Walter Giller Movies

This performance video features an evening of music and comedy with Peter Frankenfeld. ~ All Movie Guide

This sentimental story is taken from the novel by Heinrich Spoerl but strays from the original. Teachers and students are the focus of the plot, with Hans (Walter Giller) in love with Marion (Nadja Tiller). Uschi Glass and Hans Richter also star in this remake of the 1944 classic by Helmut Weiss. Richter plays a teacher in this production after starring as a student in the earlier version. The student-teacher theme seems to be an inexhaustible vehicle for Teutonic filmmakers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this 1968 Italian production, Francesco Maselli directs this light-hearted and fast-paced caper comedy with Rock Hudson as New York City police captain Mike Harmon, who becomes involved with sex bomb Esmeralda Marini (Claudia Cardinale). Esmeralda, using the ploy that Harmon was an old friend of her father, convinces him to help her return some hot jewels to their former owners. Soon enough, Harmon and Esmeralda are jetting to Austria, where Harmon disables the victims' home-security system and sneaks the jewels back into their rightful place. But Esmeralda has tricked Harmon into replacing the real gems with fake ones, and now Harmon is a jet-set thief along with Esmeralda. Harmon, having gotten a taste of criminal high life, wants to split fifty-fifty with Esmeralda on the next heist. Esmeralda, however, wants to call it quits and get married. Harmon, doesn't see it that way, and Esmeralda, a one-man woman all the way, follows him as he heads off to his next nefarious adventure. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a casino owner in Barcelona absconds with a gangster's fortune and is chased to Monte Carlo where he impersonates a millionaire. While there he weds a wealthy American widow. When the gangster learns of the marriage, he and the thief's ex-mistress team up and head for Monte Carlo where they plan on winning back the mobster's missing fortune. Meanwhile the thief thinks about murdering his bride for her money. Unfortunately, the vengeful gangster does it first and frames her new husband for the death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This three-part Austrian/Czech comedy stretches the boundaries of what is considered to be humorous. Part one finds a silent film actor upset because of a rival actor's attention to the former's wife. When he kills his rival, it is only when he is strapped to the electric chair that he realizes that this is his last live scene. The second episode has the wife of an elderly British nobleman having an affair with the young gamekeeper of their estate. Part three finds a peasant woman taking a lover when her husband goes off to fight the war. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This drama is taken from Thomas Mann's 1903 semi-autobiographical novel. Tonio (Jean Claude Brialy) is an aspiring writer and the son of a rigid aristocratic father and a music-loving mother. Wandering throughout Germany and Italy to "find himself," Tonio frequently remembers his childhood experiences in a series of flashbacks. The highlight of the film is the expert lensing by cinematographer Wolf Wirth. Erika Mann, the daughter of the late poet and author, collaborated with Ennio Flaiano on the screenplay. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Barbara (Ghita Norby) is a pretty young secretary who at age 25 decides to find a man to marry in this light romantic comedy. She has many male admirers, but all seem to want to fool around and entertain no thoughts of marriage. Barbara brings her problem to a matrimonial agency that provides her with another slew of suitors. Little does she know that her co-worker and shy superior at work Dr. Pleskau (Walter Giller) carries a torch for her and wants her to be his flame. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Much of this drama parallels the action in the famed medieval morality play Everyman. The movie begins with an industrial magnate's visit to Salzburg. There he sees his friend who will be playing "Death" in the city's yearly production of the medieval play. He also meets a woman who soon becomes his mistress. Not long after that, he suffers a heart attack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Co-produced and directed by Kurt Hoffmann, one of Germany's most prolific post-war directors, this drama was based on a popular novel by Kurt Tucholsky. Lydia and Kurt, a young couple from Hamburg, travel to Sweden for the holidays and stay at the well-known Gripshom Castle. There they are joined by Kurt's friend Karlchen and later by Lydia's friend, Billie--each of whom flirts with his/her friend's companion. The screenplay, by Herbert Reinecker, retains much of the original dialogue by Tucholsky--a strong point in the film as Tucholsky was known particularly for his witty and intelligent use of language, though much may be lost in translation. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this Italian sex comedy, a middle-aged car dealer marries a young girl and gets more than he bargained for. She is obsessed with getting pregnant pronto. To this end, she keeps him in bed all the time. The poor man simply cannot keep up with her demands. He even tries a series of hormone shots. Finally his flagging spirits get the best of him and he goes to the coast to rest. Unfortunately, she shows up. Their love making is so violent that he has a heart attack. While safely recovering in the hospital he finds out that she is at last pregnant. Now that she has what she wanted, she totally ignores him. Nothing could make him happier and he ends up spending his last days in a maid's quarters enjoying the peace and solitude. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hampered by over-orchestrated music, smeary color photography and (in the English version at least) poor dubbing, this 1963 French/German adaptation of the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht piece The Three Penny Opera nonetheless has its attractions. Not least of these is the central performance of Curt Jurgens as robber captain MacHeath, whose romance with Polly Peachum (June Ritchie), daughter of beggar king J. J. Peachum (Gert Frobe), puts his life in jeopardy. Hildegarde Neff has an effective cameo as whore-ish Pirate Jenny. For the film's American release, distributor Joseph E. Levine hired Sammy Davis Jr. to play the Ballad Singer, who narrates the story, introduces the scenes, and sings the opera's most famous song "Moritat (The Ballad of Mack the Knife)." Unlike the music in the rest of the film, Davis' rendition of "Mack the Knife" is rearranged in Bobby Darin "pop" fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide