Elfriede Irrall Movies

Nina Hoss stars in this adaptation of a novel by Klaus Mann as Marion von Kammer, a singer who leaves Germany for Zurich as the Nazis rise to power. However, she finds life in Switzerland dull and suffocating, so she journeys to Paris, where she works at a pirate radio station broadcasting anti-fascist messages. She becomes friendly with a group of fellow Germans living in the city of lights, including nightclub owner Mother Schwalbe (Katharina Thalbach); Professor Abel (Udo Samel), the unofficial leader of the group; Martin Korella (Christian Nickel), a dissatisfied young author; and Kikjou (Boris Terral), Martin's lover. Nina Hoss was named Best Actress at the 1999 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Scenes from the Vietnam war are enacted by Asian and white actors, captioned, and juxtaposed with a slow-paced commentary that gives time for reflection on the message conveyed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The directors and writers of Raindrops (the name of a popular German song) are Harry Raymon who lived through the experiences dramatized in the film, and Michael Hoffman who grew up after WW II and wanted to know what it was like for Jews before the war started. When Raymon started telling Hoffman his own story, the two decided to make the narration into a semi-documentary film. The story begins in the early 1930s as the Goldbach family, owners of a textile business, see their customers thinning out and associates shunning them; their little son Benny is also ostracized at the playground. This clear message convinces them to emigrate to America before it is too late. They have an Aunt living in the U.S. who will sponsor them, and they can apply for a visa at the American Consulate in Stuttgart - but not that easily. First, they must learn some English and make a stronger case for their application, so they sell their business and move to Cologne, where they can study English. While in Cologne, they reside in cramped quarters with other Jewish families, fear, apprehension, and tempers building as they know full well how difficult it will be to get a visa, and how menacing the future is. Benny wiles away some time by going to the movies, but then that pasttime is cut off when Jews are no longer allowed inside the cinema. Once preparations are completed, the Goldbach's drama unfolds in visits to the American Consulate, where visa applications are refused time and time again for the flimsiest of reasons, or for reasons that were far from legal. The Goldbachs complete the difficult physical exams demanded by the Consulate and wait for the response to their application, fearful of the consequences if they are denied, like so many others. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

An adaptation of John B. Priestley's play, ~Time and the Conways~, this standard drama focuses on the Thorwald family through several years and is distinguished by an excellent comeback performance by Elsabeth Bergner as Frau Thorwald. The family is well-off and contented when a tragedy strikes -- the father is killed in an accident. Frau Thorwald takes over the raising of her children, four girls and two boys with the youngest already fifteen years old. She manages to keep them together in spite of the fact that their economic situation deteriorates after World War I. Never one to look too critically upon her brood, the woman undergoes a moving and gradual transformation as the adult activities of her children bring home the fact that none of them are what she had once imagined. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide