Kai Fischer Movies
- 1957
This was the first of a trilogy of "Spessart" parodies by director Kurt Hoffmann, each starring Liselotte Pulver in the title role. This particular take-off is concerned with highway bandits and kidnapped nobility. Everything begins when Countess Franziska (Pulver) and her fiancée and entourage are accosted and brought to an inn where they are kept hostage. But the intrepid Countess escapes, reaches home, and then is refused any assistance from her father. He is not going to pay the ransom demand. So she goes back disguised as a man to save the hostages on her own. Circumstances eventually lead to their release, but by then, she and the ringleader have fallen in love. Songs and general enthusiastic hijinks enliven the story, clichéd or not. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liselotte Pulver, Carlos Thompson, (more)
- 1958
Based on the popular Franz Werfel novel, Der Vernuntreute Himmel (The Embezzled Heaven) was deftly directed with both eyes on the box office by operetta specialist Ernst Marischka. Annie Rosar heads the cast as the naively pious Aunt Teta, who is certain that she will be assured a place in heaven by performing one good deed. That deed is to bestow her life savings upon her spoiled-rotten nephew Mojmir (Kurt Meisel) so that he may be able to afford to study for the priesthood. Of course, Mojmir has no such intentions, but he's certainly not above taking Aunt Teta's money. The melodramatic machinations of the storyline are largely forgotten during the film's spectacular climax, largely shot on location inside the Vatican. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Rosar, Hans Holt, (more)
With dialogue ranging from flat to offensive and acting in the same range, this low-brow erotic crime drama by director Terence Young stars Jayne Mansfield as Midnight Franklin, a star stripper in a Soho club that is in serious rivalry with another strip joint. A reporter gets involved in the strip scene while writing a story on the clubs, and in the end he has quite a lot to write about. The competition between the two clubs heats up, and after one of the owners is the unknowing instrument in the death of a young (illegally young) stripper, both rival clubs head for a crash. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Mansfield, Leo Genn, (more)
- 1961
Although released in the United States as a 63-minute black-and-white film, this 93-minute British swashbuckler from the producer/directors of Jack the Ripper is actually a lush color spectacle which looks like one of the Hammer Films adventures of the time, even though it was produced by New World. The similarities are not only cosmetic, however, as the film was co-written by Hammer stalwart Jimmy Sangster and co-stars studio regulars Peter Cushing, Miles Malleson, the dwarf Skip Martin, and Adrienne Corri (the future Clockwork Orange starlet who has a discreet nude scene here with German actress Kai Fischer). The ridiculous story concerns Jason, the young son of the notoriously decadent pervert Lord Netherton (Andrew Faulds), leader of London's infamous sex den, the Hellfire Club. Jason's mother (Jean Lodge) flees with the child after he is viciously whipped for walking in on one of his father's orgies. Many years later, his parents have died and Jason (Keith Michell) has become a Dutch circus acrobat, but decides to return to England to claim the ancestral mansion which is rightfully his. Posing as a coachman to his evil, perverse cousin Thomas (Peter Arne), whose oversight of the Hellfire Club has lifted its kinky membership into being the de facto power behind King George II's rule, Jason tries to defeat the club, gain back his inheritance, and rescue his childhood love (Fischer), whom Thomas kidnaps. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Filmed in Germany with an American production crew, The Bashful Elephant isn't really about the title character. Most of the screen time is taken up with the elephant's trainer (Helumut Schmid), who is in the midst of an unpleasant divorce. Producer/directors Dorrell and Stuart McGowan had just come off several years of TV's Death Valley Days, and were hoping to crack the family-movie market with The Bashful Elephant. Unfortunately, this middling project never got any farther than bottom-of-bill bookings and occasional engagements in church basements. The brothers had better luck with their next project, the Canadian-based TV adventure weekly The Littlest Hobo--which starred a dog rather than a pachyderm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Mack, Helmut Schmidt, (more)
- 1962
Based on an actual escape from East to West Germany staged on January 28, 1962, this routine docudrama by director Robert Siodmak re-enacts the tale. Kurt Schroeder (Don Murray) is a chauffeur, the young East Berliner who gets the idea of digging a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall. Thus well-assured that no guards will be able to see him escaping, Kurt carefully implements his plan. But he is not thinking of himself alone, and when the time comes to use the tunnel and leave East Germany behind, he takes his family and a few dozen other people along with him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1962
In this mystery, a German reporter looks into the death of a nightclub singer. His investigations reveal more than murder when he discovers a white slave ring operating between Marseilles and Tangeiers. More trouble ensues when he falls in love with one of the intended slaves. This inspires him to destroy the ring before it destroys her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This biopic from Walt Disney studios chronicles the life and times of Johann Strauss, Jr. as he tries to prove himself as talented as his overbearing father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
This crime thriller contains enough comedy and blood to interest almost any movie fan. Shady underworld thugs gather in a seedy Soho hotel in Room 13 to plan a train robbery. They plan to rendezvous in the mansion of a member of Parliament who is being blackmailed for his ties to the gang 20 years earlier. Simultaneously, a mysterious slasher is murdering women with a straight razor. Jonny Gray (Joachim Fuschberger) is the detective who is called on to solve the robbery and the murders. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor, (more)
- 1967
