German

Maria Schrader as Felice Schragenheim (Jaguar)
Juliane Köhler as Lilly Wust (Aimée)
Johanna Wokalek as Ilse
Heike Makatsch as Klärchen
Elisabeth Degen as Lotte
Detlev Buck as Günther Wust
Inge Keller as Lilly Wust (1997)
Kyra Mladeck as Ilse (1997)
Sarah Camp as Frau Kappler
Klaus Manchen as Herr Kappler
Margit Bendokat as Frau Jäger
Jochen Stern as Werner Lause
Peter Weck as Chefredakteur Keller
Lia Dultzkaya as Hulda
Dani Levy as Fritz Borchert
Rüdiger Hacker as Ernst Biermösel

from: wikipedia

View all Movies

2008-09-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

Germany Year Zero

2008-09-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

Germany Year Zero
Directed by Roberto Rossellini

Citizens fight for survival in the nightmarish devastation of post-World War II Berlin in this towering masterpiece of Italian neorealist cinema from groundbreaking director Robert Rossellini. Twelve-year-old Edmund, a child who has known only upheaval and terror, wanders from day to day trying to help his family and find money or food on the streets. One day he meets his former schoolteacher, who now profits from Nazi propaganda, and sets in motion a shocking new chain of violence. Filled with haunting imagery and unforgettable performances by real local citizens, this unflinching look at a country wracked with guilt and confusion will never leave your memory.

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Amazon Customers Reviews:

Filmed amid the spectral ruins of Berlin in 1947, and cast with actual residents of the rubble-strewn capital city, Rossellini's harrowing portrait of war's catastrophic impact on everyday people is a haunting classic of Italian neo-realism. Of particular interest is the character of Herr Enning, an ambiguous figure with vaguely pederastic leanings, whose worldview has been unalterably twisted by Nazi ideology. When he gives Edmund a set of tapes--speeches by Hitler--for him to sell on the black market, he also dispenses a bit of corrosive advice about the weak and the strong that Edmund takes, tragically, very much to heart. "Zero" in on this brutal, yet heartrending drama.
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Incredible
Masterful work of Italian neo-realism by the grand old man, Roberto Rossellini and filmed in war-torn Berlin and widely regarded as the precursor to Rossellini's 50's masterpieces.

A young boy is manipulated by his teacher who later turns out to be an appalling Nazi sympathizer who manipulates the boy into murdering his father.

Mesmerizing and always stylized and breathtaking form. This film conveys the horror and destructive inevitability of war far better than the gross Hollywood extravaganza's of the Longest Day variety.

Rossellini was criticized by the neo-realists for injecting greater melodrama and lighting control than was though appropriate, but the film still exists in a magnificent documentary style, and it runs circles around DeSica's Umberto D.
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Devastating statement!
This seminal, absorbing and arresting picture preceded by far, the famous ones Zinemmann `s The Search (1947), Joseph Losey 's The boy with the green hair (1948) and Rene Clement ` s Forbidden Games(1953). And comparing in what stature artistic concerns it with Andrei Tarkovsky `s Ivan childhood is just one echelon bellow, equaled with Forbidden games. .
I have seen them all these in the last two months and I can tell you with all the possible objectivity. This is another magisterial masterpiece of the Italian Realism. There is no way out along this struggling and gradually increasing tension. A true slap in the face that will make you think around a lot of things. An ethic deficit, perhaps?

- Enemy at the Gates

2007-02-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Enemy at the Gates is a motion picture directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and released in 2001, adapted from the David L. Robbins book called The War of the Rats.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, John D. Schofield
Written by Jean-Jacques AnnaudAlain Godard
Starring Jude Law, Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes
Music by James Horner
Distributed byParamount Pictures

Robbins borrowed elements from William Craig's novel Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad which describe the events surrounding during the Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943. The movie follows Soviet sniper Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev and his German rival, Major Erwin König, as they stalk each other during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Historian Anthony Beevor suggests in his book, Stalingrad, that, while Zaitsev was definitely a real person, the story of his duel (dramatized in the film) with König is fictional. William Craig's novel Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad however, states that although Zaitsev and König fought against each other in combat, the sequence of events in the film is almost entirely fictional.

