Gustav Diesel Movies

In this romantic melodrama, a widowed Russian noblewoman finds her torn asunder by the 1917 revolution. Just before she is to return home, she attends a grand ball. There she encounters a handsome young officer. Following the dance, she leaves her 7-year old with her maid and leaves in the company of friend and confidant who has secretly loved her for years. They are halfway there when the Bolsheviks attack the train. The lady then learns that her lover and best friend have been captured. Her friend joins the Reds and when the soldier is slated for execution, he intervenes and saves him. Meanwhile, the woman hides out with a priest and keeps looking for her daughter who disappeared during the struggle. She also searches for her friend and lover. Time jumps ahead to 1930. Now the woman works as a nightclub singer in Shanghai. There she runs into her old friend Again he proposes, and again she rejects him as she still pines for the dashing soldier. Later, they attend an Easter gala for expatriate Russians, and the woman discovers that the soldier has also become a singer. She is shocked, and further shocked to learn that he has become engaged to none other than her estranged daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this mythical fantasy, the evil queen of Atlantis lives in a magnificent palace, the halls of which are filled with the mummified remains of former lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Das Gelbe Haus des King Fu was adapted from the stage melodrama The Yellow House of Rio. The film is an extended exercise in oriental exotica, with heroine Charlotte Susa facing several fates worse than death at the hands of the Fu Manchu-like villain. Critics were underwhelmed by the picture, citing director Karl Grune, normally a capable craftsman, for failing to bring his material to life. Even so, Grune apparently commanded great loyalty from his cast. After the premiere showing of Das Gelbe in Berlin, leading lady Susa bravely made a personal appearance, exhorting the audience to give the director a round of hearty applause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "great yearning" of the title refers to the desire of heroine Camilla Horn to become a famous movie star. Fortunately, director Theodor Loos happens to be combing the countryside, searching for "something new" to put before the cameras. He discovers Horn, and the rest can be filled in by the audience blindfolded. The charm of this picture lies not in its corny plotline, but in its handling by young director Stefan Szekely, who refuses to sugar-coat his depiction of movie-studio life but instead offers something very close to the truth. Die Grosse Sehnsucht features cameo appearances by such German film faves as Lil Dagover, Liane Haid, Anny Ondra, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Luis Trenker, Conrad Veidt, and many, many more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide