Elke Sommer Movies
Blonde German-born actress Elke Sommer was the daughter of a Lutheran minister who died when she was 14. At 17, Sommer was working as a nursemaid in London, an "au pair" situation that enabled her to learn English. She attended college in Germany planning to be a diplomatic translator, but was sidetracked into a modeling career, which led to her German movie debut in Das Totenschiff (1959). While on tour in Italy, Sommer caught the eye of a producer who gave her an important role in Femmine di Lusso (1959) -- and, in the process, Sommer was able to master yet another language. Along with several other European actresses, Sommer received her first international break in The Victors (1963); the fact that she shot her scenes twice -- once in the nude -- was good for plenty of press coverage in the U.S. She followed this film by appearing opposite Paul Newman in The Prize (1963) and Peter Seller in A Shot in the Dark (1964). During this period, Sommer met her future husband, writer Joe Hyams, while he was interviewing her for a magazine article. Her subsequent film career had as many valleys as hills, but Sommer remained popular on the international show business scene -- especially TV talk shows, thanks to her fluency in seven languages. Elke Sommer's latest appearances included a guest shot in the American TV series St. Elsewhere and a supporting part in the 1992 film Severed Ties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1997
Harry has grown up amongst the dregs of society and so it is little wonder that he, like Willi, the estranged father he idolizes, ends up in prison; his young girlfriend Marlies is also incarcerated. Following convictions for car theft, the two are fatefully sent to the same coed penitentiary where Willi and his girlfriend reside. With a little wangling, Harry manages to become his father's new cellmate. Marlies is placed with Willi's girl. The four communicate via toilet pipes as do other inmates. Thus the stage is set for a series of funny and earthy conversations that illuminate and educate both generations of crooks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Adorf, Elke Sommer, (more)
- 1992
- R
In this darkly funny horror movie, gore and severed limbs abound. It is the story of a young medical genius doing genetic research into regrowing organs. His work is based upon that of his father, a renowned geneticist who was murdered. Before he can continue, he needs a fresher supply of cadavers and his mother is more than happy to help her son. Unbeknownst to him, she and her lover secretly work for an evil bio-chemical company and are behind his father's death. With his mother's help, the boy finally succeeds, but when he finds out his mother's true allegiance he takes the newly developed material and flees. Unfortunately, just before he gets out, the steel door shuts and cuts off his arm. He grabs the limb and then injects the new genetic formula in hopes that it will reattach. It does, but unfortunately, his arm has developed a mind and can attach or detach itself from the boy whenever it feels like it. The young genius ends up befriended by a group of vagabond amputees who live in the sewer system. With their help, the assistance of his arm, and the formula the boy begins working to get revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, (more)
- 1988
In this comedy, a little village which is so idyllic that, as one reviewer put it "even the cats and dogs are friends," is threatened with destruction, as plans are announced that it is slated to be demolished to make way for a new express train line. Internationally known star Elke Sommer is in the cast. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elke Sommer, Sigi Zimmerschied, (more)
- 1987
Eurocentric arrogance prompts all the people who handle and acquire a strange Ceylonese curio to dismiss the legend surrounding it, which is that it is a death stone, and holding it presages an early demise. The first to discover it is Jane, who is the fiance of an architect. When she is killed in a run-in with some drug dealers, her fiancee goes on the rampage, dealing out plenty of lethal martial arts kicks and blows and setting up the villains for some serious revenge while the Ceylonese locals celebrate their colorful festivals. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Fortell, Birte Berg, (more)
- 1987
In this unlikely adventure, a motorcyclist helps an all-girls' school "prisoner" escape her school and together they flee across Europe, chased by the headmistress. To complicate things, the escapee is a mobster's daughter and the motorcycle man, wrongfully accused of a murder, is also being chased. ~ All Movie Guide
