Herbert Selpin Movies
- 1941
This historical recap of Dr. Carl Peters tells of the founding of Deutsch Ostafrika, which covered parts of present-day Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Winner of several awards it its day, this video is available in German only. ~ All Movie Guide
- 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)
- 1935
Dream of the Rhine is the English-language title of this easygoing romantic comedy. German-born Jupp Steinweg (Schroeder-Schromm) returns to Der Fatherland after several years in America. He arrives with two servants, who are instantly inveigled into a pick-pocketing scheme. This comic subplot is never permitted to intrude upon the film's main purpose: to offer a picture-postcard paean to the beauties of the Rhine River. Unlike many other German films during the Hitler regime, Der Traum von Rhein downplays its nationalistic fervor, to good effect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Though the witty, epigrammatic style of Oscar Wilde would seem best suited to the rhythms of the English language, a surprising number of Wilde's plays and short stories were filmed in Europe. The German Ein Idealer Gatte is a fairly faithful adaptation of Wilde's 1895 play An Ideal Husband. The title character is Lord Chiltern (Carl Ludwig Diehl), a prosperous steel magnate. Blackmailed by an old flame, Gloria Chevney (Sybille Schmitz), Lord C. is at last rescued by the real brains of the Chiltern family, his loyal, supportive and eminently courageous wife (Brigitte Helm). Film buffs take note: Ein Ideal Gatte affords a rare opportunity to see Metropolis star Brigitte Helm and Vampyr star Sybille Schmitz in the same picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Ludwig Diehl, Brigitte Helm, (more)
- 1942
Sergeant Wilhelm Bauer's invention of the U-boat during Denmark's World War II blockade of the ports of Schleswig-Holstein is profiled in this historical drama. (In German) ~ All Movie Guide
- 1933
Hans Fallada's poignant Depression-era novel Klein Mann, Was Nun? was faithfully filmed in Germany in 1933. Young provincial bookkeeper Hans (Herman Thiemig) must keep his marriage to the beautiful Lammechen (Hertha Thiele) a secret, lest he be fired by his boss, who'd hoped to marry off his own daughter to Hans. When the truth is revealed, Hans is immediately sacked, whereupon he and Lammechen move to the Berlin home of Han's lusty stepmother (Ida Wuest). The old lady's larcenous lover (Fritz Kampers) tries to help out the young couple financially, but soon he's carted off to prison. Eventually, it dawns on Hans that his stepmother is running a house of prostitution, and the young couple is obliged to move out again. This time they are given shelter by a kindly street peddler, who is on hand to help out when Lammechen gives birth to Hans's child. Though the young husband is out of work again, there is some hope that conditions will improve, and the film ends on an upbeat note. An English-language version of the Fallada novel, Little Man, What Now?, was filmed the following year, with Douglass Montgomery as Hans and Margaret Sullavan as Lammechen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hertha Thiele, Viktor de Kowa, (more)
- 1931
Forced to work nights, a young Austrian bureaucrat is unable to escort his lovely wife to a masquerade ball. Unbeknownst to our hero, his wife and her maid slip off to the ball on their own. Wifey makes the acquaintance of her husband's best friend who, unaware of her identity, is quite smitten by her and invites himself to her home. She manages to get rid of her lovesick swain by removing her mask and gown and disguising the maid as herself. Never revealing her true identity, the maid enjoys a passionate evening in her escort's apartment. The next day, the husband, who hasn't a clue as to what has transpired the night before, invites his friend home to "meet the missus." The friend is naturally terrified at the prospect that the wife will reveal their romantic rendezvous of the night before, little realizing that he'd actually spent the entire evening with the maid. How this situation eventually straightens itself out is far better seen than described. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivan Petrovich, Liane Haid, (more)
- 1938
In this German comedy set in the American West, an ace detective heads West to destroy a ring of Mexican hashish smugglers. He also has time to romance a pretty girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
The Love Contract was based on Chauffeur Antoinette, a French stage comedy. Wealthy Antoinette (Winifred Shotter) loses all her money in the stock market, whereupon she puts her mansion up for sale. The first potential buyer turns out to be Neville Cardington (Owen Nares), the stockbroker who inadvertently brought about Antoinette's ruin. Upon learning that Cardington, a married man, intends to use the mansion as a trysting place for himself and his mistress, our heroine plots a diabolically clever revenge. But she forgets all this when her nemesis turns out to be a decent sort who eventually falls in love with her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winifred Shotter, Owen Nares, (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
- 1939
Wasser Fur Canitoga (Water for Canitoga) is a duck-billed platypus of a film: a German-language western, filmed in Canada and designed as anti-British propaganda. Hans Albers, in 1939 Germany's most popular male actor, plays the rough-and-tumble hero. Falsely accused of sabotaging the system that pipes water to a remote Canadian outpost. The climax finds Albers struggling to save the subterranean piping machinery, at the cost of his own life. As he lies dying on the floor of the local saloon, his fellow miners strike up a soulful chorus of "Good-bye, Johnny!" This scene alone is worth the admission price of the slow-moving but undeniably compelling Wasser Fur Canitoga. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
