Gudrun Gabriel Movies

For fans of history, this glimpse of Munich society in the 1920s will be a much-treasured event. The story revolves around an art-gallery manager who puts on a show featuring the scandalous works of a woman artist who committed suicide. He is unjustly accused of having committed adultery with her, and for some reason the authorities decide to make an example of him. He is imprisoned at about the same time that Hitler and the nascent Nazi party attempt the infamous Beer Hall Putsch, and the gallery manager's girlfriend and a Swiss writer valiantly (and unsuccessfully) attempt to get better justice for him. Nobody in authority, it seems, has the courage to take up the challenge of righting this particular injustice. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Elisabeth (Hannelore Schroth) and her scientist husband Heinrich (Friedrich von Thum) return to Germany after a 40-year stay in the United States. There, Heinrich's old friend and rival Franz (Hans Peter Hallwachs) becomes jealous of the attention Heinrich is receiving from government officials and he tries to discredit Heinrich. Elisabeth experiences health problems, so Heinrich arranges for nurse Charlotte to care for her, but for some strange reason, she moves in with Franz instead of with the patient and her husband. When the four go to Spain on a holiday, Charlotte becomes the object of Heinrich and Franz's rekindled rivalry. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Doktor Faustus was adapted from Thomas Mann's epic novel of the same name about a composer, Adrian Leverkuehn (Jon Finch), who sells his soul to the devil for the acquisition of genius in his lifetime. Leverkuehn intentionally contracts syphilis from an infected prostitute because he believes that a side-effect of the disease is intense, sustained creativity; no matter that death from syphilis as it enters the brain is extremely unpleasant -- the composer wants his moment of greatness. That is where Satan comes into the picture, and Leverkuehn agrees to Satan's terms in exchange for creative genius: he is not to have any close human contacts. Being only too human, the composer violates the terms only to see his two closest friends, a cellist and his little nephew, die as a consequence. At this point, after extensive philosophizing and rumination, the Satanic deal just does not have the same allure, and Leverkuehn's own life is quickly deteriorating, much faster than he can handle. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The West German The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (Das Zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages) stars Tina Engel in the title role. Unable to pay the rent on the day care center that she operates, Christa steals the money from a bank, then tries to cover up her crime by passing the money off as a church donation. When the priest will have none of this, Christa and her accomplice, Werner (Marius Muller-Westerhagen), go into hiding. Werner is killed in a police ambush, whereupon Christa moves to Lisbon in a vain effort to start her life anew. Broke and dispirited, Christa returns to Germany, where she is promptly arrested, but that is far from the end of her story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi