Paul Otto Movies

In this drama, a poor mother gives her child up for adoption and travels to America with her spouse. The child is taken in by an orchestra conductor and his wife. When the lad's biological father kills himself, his real mother comes back and gets a job as his nurse. Meanwhile, the conductor's wife, feeling great remorse over her frequent affairs, takes her life. The nurse and the conductor are initially accused of murder, but they are acquitted. At the story's end, the marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Madonna, Wo Bist Du? (Madonna, Where Are You?) is a vehicle for Liane Haid, and as such is virtually indistinguishable from her earlier films. Haid is cast as young opera diva Gilda Garden, engaged to marry her elderly mentor. While attending a masquerade ball, Gilda makes the acquaintance of a handsome young man, who of course has no idea who she is. After the ball, the lovestruck lad searches for Gilda by broadcasting a plaintive "Madonna, Where Are You?" over the radio. The question soon becomes a national catchphrase, and then a song, bringing overnight fame to the young man. But Gilda never suspects that she is the selfsame Madonna until she chances to meet her mystery suitor at a dinner party -- whereupon her aged fiancé, sizing up the situation, nobly steps out of her life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A popular novel by Richard Henry Savage was the springboard for Seine Offizielle Frau (My Official Wife). The story is set in 1910 with the action evenly divided between Paris and St. Petersburg. Basically a comedy, the story concerns a high-ranking British official named Colonel Lenox (George Alexander) who is forced by diplomatic circumstances to pretend that one Mme. Helene (Renate Muller) is his wife. All well and good -- except that the Colonel is already married! My Official Wife was first filmed by Vitagraph in 1916 -- and, contrary to popular belief, did not feature Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky in the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hasenklein was based on a stage play by Hans Mahner-Mons. Arriving in the big city to visit his daughter, provincial dressmaker Jacob Tiedke finds himself attending a political meeting. Through a series of hilarious misunderstandings, our hero is elected a member of Parliament then is promoted to the Presidency. Tiedke wants nothing to do with all this, but the more he tries to disqualify himself, the more his followers are convinced that he's a legislative genius. After using his political clout to smooth the romantic path for his daughter and her sweetheart, Tiedke blissfully returns to the small-town dress shop whence he came. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This version of the notorious Russian monk/charlatan's life, presents Rasputin, not as an evil manipulator of the czar's family, but as more of a victim. The story begins in a tiny village where he miraculously healed peasants. He is then taken to court to treat the czarina's hemophiliac son, but because Rasputin was a wild drunk and womanizer, he is sent back to his home. When war breaks out, he goes back to St. Petersburg to con the czar into taking over the high command. En route, Rasputin meets a duke and the soldier whose fiancee with whom he had once dallied. In the end, they lure him to a palace and shoot him. The script has an added touch of historical accuracy in that an actual acquaintance of Rasputin, Ossip Dymow, assisted with the script. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Otto Gebuehr stars as Prussian ruler Frederick the Great in this German historical drama. Lucky in war, Frederick is unlucky in love until he meets the alluring Italian dancing girl Barberina (Lil Dagover). Alas, his happiness is short-lived: Barberina is enamored of another, younger man. Rumanian-born director Fred Zelnik dashed off this epic just before setting up shop in England. Originally titled Barberina, Die Taenzerin von Sans Souci, the film gives evidence of having originally been much longer than its present 78 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, set in Germany during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm, a practical joker cons a town. It is based upon the true tale of a daring shoemaker who dons a captain's uniform and leads a troop of soldiers into a small town of Koepenick. He immediately places the mayor and the treasurer under arrest and absconds with the town coffer. When the townfolk learn that they have been the butt of a joke that criticized their blind acceptance of anyone in uniform they are angry. The cobbler confesses his action and is sent to prison. The Kaiser, a man with a sense of humor, gives him a pardon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Outside of Emperor Franz Joseph, there was no member of the Hapsburg dynasty who showed up in films as often as Empress Elizabeth of Austria. Lil Dagover plays the celebrated empress in this film, which deftly combines fact and fiction into one lavish movie package. Though wed to Franz Joseph (Paul Otto) and expected to comport herself in a regal manner, Elizabeth is too much the free spirit to tie herself down to protocol. Escaping the stuffiness of the Austro-Hungarian royal court, she chooses to live a carefree existence among the people. Elizabeth returns to the palace a shade too late to save her unhappy son Crown Prince Rudolf from committing suicide out of love for the beautiful Countess Mary Vetsera (this subplot later served as the basis for the 1937 film Mayerling). Again fleeing her responsibilities Elizabeth wanders aimlessly around the world until her own life is ended by an assassin's bullet. Amazingly, Elisabeth von Oesterreich manages to pack all this into a brisk 74 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Helen Nimirosky, The Ball was filmed simultaneously in German and French-language versions. The French adaptation, Le Bal, served to introduce 14-year-old Danielle Darrieux to the picture-going public. Darrieux plays the daughter of a pair of delicatessen owners who suddenly come into a huge sum of money. Striving to buy their way into society, the couple utterly neglects their daughter, who naturally grows resentful. When they plan to throw a huge fancy-dress ball to curry favor with the glitterati, Darrieux gets even by destroying all of the invitations, and as a result no one shows up. This results in a near-breakup for the couple, but eventually they realize that their daughter has done them an enormous favor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide