German & Austrian Movies

Berlin-Alexanderplatz or The Story of Franz Biberkopf (German: Die Geschichte vom Franz Biberkopf) is a 1931 German drama film directed by Phil Jutzi and starring Heinrich George, Maria Bard and Margarete Schlegel. Audio in German with subtitles in English, French, Russian and German. Click on CC for subtitles) A blue collar Berliner and small-time criminal recently released from prison finds himself being drawn into the Berlin underworld of the 1920s after his prostitute lover is murdered. The film was adapted from the 1929 novel of the same title by Alfred Döblin, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It was filmed on various locations around Berlin including the Alexanderplatz. Jutzi cut out much of the novel's complex story, preferring to focus on just one character. Cast & Characters: Heinrich George as Franz Biberkopf Maria Bard as Cilly Margarete Schlegel as Sonja / Mieze Bernhard Minetti as Reinhold Gerhard Bienert as Klempner-Karl Albert Florath as Pums Paul Westermeier as Henschke Jakob Tiedtke as Guest at Henschke Hans Deppe as Guest at Henschke Käthe Haack as Schwester Paula Julius Falkenstein as Dieb Jakob Tiedtke as Gast bei Henschke Siegfried Berisch Karel Štěpánek Ernst Behmer Paul Rehkopf Anna Müller-Lincke Heinrich Schroth Heinrich Gretler Willi Schur Walter Werner Karl Harbacher Franz Weber Paul Kemp

Morgenrot is a 1933 German submarine film set during World War I. The film was directed by Vernon Sewell (in his directorial debut) and Gustav Ucicky. Audio in German with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). The title (literally "morning-red") is the German term for the reddish coloring of the eastern sky in advance of sunrise. Dawn was the U.S. title. It was filmed in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, the first German submarine movie made after World War I. Morgenrot was shot in October–November 1932 at Kiel and in Helsinki with the Baltic sea "playing" the North Sea. To provide realism, the scenes abroad the U-boat were shot abroad a submarine borrowed from the Finnish Navy. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures awarded it with Best Foreign Film for 1933. Cast & Characters: Rudolf Forster - Kapitanleutnant Helmut Liers Fritz Genschow - Oberleutnant 'Phipps' Fredericks Adele Sandrock - Liers' Mother Camilla Spira - GreteJaul, Fredericks' girl Paul Westermeier - Seaman Jaul Gerhard Bienert - Seaman Böhm Friedrich Gnaß - Juraczik Franz Nicklisch - Petermann Hans Leibelt - Bürgermeister von Meerskirchen Else Knott - Helga, Jaul's girl Eduard von Winterstein - Hauptmann Kolch

Berge in Flammen (English: Mountains on Fire) is a 1931 German war film directed by Karl Hartl and Luis Trenker and starring Trenker, Lissy Arna and Luigi Serventi. Audio in German with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). The film was developed from Luis Trenker's novel of the same title, partly based on his own experiences. Filming took place partly in the Kalkkögel mountains southwest of Innsbruck and on the Nordkette mountain range. Shortly before the First World War, an Italian and an Austrian take part in a mountaineering expedition together. Not long afterwards they find themselves fighting on different sides. The plot also features references to the mines on the Italian front. Cast & Characters: Luis Trenker as Florian Dimai Lissy Arna as Pia, his wife Luigi Serventi as Count Artur Franchini, his friend Claus Clausen as Leutnant (lieutenant) Kall Erika Dannhoff Paul Graetz as Field phone operator Michael von Newlinsky Emmerich Albert as Tyrolean Mountain Guide Company soldier Luis Gerold as Tyrolean Mountain Guide Company soldier Hans Jamnig as Tyrolean Mountain Guide Company soldier Hugo Lehner as Tyrolean Mountain Guide Company soldier Roland von Rossi as Tyrolean Mountain Guide Company soldier

Postmeister (English: The Postmaster or The Stationmaster) is a 1940 Austrian-German drama film directed by Gustav Ucicky. Audio in German with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). Very loosely based on The Station Master, an 1831 short story from The Belkin Tales series by Alexander Pushkin, it was remade in 1955 as Dunja. An earlier adaptation was the French film Nostalgie (1938) with Harry Baur, directed by Victor Tourjansky. The film's sets were designed by art directors Kurt Herlth and Werner Schlichting. It was produced in Austria during its occupation by Nazi Germany, by the Wien Film company, and distributed by UFA. At the Venice Film Festival, Der Postmeister won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film. Released during the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it depicts Russians in a sympathetic light, unlike their portrayals in such films as Frisians in Peril before or GPU after. Cast & Characters: Heinrich George as Der Postmeister Hilde Krahl as Dunja Siegfried Breuer as Rittmeister Minskij Hans Holt as Fähnrich Mitja Ruth Hellberg as Elisawetha Margit Symo as Mascha Erik Frey as Sergej Alfred Neugebauer as Gutsbesitzer Franz Pfaudler as Knecht Pjotr Leo Peukert as Oberst Reinhold Häussermann as Schneider Auguste Pünkösdy as Wirobowa

Heimat is a series of films written and directed by Edgar Reitz about life in Germany from the 1840s to 2000 through the eyes of a family from the Hunsrück area of the Rhineland-Palatinate. The family's personal and domestic life is set against the backdrop of wider social and political events. Audio in German with English & French subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). The combined length of the five films — broken into 32 episodes — is 59 hours and 32 minutes, making it one of the longest series of feature-length films in cinema history. The title Heimat (pronounced [ˈhaɪmaːt]) is a German word, often translated as "homeland" or "native region", but due to its German cultural connotations the word has no exact English equivalent. Usage has come to include that of an ironic reference to the Heimatfilm genre which was popular in Germany in the 1950s. Heimat films were characterised by rural settings, sentimental tone and simplistic morality. Aesthetically, the series is notable for the frequent switching between colour and black-and-white film to convey different emotional states. In 1987 it won a BAFTA for "Foreign Television Programme". After premiering in Germany, Heimat was shown in Venice, London and New York festivals. It was shown in movie screens around the world in separate parts. However, it gained its worldwide exposure on television, across 26 countries. In order to shape the film into eleven episodes, Reitz devised introductory segments in which Kurt Wagner as Glasisch narrated the brief story so far, over photographs by Eduard Simon. In Germany, the broadcast received over fifteen million viewers. The first film, Heimat, which covers the years 1918 to 1982, was released in 1984. It was followed in 1993 by Die Zweite Heimat, which is set during the 1960s. A direct sequel, Heimat 3 (about the period 1989–2000), was released in 2004, with lead actors from both previous films returning as their characters. Heimat Fragments, released in 2006, was made using unused footage from the previous three films, along with newly filmed material. A prequel film to the original, Home from Home, was released in 2013. Starting with episode two, there is an introductory narration by Glasisch-Karl who recaps events during and between the previous episodes, using snapshots of the main characters to jog viewers' memories. Part 1 - The Call of Faraway Places 1919-1928: After serving in World War 1, Paul Simon returns home to his family in the (fictional) rural village of Schabbach in the hills and mountains of the Hunsrück Province of the Rhineland-Palatinate. There to welcome him are Paul's parents, Mathias Simon and Katharina (née Schirmer), and his brother and sister, Pauline and Eduard. Eduard did not fight in the war, he has a bad lung and his mother is very protective of him. Also there is Paul's cousin, Glassich-Karl, also a veteran. He was sent home earlier with a disfiguring skin condition caused by poison gas. Because of his appearance Glassich-Karl will never be a full participant in village life. This gives him something of the perspective of an outsider and he will gradually become the narrator of the series. Paul's first act on returning home was to strike an iron in the family forge. But although brought up in the family trade as a blacksmith, Paul no longer feels at home in Schabbach. He seeks wider horizons and is determined instead to pursue his passion for radio communications in every spare moment. Cast & Characters: Marita Breuer as Maria Simon (née Wiegand) (7 August 1900 – 18 September 1982). Michael Lesch (episodes 1&2) and Dieter Schaad (episodes 8, 10&11) as Paul Simon (1898–1984) Karin Kienzler (episodes 1&2) and Eva Maria Bayerwaltes (episodes 3–8) as Pauline Kröber (née Simon) (1904–75) Rüdiger Weigang as Eduard Simon (1897–1967). Gertrud Bredel as Katharina Simon (née Schirmer) (10 November 1875 – 10 May 1947) Willi Berger as Mathias Simon (11 June 1872 – 23 January 1945) Johannes Lobewein as Alois Wiegand (1870–1965). Kurt Wagner as Glasisch-Karl (1900–1982) Eva Maria Schneider as Marie-Goot (1882–1960) Alexander Scholz as Hänschen Betz (c.1908 – 15 January 1944) Arno Lang as Robert Kröber (1902–1944) Karin Rasenack as Lucie Simon (née Hardtke) (1906–1978) Jörg Hube as Otto Wohlleben. Hermann's father. Gudrun Landgrebe as Klärchen Sisse (c. 1929– ) Part 2: https://rumble.com/v6z0qt4-heimat-film-series-1984-eng-and-fre-sub-the-centre-of-the-world-1929-1933-p.html