This two-part TV movie recounts the life of Anna Anderson, who until the day she died at age 82 insisted that she was really Anastasia Romanov, daughter of Czar Nicholas. Anna first makes her claim in 1920, when she is an inmate in a Berlin asylum. Her story of escape from the Bolsheviks who killed the rest of her family in 1918 seems so vivid that many Russian expatriates are willing to believe her. The film concludes in 1928, with Anna restating her claim before the surviving Romanovs living in New York. Amy Irving plays the leading character in a lady-or-the-tiger fashion, so that we never know if she truly swallows her own tale or if she's merely a clever charlatan. Olivia DeHavilland, Rex Harrison, Claire Bloom, Omar Sharif and Susan Lucci co-star in this opulent, location-filmed production, which originally aired on December 7 and 8, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving
- 1985
- PG
Dyan Cannon stars in this 4-hour TV drama as Jenny Baines, an American woman of the pre-WW II era. Anxious to learn the fate of her son, a pilot who was shot down over Germany, Jenny travels to Berlin. Here she is reunited with her husband Hartmut Becker, who is now a high-ranking Nazi officer. With the help of allied prisoners, Jenny is smuggled into the POW camp where her son is presumably being held. The part of Jenny's son is played by Hugh Grant, meaning that Jenny's War is probably due for a revival. The 2-part drama was originally syndicated the week of October 26, 1985, as part of the Operation Prime Time series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In this surprisingly amateurish production for noted Hungarian director Karoly Makk, Fitz (Christopher Plummer) is a well-known Broadway actor longing to get a leading role in a truly successful movie when his wife Lily (Maggie Smith) comes up with a sure-fire script. Too bad for Fitz, the male lead in Lily's script just has to be a blond Italian. Not one to be put off by minor details, Fitz dons a blond wig and an equally unconvincing Italian accent and lands the part. Soon the cast and crew are jetting off to Budapest, the filming location, where their parody of filmmakers may leave some viewers wondering if Lily in Love might have been successful as a parody itself. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Plummer, Maggie Smith, (more)
- 1984
In this gripping Swedish drama, a South African girl is captured and forced to become a hooker. It is a horrible life, but eventually the girl escapes and finds sanctuary and love on a remote game preserve. Unfortunately, her former employer finds her and carves up the girl's face, causing her lover to head off for bloody revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1982
When a Hollywood sex symbol is kidnapped for ransom, the daredevil team, The Fantastic Seven, head to Miami where the filming occurred. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1982
The two-part TV movie Inside the Third Reich was based on the extraordinary revelatory (if self-serving) autobiographical book by Albert Speer. Played herein by Rutger Hauer, Speer is a young man of privilege in pre-Hitler Germany who happens to be a brilliant architect. Becoming a member of Hitler's inner circle, Speer is appointed the Nazi regime's master builder. According to this film, Speer is egomaniacal and ambitious, but somewhat blinded to the inherent evils of Nazism. Though he'd later claim to be ignorant of Hitler's horrific policies aimed at the Jews, he was certainly aware of the use of Jewish prisoners as slave labor: as Germany's armaments minister during World War II, Speer exploited these enslaved unfortunates as much as anyone, if not more so. The cast includes Derek Jacobi as Hitler, Blythe Danner as Speer's wife Margarethe, John Gielgud as Speer's father, Ian Holm as Goebbels, Maurice Roeves as Hess, and George Murcell as Goering. Originally running 5 hours, Inside the Third Reich was filmed in Munich; it was first telecast on May 9 and 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
The humor in this film centers around a man in his pajamas and bathrobe who goes out to buy some cigarettes on the corner and encounters a series of events that have him chased by some inept policemen, an angry husband, a taxi driver, and so forth. Things continue to deteriorate from there, and for some viewers, their funny bones will be picked dry after the first few scenes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Sander, Peter Fitz, (more)
- 1980
The 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid provides the setting for this drama that centers on a man's mid-life crisis. While there, he gets involved with love, sex and other diversions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Elke Sommer stars in this experimental film from director Bastian Cleve. A citizen from Germany arrives in Hollywood, leading to an interview with Sommer. He tries unsuccessfully to pick up a black woman while roller-skating near the beach then calls home from Death Valley to explain that he will not be returning to Germany. His experiences are often surrealistic, as the gritty reality of life in Southern California collides with the exotic images made popular in films. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elke Sommer