Synopsis
Stalingrad, 1942. The German invasion of Russia has reached the city of Stalingrad, reducing the city to rubble as the Soviet and Nazi armies battle for the fate of Russia. Vasily Zaitsev (Jude Law), a not very educated peasant from the Urals conscripted into the Red Army, manages to survive both a suicidal charge without a weapon into the front lines of the German attack and the NKVD death squads at the rear waiting to machine gun anyone who attempts to retreat. Acquiring a rifle, Zaitsev - an expert marksman - manages to kill five German officers in a row with the only 5 bullets he has, impressing a witnessing political officer, Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). Writing an account of Zaitsev's achievement in the military newspaper, Danilov manages to inspire the broken, morale-sapped people of the Soviet Union to renew their efforts against the German invaders, and Zaitsev becomes a national hero and propaganda icon.
The friendship between the two men is to be tested, however, as both have fallen in love with Tanya (Rachel Weisz), a Jewish citizen of the city who, inspired by Zaitsev, has joined the sniper division. Fearing the Soviet snipers and the demoralising effect they are having on their own men, the Germans have sent for Major Erwin König (Ed Harris), the best sniper in the German military, to seek out and eliminate Zaitsev.

From Wikipedia

The Young Lions (1958)

2007-02-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

The Young Lions was a novel by Irwin Shaw and a 1958 film based upon the book starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Produced by Al Lichtman
Written by Edward Anhalt
Starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, May Britt, Maximilian Schell
Music byHugo Friedhofer
Cinematography Joseph MacDonald
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox
Release date(s)1958
Running time: 167 min.

Set during World War II, the story involves a Nazi (Brando) and two friends in the U.S. Army (Clift and Martin).

The film, a smashing box-office success, was the key to Martin's huge comeback in the wake of his split with partner Jerry Lewis. Tony Randall originally had Martin's role but talent agency MCA insisted that Martin replace Randall, since with Martin they'd have a quadruple threat: night clubs, recordings, television, and movies.

The agency understood that whoever played Randall's role of Michael Whiteacre opposite Brando and Clift, the 1950s' two most intriguing movie actors, would be in a completely different position from that time forward, and they were right.

This was the only movie that Brando and Clift made together. It was produced by Al Lichtman and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film in 1959.

Der Untergang (Downfall - 2004)

2007-02-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

Downfall (German: Der Untergang) is a 2004 German film depicting the final days of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1945. The movie was written by Bernd Eichinger and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. The film is based on the book Inside Hitler's Bunker by historian Joachim Fest about Hitler's final days, pieces of Albert Speer's memoirs, and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, secretary of Adolf Hitler; in addition, it loosely conveys events described in the memoirs of Siegfried Knappe. Downfall is set almost entirely in the bunker.

It is the last days of World War II, and the Red Army is fighting its way into Berlin. Deep within the Führerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler lives out his last birthday and his final ten days isolated from the world, desperately ordering counterattacks that will never happen. Played by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, Hitler is presented as he was in the last months of World War II: a sick, exhausted man both dreaming still of a Greater Germany amid the ruins of war-ravaged Berlin and callously ranting against the 'weakness' and deserved destruction of the German citizenry. As the Red Army draws nearer and imminent defeat looms over the Third Reich Hitler is seen alone with his clique which consists of Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes), Albert Speer (Heino Ferch) and (briefly) SS leader Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen), along with his personal staff.
Most of the events are depicted from the perspective of Hitler's young personal secretary Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara). Events outside Hitler's bunker are mostly depicted from the perspective of SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck (Christian Berkel). On the day before his death Hitler marries his longtime mistress Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler) and they commit suicide together on April 30, 1945; ten days after Hitler's 56th birthday.

The film begins with a clip from a video interview with the real-life Traudl Junge, who wonders why she decided to work for Adolf Hitler and states her anger at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with. Then, the scene is set back to 1942, in Rastenburg, East Prussia, where Miss Traudl Humps and four other applicants vie for the position of secretary to Hitler. They are greeted by Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, and later by Hitler himself. Upon hearing Traudl comes from Munich, Hitler takes an immediate liking to her and asks her to take dictation as a demonstration of her abilities. Hitler is portrayed as a kind, fatherly employer who loves his dog and overlooks Humps' nervous errors, and she is hired.

The movie flashes forward to Hitler's 56th birthday on April 20, 1945. Traudl Humps — by now Frau Traudl Junge — is living in the Führerbunker with Gerda Christian and Constanze Manziarly, another secretary and private cook, respectively, for Hitler. Artillery fire wakes the trio, and Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Karl Koller explain the Soviets are only 12 kilometres from the city center. Hitler is now depicted as visibly aged, shaking, and in poor humour.

Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler
Hitler's birthday reception introduces the characters of Heinrich Himmler and his adjutant Hermann Fegelein, as well as Party Leader Martin Bormann and Walther Hewel of the foreign ministry. Hitler's intention to stay in the city is revealed, as is Fegelein's intention to leave if possible. Hewel and Himmler urge Hitler to try a diplomatic solution, which Hitler rejects out of hand. Two scenes later, Albert Speer arrives, and is introduced alongside Eva Braun; both reject Fegelein's advice to decamp to Bavaria. Speer advises Hitler to "be on the stage when the curtain falls." Eva's character is revealed by the remark "He is the Führer," in other words, he knows what is best.

