Robert Dietl Movies
- 1992
Before World War II, Lothar Berfelde was the highly effeminate son of an unusually macho Nazi father. Somehow he escaped from his home and survived throughout the Nazi years, usually passing as a woman, and then he survived the communist years in East Germany. In this combined documentary and docudrama, the outspoken gay filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim tells the story of this quintessential survivor who has become a hero among those with minority sexual inclinations. Lothar, who has gone by the name Charlotte von Mahlsdorf for many decades now, responds to the director's questions before, during, and after re-enactments of key scenes from her life. This story is based in part on her autobiography. Despite brickbats from some reviewers, many (particularly in urban areas) found the film and the story of the "woman" it is about quite absorbing. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1989
In this tragic melodrama, a man who has been hiding his Nazi past has it come back to haunt him when his hippie daughter, whom he disapproves of, comes back to bond with her daughter, whom he's been raising. Meanwhile, he and his drinking buddy, a beer-truck driver, go on a jaunt to Poland to recover some gold fillings he had hidden years ago during the time when he worked in a concentration camp. The truck driver inadvertently leaves a filling lying around at home, and his mother immediately recognizes it for what it is. When she confronts him, he claims that "Jews don't mean anything to me" and she must then reveal his Jewish heritage to him: she was a housekeeper in a Jewish household and he was a child there whom she adopted during the Holocaust in order to save his life. The driver then confronts the wily old Nazi, who conceives a brutal scheme which will save his cozy life at the expense of the reputations of the driver and his granddaughter. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hanna Schygulla, Günther Maria Halmer, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Jason Robards plays an older Jewish man who returns to Stuttgart, Germany which he left in 1933 during the onslaught of the Third Reich. He reunites with a German man who, as a boy, was his childhood friend. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Christien Anholt, (more)
- 1986
A drama about personal conflicts and the political biases of the East and West German governments in the mid-'80s, this story focuses on the defection of a talented singer. Klaus (Gerulf Pannach) is finally granted permission to leave East Germany where he is no longer allowed to perform. But after arriving in the West he decides that he does not like being treated as the latest hot commodity; he appears to be no more comfortable in his new environment than in his previous one. While being hyped and promoted, he goes looking for his father, who had left nearly 30 years before to pursue his career as a musician in Cambridge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gerulf Pannach, Fabienne Babe, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
Forbidden represented not only the TV-movie bow of Jacqueline Bisset, but also the American debut of German film favorite Jurgen Prochnow. Filmed in Berlin by a British production crew, this fact-based story concerns German countess Nina von Halder (Bissett). Despite the anti-Semitic edicts of the Hitler regime, Nina becomes romantically involved with Jewish Fritz Friedlander (Jurgen Prochnow). Complicating matters is the fact that Fritz is already married. The infidelity angle is put on hold as Nina hides her lover from the Nazis, all the while remaining active with the Resistance. Based on the Leonard Gross novel The Last Jews of Berlin, Forbidden originally aired March 24, 1985, over the HBO cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1982
- PG
Fred Zinnemann's final film is a meditative examination of an illicit May-December romance, set in the mountain expanse of the Swiss Alps. Sean Connery plays Douglas, a middle-aged Scottish doctor on vacation in the Alps in 1932 with a beautiful and fresh-faced young woman, Kate (Betsy Brantley), whom he introduces as his wife. Douglas has taken Kate to the Alps to introduce her to the invigorating sport of mountain climbing. When Douglas and Kate arrive at the mountain lodge, their happiness is tempered by a knowing melancholy. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Kate has been madly in love with Douglas since she was a little girl and that she seduced him away from another woman. The flashbacks also reveal that Kate is not his wife, but his niece. But then, in their mountain retreat, young and handsome guide Johann (Lambert Wilson) makes an entrance. Johann immediately develops an attraction for Kate. Now Kate has to worry if the feeling is mutual. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Betsy Brantley, (more)
- 1968
Rull (Wolfgang Schneider) is in his last year at a classical German state school. Believing all authority figures are repugnant, he engages in a series of bizarre behaviors. He literally acts like a bull in a china shop, alienates his friends, loses his girlfriend and infuriates his teachers. When he paints a swastika on a wall of the Parliament building, he really gets in trouble. This film is based on the novel The Unadvised by Thomas Valentin. In the novel, the principle character was a hero, but he turns into an alienating buffoon in the celluloid version. Neither authority figures nor the counterculture is spared in this satire. Music is provided by Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Guenther Lueders
- 1966
Nineteen-year-old Liselotte Von Der Pfalz (Heidelinde Weis) falls for France's King Louis XIV (Hans Caninenberg) in this biographical costume drama. She marries the King's brother the Duke Of Orleans (Harald Leipnotz), which is a loveless union of political convenience. After Liselotte catches the eye of Louis, the Duke suddenly is passionate in his desire for her. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Heidelinde Weis, Harald Leipnitz, (more)
In a rather confusing and slow-paced manner, this wartime drama about a real-life dilemma is meant to highlight the dedication of Colonel Alois Podhajsky (Robert Taylor), the instructor at a prestigious Vienna equestrian school. The colonel is in charge of the safety and health of the royal Lipizzaner horses and he has a serious problem. He has not been able to secure German permission to leave for a safe haven with the horses and, at the same time, he has to get them together with the Lipizzaner mares in order to continue the species. The trouble is that the mares are in the hands of the enemy. And so the colonel sets out to get the horses through a German checkpoint, and convince General Patton (John Larch) to help him with his mission. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer, (more)