Part 2 - The Centre of the World 1929-1933 : Episode two and those following are introduced by Glasisch-Karl who recaps events using snapshots of the main characters to jog viewers' memories. We see Paul's arrival at Ellis Island in New York, while back home in Schabbach, Maria is devastated by Paul's departure. When the townswomen rush to inform her that the murdered woman's blood-soaked clothes have been found in the woods, she sobs angrily that Paul had nothing to do with the victim. The pine marten is caught in the trap Paul had made. Part 3&4: https://rumble.com/v6z0u9s-heimat-a-chronicle-of-germany-part-3-and-4-film-series-1984-eng-and-fre-sub.html

Part 3 - The Best Christmas Ever 1935: Pauline and Robert Kröber have since had two children, Gabi and Robertchen. Eduard and Lucie have a young child, Horst. A new telephone network now connects Schabbach to the outside world. Lucie is disappointed with the village and most of all with her husband's lack of ambition, for Eduard's consuming obsession with photography leaves little room for other interests. Lucie becomes friendly with the district's new Gauleiter, who by coincidence shares the Simon surname and is also interested in photography. Part 4 - The Highway 1938: Maria and Pauline visit the cinema in Simmern to see the latest movie starring Zarah Leander. They are taken with the fashionable clothes and striking hairstyle of the movie star. When they return to Pauline's house they have a few drinks and playfully try to copy the star's elaborate curls on their own foreheads. Maria, who has hitherto led a completely self-effacing life caring for her two boys and helping her husband's parents, confides to her sister-in-law that she is attracted to Otto Wohlleben, the civil engineer who is supervising the Organisation Todt a road-building crew that is building a highway through the region. Part 5&6: https://rumble.com/v6z0x2u-heimat-a-chronicle-of-germany-part-5-and-6-film-series-1984-eng-and-fre-sub.html

Part 5 v- Up and Away and Back 1938-1939: Lucie crashes her car, which kills her visiting parents who become the first people to be buried in the land, without ever having seen it. Maria and Otto are now together and watch Zarah Leander in Carl Froelich's new film Heimat. Martina flirts with Rudolf Pollach, an apprentice clockmaker staying with Robert and Pauline. Robert leaves home with their car to go to the Western Front as the war needs all vehicles they can find. Robert is not heard from again. Part 6 - The Home Front 1943: With the war turning against the Nazis, Hunsrück men have been called up, leaving the women to manage farmland with the help of French POWs. Katharina feeds two of the men, but Wilfried, now the region's SS commander openly threatens that if she were not family, he would condemn her to higher authorities. She retorts he is not a real man for staying home instead of fighting. Part 7&8: https://rumble.com/v6z27to-heimat-a-chronicle-of-germany-part-7-and-8-film-series-1984-eng-and-fre-sub.html

Part 7 - Soldiers and Love 1944: Anton's propaganda unit is detailed to make fake newsreel footage. The war conflict becomes close to home, with Allied bombers passing over the Hunsrück on a regular basis. When a bomb falls in the neighbourhood and fails to explode, it provides Otto with a reason to visit Schabbach. He meets his young son Hermann for the first time. Otto and Maria spent the night discussing what might have been for them both. The next day however, Otto is killed while attempting to defuse a bomb. Part 8 - The American 1945-47: In Berlin, Martina searches for Rudolf Pollack and finds him badly wounded. While she plays a piano in hopes it will keep him conscious, Pollack dies. She dresses in his uniform and deliberately heads out into the street, where she is killed by Soviet soldiers, having been taken for a German soldier. Ernst has been shot down over France, but is kept hidden by a Frenchman while he recuperates. In Schabbach, things are easier and the village have created a good rapport with their occupiers. Part 9: https://rumble.com/v6z2fkq-heimat-a-chronicle-of-germany-part-9-film-series-1984-eng-and-fre-sub.html

Part 9 - Little Herman 1955-56: Hermann aims to become the first member of his family to go to University. Wanting to stay in Ernst's large home, teenage Hermann along with his friends, including Clemens Bengardt, cycle to the Rhine. Ernst has acquired a Sikorsky helicopter and is transporting lumber for his father-in-law's sawmills. Outside a carnival by the river bank, Schnüsschen Schneider, teaches Hermann how to kiss. Anton's company has boomed, and many locals, including Lotti, Klärchen and Pieritz, now living in the region, work at his factory. During a festival to celebrate Anton's company and the way it is putting Schabbach on the map, Anton tries to persuade local smaller farmers to sell and join him. Part 10&11: https://rumble.com/v6z2i38-heimat-a-chronicle-of-germany-part-10-and-11-film-series-1984-eng-and-fre-s.html