Cross of Iron (1977)

2007-02-10T00:48:00.000-08:00

Cross of Iron is a 1977 drama war film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Coburn, James Mason, Maximilian Schell, and David Warner.
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Produced by Wolf C. HartwigArlene SellersAlex Winitsky
Written byNovel:Willi HeinrichScreenplay:Julius J. EpsteinJames HamiltonWalter Kelley
Starring: James CoburnMaximilian SchellJames MasonDavid WarnerSlavko ŠtimacSenta Berger

As with most of Peckinpah's films, the on-screen action includes a substantial amount of very realistic combat utilizing his characteristic slow motion gunshot scenes.
Set in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II, the story revolves around the conflict between a newly-arrived, aristocratic officer who covets the Iron Cross and a cynical, battle-hardened platoon leader in a Wehrmacht regiment during the German retreat from the Taman Peninsula in the Crimea.
The movie was based on the book The Willing Flesh, written by Willi Heinrich and published in 1956. The book may be loosely based on the true story of Johann Schwerdfeger. More recent printings of the book have been titled Cross of Iron to tie in with the film. There are several major differences between the book and film versions.

The movie tells the story of a platoon of German soldiers fighting in the Kuban bridgehead, on the WWII Eastern Front in 1943, led by Corporal Steiner (James Coburn). At the beginning of the movie, footage of Hitler, Hitler Youth boys and Stalingrad are shown with the German children's song Hänschen klein in the background.
While the platoon is on a reconnaissance mission, in which the platoon captures a young Russian boy soldier, a new officer, Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) arrives at their base. Showing his cold-bloodedness, Stransky orders that a German field order requiring the German soldiers to take no prisoners is carried out by shooting the boy. When Steiner refuses Stransky readies himself to perform the act himself but at the last minute the boy si saved by Schnurrbart. In a conversation with the base commander, Colonel Brandt (James Mason) and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel a less than enthusiastic man sick of the war, Stransky claims that he applied for transfer from occupied France to frontline duty in Russia so he can win the Iron Cross, a bravery medal and the movie's namesake, surprising the other officers for his naïveté.

Stransky is then introduced to the experienced and battle-weary Steiner upon his return. Steiner is a myth within his German comrades, highly regarded and decorated despite his rather comptemptuous attitude.
During a Soviet attack to their base, newly-promoted Sergeant Steiner is wounded and a certain Leutnant Meyer (Igor Gallo) is killed while leading the defense. The young boy soldier is also killed by his own sie as Steiner tries to release him. Steiner is sent to a military hospital, where he is haunted by the faces of the dead men and the boy, to recover and has a romantic liaison with a nurse (Senta Berger). Upon returning, he is informed that Stransky, who had not participated in the combat, is claiming to have led the base defense and therefore entitled himself to receive the Iron Cross. He named his aide, Leutnant Triebig (whom he blackmails due to his homossexuality) and Steiner as witnesses. Stransky hopes to persuade Steiner to corroborate his claim, by promising to financially aid him after the war.
Brandt summons Steiner and question him about Stransky's allegations. Brandt hoped that Steiner would expose Stransky lies, but he does not cooperate. When questioned why, he states that he hates all officers, even if "enlightned" as Brandt and Kiesel, and asks a few days to give his answer.
When his company is ordered to retreat, Stransky does not pass the order to Steiner's unit, effectively abandoning him behind Soviet lines. Steiner and his men set off towards the German lines, fighting their way through the Soviets. They manage to escape and reach the German lines, setting a password by radio so he can cross no man's land.
Stransky learns about Steiner's return and orders Triebig to have him killed. Triebig orders Steiner's unit to be shot while approaching the German trenches, but fails in killing Steiner himself. The Sergeant kills Triebig and looks for Stransky. At this moment the Soviets launch an assault on the German positions.
Steiner finds Stransky and confronts him. Instead of shooting him, he invites the officer to fight alongside him and prove his alleged valour.
The movie closes with a reprise of Hänschen klein and Steiner laughing hysterically as Stransky reveals his military inadequacies in battle. The closing credits include a slide show of civilian war victims, and a final quote by Berthold Brecht from his play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

From Wikipedia

Stalingrad (1993)

2007-02-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

Stalingrad - Germany -1993

Stalingrad is a 1993 film by Joseph Vilsmaier, similar to Apocalypse Now and Platoon in its approach to depicting the horrors of war in a realistic and unromanticized fashion.
The movie follows a platoon of German Heer soldiers as they are transferred from Italy and their recent experiences in North Africa, to Russia and ultimately find themselves unwilling participants in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The film was shot in several different locations, including Finland, Italy, and the Czech Republic. It was released in the U.S. in 1995.