This German version of the famed caper, not only examines the detailed planning and precise execution of the famed theft, it also looks at what happened to the robber gang after they robbed the British mail train. Soon after the heist, several gang members made fatal blunders causing their capture by the police. The criminal syndicate then rallies behind the incarcerated crooks and tries to spring them from jail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Horst Tappert
- 1967
The fine line between drama and real life is crossed with tragic results in this German horror mystery film that is set in modern London and centers on a stage production of Jack the Ripper's life. During the run of the play, a series of murders, eerily similar to Jack's, occur. This doesn't bother the lead actor too much until he discovers that his fake knife has been replaced by a real one during a performance. Horrified, he flees the theater. Pursued by Scotland Yard, he must somehow prove his innocence lest he be sent to the gallows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hansjörg Felmy, Marianne Koch, (more)
- 1968
Gerlinde Locker plays a singer trying to succeed in the gangster-ridden German nightclub circuit. To supplement her income, she works at a talent agency adjacent to a club run by mobster Rolf Kutschera. With the help of club musician Tommy Rupp, the girl is hired to sing for Kutschera, which drives his mistress, dancer Kai Fischer, into a jealous rage. Fischer tries to murder Locker, with surprising results. Kutschera himself comes to grief at the hands of a cop working undercover at his club. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Josefine is a teenage streetwalker in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century in this erotic comedy. She manages to sleep her way to the top by marrying a British aristocrat, and she delights in telling ribald stories of her sordid past to moralistic prudes. Christine Schubert plays Josefine as a 17-year-old, while Kai Fischer portrays the 40-year-old woman with grace, humor and confidence. Screenwriter Kurt Nachmann makes his directorial debut. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kai Fischer, Christine Schuberth, (more)
- 1971
A loose adaptation of a novelette by author Peter Handke, this early effort from acclaimed director Wim Wenders follows penalized goalie Joseph Bloch (Arthur Brauss) as he makes his way through the city after missing penalty kick and getting suspended from a game. Wandering by a local cinema, Joseph picks up the pretty cashier and the two spend the night together. Inexplicably strangling the girl in the light of the morning, the seemingly unaffected Joseph makes his way through the city streets as emotion begins to boil under the surface of his stony gaze. Making his way to an old girlfriends house in the country, the emotionally shattered goalie has little to do but wait for the police to close in on him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The Serpent's Egg, or Das Schlangenei is director Ingmar Bergman's second English language production (The Touch was his first). It is, however, his first completely non-Swedish production, made after his voluntary self-exile from Sweden over taxation issues. Set in Berlin in the early 1920s, it explores the fear and despair the city evokes in Manuela and Abel Rosenberg (Liv Ullmann and David Carradine), two Jewish trapeze artists. The suicide of Manuela's husband (Abel's brother), has stranded them in Berlin. Berlin is shown to already possess the sinister elements of cruelty and anti-Semitism which laid the groundwork for the later Nazi takeover. A series of misadventures gets them sent to a medical clinic for treatment. However, the clinic is actually a site for Nazi-type "racial" experiments on humans, which generally either madden or kill the subjects. Das Schlangenei was savaged by the critics for its improbable-seeming story and more particularly, for casting David Carradine (best known for his earlier appearances in the Kung Fu U.S. television series) in a crucial role. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, David Carradine, (more)
- 1977
An out of work architect and a recently discharged military man meet at a critical moment in their lives. Each of them has been deprived of an occupation which gave meaning to their existence, and is left, instead, with a $15,000 severance check. Neither one handles the situation at all well. Bert, the architect, is thinking about giving up his apartment and studio, and tries his hand at an elaborate con-game. Thomas, a former military air-traffic controller, must take an elaborate series of exams before he can resume his profession as a civilian. Their girlfriends are not a steadying factor in their lives. When circumstances get in the way of their plans, they soon have only their friendship to rely on. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hans-Peter Hallwachs, Bernd Tauber, (more)
- 1980
An insightful, well-rounded, and often acerbic look at the slow burn of a middle-aged housewife, Lena Rais says a lot in its 116-minute running time. Lena (Krista Stadler) begins to feel like a tool for her husband's sexual needs and an automatic machine for her children. Her life is losing its meaning and she wants to do something about it. She wants out -- but when she leans in that direction, her husband starts to abuse her physically. He wants the old passive Lena back again and abuse is the only way he understands to get what he wants. Lena muddles along awhile longer and ends up rebelling by having a brief fling with an altogether bad sort, which lands her in psychotherapy. This chain of events finally gets her the advice and encouragement she needed all along, and the brave woman faces up to her violent husband and a future without him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tilo Prückner, Nikolaus Paryla, (more)
- 1983
First-time director and writer Rolf Silber has skimmed the surface in this comedy about a bank teller who ends up with some money accidentally left behind in a robbery. After loaning some of the cash to his friends, the teller runs away to join a road company because he is in love with one of its actresses. The teller's father is an Elvis Presley fan, and his fellow bank workers are an odd lot, so perhaps the teller cannot be blamed for leaving it all behind him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christoph Marius Ohrt, Britta Pohland, (more)