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square was the original title of this British caper film. David Niven does his suave 'n' blase bit as a criminal mastermind planning a giant bank heist. Richard Jordan co-stars as an American ex-con tapped to oversee the operation. Gloria Grahame, in one of her last roles, masticates the scenery as Jordan's rude-and-crude mom. The Big Scam picked up a third title when it was released to video as The Mayfair Bank Caper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock fans need not be reminded that "The McGuffin" is Hitchcock's term for the gimmicks (missing papers, stolen gems, uranium deposits) that motivate the plots of his thrillers. This much is explained by narrator Orson Welles at the beginning of the family-oriented The Double McGuffin. Hitchcock in-jokes abound in this innocuous adventure yarn, which stars Ernest Borgnine as an international terrorist (it's that kind of film). A bunch of kids in a sleepy Southern town tumble to Borgnine's scheme to assassinate a foreign prime minister, but of course the authorities don't believe a word. The kids decide to take matters into their own hands, which includes staging their own kidnapping to arouse the attention of the police. The film comes to a noisy climax during a school assembly, where the targeted prime minister is a keynote speaker. Like Ernest Borgnine, co-stars George Kennedy and Elke Sommer play their scenes straight, allowing full scope to the Saturday-matinee antics of the younger actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, (more)
- 1979
One of two 1979 TV pilot films concerning the exploits of crimefighting movie stuntmen (the other was Stunts Unlimited), Stunt Seven was telecast May 30, 1979. Christopher Connelly heads the cast as ace stunter Hill Singleton. His six-person "team" includes Skip (Christopher Lloyd), Elena (Morgan Brittany), Wally (Bob Seagren), Kenny (Soon Teck Oh), Horatio (Brian Brodsky) and Dinah (Juanin Clay). This time around, "Stunt Seven" must rescue sexy movie star Elke Sommer from the clutches of a well-guarded modern pirate. The fact that the villain is played by Patrick MacNee of Avengers fame should tip one off that Stunt Seven was conceived with tongue firmly in cheek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Star Rod Taylor co-wrote the screenplay for Jamaican Gold. For centuries, the treasure of Morgan the Pirate has been resting somewhere beneath the waters of Carribean. Diver Taylor goes after it, hoping to beat his rivals Stuart Whitman, Elke Sommer and Jeremy Kemp to the punch. All four adventurers must contend with a few scurvy criminal types. Keenan Wynn also shows up as the gloriously yclept "Meat Cleaver Stewart." Filmed in the early 1970s, Jamaican Gold underwent several title and distributor changes before it was released in 1979 as The Treasure Seekers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Elke Summers sings "Animal Crackers in My Soup" to much fanfare, though the fate of the final number depends on Beaker and Beauregard getting it finished on time. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elke Sommer
- 1979
- PG
The beloved novel by Anthony Hope is shown here in its sixth film adaptation. In this story, Peter Sellers is Rudolf IV, the reigning monarch of the tiny nation of Ruritania. One day, while flying in a hot air balloon, a champagne cork sends him plummeting to his death. The rightful heir, who is to be crowned Rudolf V (also Peter Sellers), is kidnapped by Duke Michael (Jeremy Kemp), who is next in line for the throne. Luckily, the good guys find Syd (Peter Sellers once again), a London taxi-driver who closely resembles the kidnapped heir. While impersonating the monarch-to-be, Syd falls in love with the prince's fiancee Princess Flavia (Lynne Frederick). Neither a box-office nor a critical success, this amiable 1979 swashbuckler nonetheless features fine performances by Peter Sellers, who died in 1980. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, (more)
- 1979
Four disparate scuba divers go to the Caribbean in search of lost treasure. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this crime drama, set in 1975 and based on a true story from Toronto, Canada, the different ways in which a prominent realtor may have had his wife brutally murdered are presented. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elke Sommer, Donald Pilon, (more)
- 1977
- PG
Filmed on location in Zurich, Switzerland, The Swiss Conspiracy is concerned with a Swiss bank that discovers some of its clients are becoming the victim of a brilliant blackmailer. The bank's president (Ray Milland) contacts David Christopher (played by David Janssen), a former agent with the U.S. Treasury, to help discover who the blackmailer is and to foil his plot. As Christopher delves into the mystery, he uncovers a complicated web of intrigue, car chases, and shoot-outs that takes all of his wits to unravel. Along the way, Christopher encounters the beautiful Denise Abbott (Senta Berger), with whom he develops a relationship, as well as Rita Jensen (Elke Sommer) and Robert Hayes (John Saxon), who know more than they are willing to tell. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