Directed byJoseph Vilsmaier
Writing credits: Jürgen Büscher, Johannes Heide

Starring: Dominique Horwitz - Thomas Kretschmann - Jochen Nickel - Sebastian Rudolph - Dana Vávrová

A depiction of the brutal battle of Stalingrad, the Third Reich's 'high water mark', as seen through the eyes of German officer Hans von Witzland and his battalion.

The film begins with a group of German assault engineers enjoying leave in Italy after returning from combat employment in North Africa. The three main characters are introduced at a medal ceremony: Leutnant von Witzland, the inexperienced and idealistic platoon leader; Unteroffizier "Rollo" Rohleder, who is refused his medal when he arrives on parade with an unbuttoned tunic collar, and Obergefreiter "Fritzi" Reiser, whose tendency to direct talk is made evident. As the parade ends, the group is advised they have been ordered to the Eastern Front.
A scene unique to films about the German military follows; a German Army chaplain holds a field service, at which two more characters are introduced; veteran Feldwebel Pfluger who has served at Voronezh, and Hauptmann Musk, another veteran who has lost an arm and who claims to have "absolutely no luck with my right side".
The scenes in the city attempt to capture the nature of combat in Stalingrad. In one scene, Lieutenant von Witzland's men are trapped in a building surrounded by Russians, yet neither side dares make the first move to attack. The stalemate goes on with bodies and the wounded lying in the streets. In an attempt to rescue the wounded and count the dead, the Germans propose a ceasefire between the two sides and to send out some unarmed men. Tension is high. After collecting dog tags from the dead, a Russian soldier pilfers some meat from a dead man. At the same time, a German soldier produces some bread and they decide to share their prized possessions. But this moment of peace does not last long, as a shot rings out, and battle is rejoined. Similar scenes were described in William Craig's book Enemy at the Gates and other books detailing the real life battle.
After a tract of combat scenes, the idealism of the men fades by the time Schütze Emigholz loses a leg and dies while waiting for medical treatment. When the three main characters try to use force to get preferential treatment, they are sent to a Punishment Battalion. Here they meet "Otto", a former officer who served with Hauptmann Musk at Brest-Litovsk. He advises his new friends to tell their families they've died; he's been home and found his wife was a complete stranger to him.
The three main characters are given a chance for reinstatement when volunteers are mustered for a defensive action; the Russians have shattered the Romanian units on the flanks of the German 6th Army and the cut off Army must fight off overwhelming numbers. A detailed sequence showing a Soviet tank infantry attack on prepared positions is shown, and the heroes of the piece earn the right to return to their unit. They are reinstated and given an unsavoury mission - taking part in an execution squad to carry out sentence on alleged civilian "saboteurs".
After the executions even von Witzland - son of a distinguished German officer - announces he no longer feels bound by his soldier's oath. An attempt by three men to escape by faking injuries and boarding a medical flight is unsuccessful, and they are left stranded as the last German transport plane to leave Stalingrad takes off.
Brief respite comes from an airdrop, and an increasing number of unlikely coincidences involving characters from earlier in the film leads the main characters finding salvation in an abandoned warehouse. The characters die off in the last minutes of the film through suicide, succumbing to injuries, and freezing in the snow.

Das Boot (The Boat - 1981 )

2007-02-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Das Boot - The Boat
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Produced by Günter Rohrbach
Written by Wolfgang Petersen (screenplay)Lothar-Günther Buchheim (novel)
Starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer
Music by Klaus Doldinger
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
September 17, 1981 (West Germany)
Running time: 216 Min (long cut) - 293 Min (Uncut Version)- USA330 Min (Full Length Version)
Language: German

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, adapted from a novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim.

The movie is the story of a single mission of one U-boat, U-96, and its crew. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country. The story is based on an amalgamation of the exploits of the real U-96, a Type VIIC-class U-boat commanded by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war.
Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as a consultant, as did Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the actual captain of the real U-96.

The movie has a strong anti-war message. One of Petersen's stated goals was to guide the audience through a "journey into madness," showing "what war is all about." Petersen heightened suspense by very rarely showing any external views of the submarine unless it is running on the surface and relying on sounds to convey action outside the boat, thus showing the audience only the claustrophobic interior the crew would see.

The original 1981 version cost DM 30 million[1] (US$40 million in 1997 dollars) to make; it was at the time the most expensive film in the history of German cinema. The director's meticulous attention to detail resulted in an extremely realistic and historically accurate movie.

Reception

Strife occurs among the crew.
The movie drew high critical acclaim and is seen as one of the greatest of all German films, along with Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau, Metropolis by Fritz Lang and Der blaue Engel with Marlene Dietrich. It is regarded as significant among the subgenre of submarine movies.

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