Wolfgang Reichmann Movies

The first victory in The Second Victory is the Allied triumph in World War II. British major Anthony Andrews, in charge of the occupation troops in a remote Austrian village, must deal with the uncooperative attitude of the locals when one of his men is killed by a deranged Axis soldier. Andrews also pursues a romantic involvement with Birgit Doll, the niece of crooked lawyer Max Von Sydow. The lawyer kills himself when his crimes are revealed, whereupon Birgit, heretofore the only "sympathetic" villager in the film, turns on Andrews, holding the Major responsible for her uncle's death. We strongly suspect that the title The Second Victory was meant to be ironic: Nobody wins in this one. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The life and times of Marie Ward, the founder of the Loretto Order of nuns, (aka the Institute of Mary) are examined in this religious biography that is filmed on locations related to her activities. The unusually devout and independent nun originally came from a Catholic family in Yorkshire and took her vows and training at St. Omer in France. An activist to the core, she spent time helping those in prison and started the Institute of Mary in 1606, with the idea of bringing other nuns out into society to help those in need. As she defends her Institute to two successive Popes, it is ultimately banned until 1707, a half-century after her death. This bio also examines other difficulties and trials that made her career a challenge, and ultimately undermined her health.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Controversial German director Werner Herzog helmed this cinematization of Woyzeck, playwright Georg Büchner's anti-military tale of depersonalization run amok. Utilizing the more grotesque elements of German expressionism, combined with his own sense of the outrageous, Herzog plunges us directly into the middle of his story of a soldier (Klaus Kinski) who is conditioned to be an unthinking killing machine through lab experimentation. His one vestige of humanity is his love for the beautiful Marie (Eva Mattes), but even this is corrupted when he is goaded into murdering the girl. An earlier film version of Woyzeck, filmed in 1947, was released in the U.S. in 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A soldier is assigned to guard a fortress on a remote Greek island and finds himself unable to cope with the crushing boredom of the task in this interesting drama, an early film by renowned-director Werner Herzog. The story is set during WWII and concerns a soldier who was wounded and stationed on the Nazi-controlled island. He is accompanied by his wife and two other guards. It is a very quiet island and soon the men begin looking for constructive things to do. First they paint houses. Then they try raising goats. One of them finds a small stockpile of explosives, so the men begin making bombs. Another of the men can read Greek and so begins translating some of the ancient inscriptions on the castle walls. He discovers that pirates once controlled the island. Meanwhile, the other guard invents a little machine that systematically captures and kills roaches. Eventually the lead soldier finds himself beginning to crack up, suffering a minor breakdown when he hears someone playing Chopin on the piano. When, to escape their tedium, the guards are assigned a detail on a ridgetop, the lead soldier begins shooting at windmills. Further agitated by his perceived betrayal by his comrades, he then attacks the local village and threatens to use his bombs to destroy it. In the end, the insane renegade is stopped. Herzog is said to have based the story on an article describing similar events that occurred during the Seven Years' War. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a script by German playwright Karl Wittlinger, this satirical feature follows the lives of two fellow winos. Axel and Bum one day find themselves contemplating their misery as they drink. Bum concludes that his soul is the root of all his problems and decides to find a way to rid himself of it. Axel suggests that he place it into a box and pawn it to a shop. After doing so, Bum immediately becomes a successful businessman. As he gains more wealth and prestige, he forgets his old drinking buddy. While Bum's fate is soon sealed, Axel remains his old self. Originally made for video on a budget of $75,000, the film won the Prix Italia in 1962. Director Rainer Erler had previously worked as an assistant to the prolific German director Kurt Hoffmann. Interestingly, Seelenwanderung shared many similarities with the 1958 Hoffmann film (based on a novel by Hugo Hartung) Wir Wunderkinder/Aren't We Wonderful? about two friends who part ways during WW II. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Much of Orson Welles' latter-day reputation as an "unfathomable" genius rests upon his seeming unwillingness to tell a story in clear, precise fashion. Sometimes, as in such films as Touch of Evil, Welles' spotty storytelling skills can be forgiven in the light of the excellent visuals. In other cases, as in his 1962 adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, Welles'style comes across as empty virtuosity, precious and petulant when it should be profound. Anthony Perkins plays Joseph K, a man condemned for an unnamed crime in an unnamed country. Seeking justice, Joseph K is sucked into a labyrinth of bureaucracy (Welles once described the character as being a "little bureaucrat" himself, who deserves to be punished. This is never clearly expressed in the finished film). Along the way, he becomes involved with three women -- Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli -- who in their own individual ways are functions of the System that persecutes him.

While Welles considered The Trial one of his finest films, this enthusiasm is not universally shared; even his most fervent admirers have been known to emerge from a screening of the film with quizzical, disappointed expressions on their faces. On the plus side, Welles and his cinematographer Edmond Richard perform miracles in transforming an abandoned French railway station into the headquarters of a totalitarian, red tape-ridden society. It's also fun to hear Welles' voice emanating from several of the supporting characters (his post-dubbing budget was nil). All in all, however, The Trial never truly works; it is unfair, however, to lay the blame for this entirely on Welles, inasmuch as the 1948 and 1994 attempts to cinematize the original Kafka novel likewise came a cropper. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This is a conventional World War II drama about one of the elite Nazi fighting units, seen from a German perspective. Director Harald Philipp paints the heroes of the Brandenberg division as misguided idealists coerced into combat by their hard-core Nazi hierarchy. In the first half of the action, the division goes into Romania to safeguard the oil that is exported to Germany, and in the second part of the film, the men go behind Russian lines. Their objective is to capture and hold a strategic bridge, not an easy task considering their isolated position. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi