Sepp Rist Movies
- 1957
The title of this Austrian historical drama translates to Holy Heritage. Hermann Erhardt plays a forester who loses his job after accidentally killing a poacher. He spends the balance of the film reinstating himself, with time out for a brace of romantic entanglements. Cristl Eber and Olga von Togni supply the film's feminine interest. The real "stars" of Das Hellige Erbe, however, are the various species of Austrian wildlife that romp across the screen, lovingly photographed by a four-man camera crew. The film was lensed on location in the Burgenland, near the Hungarian border. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hermann Erhardt
- 1952
Gene Kelly tackles a rare non-singing or dancing role in this post-war drama. Kelly plays Capt. Jeff Eliot, whose life was saved during World War II when a German family rescued him after his plane was shot down over Munich. In 1948, Eliot travels to Germany to thank the Lehrt Family for their kindness, only to discover that they were killed during an air raid by U.S. forces near the end of the war. The only survivor was the family's oldest daughter, Wilhelmina (Pier Angeli), who works as a barmaid in a sleazy nightclub and has developed a bitter hatred of Americans. Eliot develops an infatuation for this tragic woman and spends enough time at the club to become familiar with Heisemann (Claus Clausen), a comic at the club who has a dark secret life. Heisemann is also a gold smuggler who is part of an underground Nazi movement that hopes to overthrow the post-war government and re-launch the Third Reich. When Eliot tells his superiors what he's discovered, he's ordered to continue his romance with Wilhelmina as a cover while he learns more about Heisemann's smuggling operations. The Devil Makes Three was one of several films MGM made in Europe to take advantage of frozen funds that the main office in Hollywood could not transport in cash but could use to finance production; another film produced under this scheme was one of Kelly's pet projects, the performance film Invitation to the Dance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Anna Maria Pier Angeli, (more)
This dramatic recounting of the disastrous maiden voyage of H.M.S. Titanic was produced in Germany during WWII and features an undertow of anti-British propaganda absent from other versions of the story. The building of the luxurious ocean liner Titantic proves to be a hugely expensive proposition, and Sir Bruce Ismay (Ernst Fritz Furbringer), president of White Star Lines, wants to make sure that the ship's first crossing is big news. It is at his urging that Capt. Edward J. Smith (Otto Wernicke) pushes for a record speed in their voyage to New York, sowing the seeds for later disaster. This Titanic features a number of rich, decadent British passengers and a handful noble German peasants. While the film was produced with the participation of the Nazi government, its portrait of a disaster at sea proved to be more depressing than inspiring, and it was pulled from theaters shortly after its initial release, though it has since appeared on television and on home video in Europe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Set in provincial Bavaria, Der Lachende Dritte (The Chuckling Third) concerns a valuable cache of liquid manure owned by elderly farmer Naz (Joseph Eichbein). Fully aware of how his odious possession is highly coveted by the local farmers, Naz refuses to move his compost pit when a fancy hotel is erected next to his property. The hotel owner spends most of the film cooking up schemes to remove Naz and his pungent pond without ruining the town's economy. The plot is resolved when the hotel becomes a sulphur-springs spa, all thanks to Naz's heap o' liquefied goat custards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucie Englisch, Josef Eichheim, (more)
- 1936
Verraeter (Traitors) is set for the most part in a German aircraft factory. Using forged passports, a group of enemy spies infiltrate the factory for the purpose of appropriating secret plans. One of the spies is sent on a test flight of a revolutionary new bomber, which he plans to steal for his own country. When he's found out, the spy is pursued by a squadron of planes, all well-stocked with machine guns -- while his comrades continue to go about their dirty work on the ground. The film's suspense lies in its variety of incident; no sooner has one spy been disposed of, than another one pops up for more skullduggery. And in true New World Order fashion, Verraeter illustrates the dangers of human frailties by offering several otherwise decent characters who allow themselves to be hoodwinked or manipulated by the spies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willy Birgel, Herbert A.E. Boehme, (more)
- 1934
Thematically related to the popular German "mountain film" genre is the 1934 skiing drama Der Springer von Pontresina. The film catalogs the intensive training program undergone by a Teutonic skiing team in preparation for a championship race. Though Sepp Rist is nominally the star, the script emphasizes teamwork uber alles, thus Rist and his cohorts are what was described by one critic as the "composite hero." The principal dramatic complication concerns the romance between one of the team members and a pretty American girl, which leads to a near-disaster on the slopes. Der Springer von Pontresina was gorgeously photographer in St. Moritz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sepp Rist, Walter Rilia, (more)
In the same year that she directed Victory of the Faith (1933), her first of several famous cinematic projects for the Nazi Party, German actress and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl played a supporting role in this epic adventure, co-written and co-directed by her frequent "mountain film" collaborator Dr. Arnold Fanck. Rod La Rocque stars as Dr. Carl Lawrence, leader of a mission to Greenland to recover the lost records of the ill-fated, real-life Alfred Lothar Wegener polar expedition of 1929-30. Lawrence's party includes experienced explorer/guides, as well as an adventure-seeking financier, who is in over his head and slowly driven mad by the perils of the voyage. When Lawrence's band is trapped on an iceberg, Lawrence's wife Ellen (Riefenstahl) -- a famous female pilot fashioned after Amelia Earhart -- takes off on a rescue mission, but she crashes her aircraft upon landing and is stranded along with the others. Before total disaster claims the Lawrence party, however, native eskimos and Major Ernst Udet (playing himself) arrive via kayak to save the day. Two surviving members of the Wegener party served as advisors for this well-received Man vs. Nature treatise, filmed on location in Greenland. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod La Rocque, Leni Riefenstahl, (more)
This romantic "mountain film" takes place on Mont Blanc, where the meteorologist Hannes (Sepp Rist) resides in an isolated observatory. Hella Armstrong (Leni Riefenstahl), who lives in the valley below with her astronomer father (Friedrich Kayssler), sees Hannes's observatory while flying over it in an airplane with stunt pilot Ernst Udet (who plays himself). She subsequently visits Hannes and the two fall in love. He urges her to visit his ailing musician friend Walter (Mathias Wieman), but when she does he starts to fear that they have become lovers. The distraught Hannes decides to stay for another year of work on Mont Blanc, but his hands freeze when he loses his gloves and is caught in a storm. Unable to build a fire, he tries to descend to safety but the cracks that have formed in the glacier compel him to turn back. Hella picks up his mayday message on the radio in her father's observatory and heads to Mont Blanc with a rescue team. Before she reaches Hannes, Udet is able to fly in and save his life by building a fire. 30/110 ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, (more)
