Fritz Wendhausen Movies
- 1936
It hardly takes a linguistics expert to figure out that the title of this German comedy translates as Family On Parade. Curt Juergens heads the cast as Erik, a young Swedish count who gets a big surprise on his 21st birthday. Erik discovers that he's not a nobleman at all, but the bastard son of a family servant. The revelation of this long-closeted skeleton threatens to disrupt his impending marriage to Alice (Ellen Franck), the daughter of a pompous and hypocritical baron. The laughs just keep on coming in Familienparade, as director Fritz Wendhausen takes great delight in puncturing the pretensions of Scandinavian aristocracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernst Dumcke
- 1934
Schwarze Walfisch (The Black Whale) is the German-language version of the Marcel Pagnol masterpiece Fanny. Replacing the virtually irreplaceable Raimu as philosophical innkeeper Panisse is Emil Jannings, no small talent in his own right. When Panisse's son Marius (Franz Nicklisch) goes off to sea, he leaves his pregnant sweetheart Fanny (Angela Sokker) to fend for herself. The old barkeep tries to patch things up by marrying off Fanny to his middle-aged friend Cesar (Max Guelstorff), who adopts the girl's baby as his own. Years later, Marius returns, demanding that both Fanny and the child return to him. But by now Fanny is loyal to her homely but faithful Cesar, and it is Marius who ends up empty-handed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emil Jannings, Max Guelstorff, (more)
- 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
Die Koenigen einer Nacht was based on a novel by Alfred Machard. The title translates as Queen of a Night, which is the lofty status thrust upon heroine Friedl Haerlin. Despite the fact that she is not in the least bit queenly, Haerlin manages to convince her fans that she is indeed a beautiful regent, forced into a marriage of convenience which unexpectedly blossoms into love. That superlative singer Walter Janssen shows up in a supporting role designed to allow him full scope to display his remarkable vocal skills. The best acting performance in Die Koenigen einer Nacht is rendered by Carl Ludwig Diehl as the queen's adjutant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Friedl Haerlin, Adele Sandrock, (more)
- 1931
This film was also released as Die Letzten Tag von dem Welt-brand (The Last Days Before the War). Director Richard Oswald and screenwriters Heinz Goldberg and Frtiz Wendhausen tackle the near-impossible task of establishing who exactly was responsible for the outbreak of WWI. The answer seems to be "everyone and no one," though the Russians are taken to task for their war-mongering instincts. The huge and stellar cast (including Albert Basserman, Reinhold Schunzel, Alfred Abel and Oskar Homolka) seem awe-struck by the famous characters they're called upon to play; as a result, they come off more as wax effigies than human beings. The American release version of 1914 was outfitted with a prologue and epilogue spoken in English by a renowned military historian. Coincidentally, the incredibly prolific Richard Oswald began his directorial career in 1914. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Basserman
- 1928
Most of the late silent films of German director Joe May exhibited what one cinema historian has described as "a synthesis of Hollywood and Neubabelsberg." Put in layman's terms, May's later films were assembled with his usual German craftsmanship and eye for impressionism, but with most of the audience-pleasing ingredients that would score with American filmgoers. Homecoming (Heimkehr) could just as well have been made by the MGM assembly line as by UFA, but this doesn't diminish its excellence one iota. Set during World War I, the film concentrates on a romantic triangle, utilizing all the "popular" elements within a refreshingly cliche-free framework. The diffused-lens romanticism of Homecoming was not to be found in May's next project, the melancholy "street drama" Asphalt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dita Parlo
