Heinrich Gretler Movies
- 1964
In this romantic comedy, a father sends his selfish, wealthy daughter to a strict boarding school after she nearly marries a gigolo. The headstrong girl soon escapes to return to her love. During her travels, she meets a man kayaking down the Rhine. She rides with him and together they camp out and float upon the river. Soon all thoughts of her old lover begin drifting away as she falls in love with this new man. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1963
This light comedy by Axel von Ambesser was preceded by two other cinematic versions of the same tale, a story about two twins who live in the countryside and are quite opposite in their appeal. Liesel (Liselotte Pulver, who plays both twins) is attractive, smart, and captivating while Susi is not. Obviously, since these are identical twins it is Susi's own predilections that have a negative effect on her appearance. When the first serious, handsome young man shows up on their doorstop and falls for Liesel it would seem that marriage is imminent. Yet the daughters have to bide by their mother's will -- Susi, the least attractive, must marry first. The suitor figures, why not? He can marry her temporarily and then change his mind -- that sounds easy enough. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liselotte Pulver, Helmut Schmidt, (more)
- 1962
A shy and humble little desk clerk (Walter Roderer) launches into an unexpected adventure (for him) in this modest comedy by Kurt Frueh, a comedy liberally dosed with songs. The desk clerk works in City Hall and when he is promoted to officiating at civil marriage ceremonies he is ecstatic -- that is a promotion he has only dreamed of. But woe-and-behold, just as he is marrying a bride who has actually caught his fancy, her groom opts for a resounding "No" and leaves her in the lurch at City Hall. The clerk suddenly looks like he has a chance to make his romantic daydreams come true, though he is not counting on the bride's best friend. She likes him herself and has her own plans for his future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Walter Roderer, Heinrich Gretler, (more)
- 1961
This somewhat verbose, standard comic thriller involves one sharp gangster nicknamed Le Dabe (Jean Gabin) pitted against three others as they work on a counterfeiting operation. Le Dabe has just been cooling his heels in the hot tropics and has now resurfaced in France where he hooks up with the counterfeiting trio. Together, they print out millions in fake Dutch guilders, but along the way, the three friends scheme to double-cross Le Dabe as soon as their operation is completed. They obviously underestimate the man. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Martine Carol, (more)
- 1959
Die Ideal Frau is a very slight, German romantic comedy that features one of the nation's more popular actresses, Ruth Leuwerik as the mayor of a small town at odds with her husband. The catch is that she is secretly married and to make matters worse, her husband (Martin Benrath) leads the opposition party on the town council. Rather than highlight serious political differences set against a romantic pairing, the scripters and director Josef von Baky have decided to keep the couple's disagreements down to a safe level -- they argue over whether or not a music festival should be held in the town. Perhaps a more burning issue would have added some punch to the comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ruth Leuwerik, Martin Benrath, (more)
- 1959
- NR
The Cow and I is purportedly based on the wartime experiences of its star, French farceur Fernandel. The horse-faced comedian plays a French farmer stuck in Germany strong-armed into working for the Nazis. Deciding to escape, Fernandel and his faithful cow walk across Deutschland to his home in France. After a series of picaresque adventures, the farmer and his bovine buddy make it to French soil, only to run afoul of collaborators. The Cow and I was originally released as La Vache et le Prisonnier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Pierre Louis, (more)
- 1958
A Swiss-French coproduction, It Happened in Broad Daylight is an austere but shocking story of the hunt for a human monster. A forest community is terrorized by a child murderer, who per the title strikes in broad daylight. Whereas such a criminal might be more easily tracked down in the confines of a big city, the village police are obliged to comb miles and miles of mountains and wooded wilderness. A detective (Heinz Ruhmann) goes undercover to trap the murderer, posing as a workman with a wife (actually a local widow) and child. Veteran French character actor Michel Simon briefly appears as a falsely accused suspect, who commits suicide rather than face the shame of being branded a child killer. Slightly marred by some clumsy plot contrivances and by the rather crude dubbing in the English-language prints, It Happened in Broad Daylight is nonetheless one of the more accomplished European suspensers of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Heinz Rühmann, Sigfrit Steiner, (more)
- 1957
17th century author Daniel Defoe is assisted by a group of children in this drama. ~ Rovi
- 1957
Der 10. Mai (The Tenth of May) was the date in 1940 that Hitler invaded the Low Countries: Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Neutral Switzerland, which hadn't experienced a war since the 14th century, hurriedly fortified its borders with battalions of inexperienced soldiers. The panic, confusion and isolated acts of courage which occurred on that fateful day are re-created in this Swiss docudrama. The story is "personalized" by concentrating on a fugitive German soldier (Heinz Reincke) who falls in love with the Swiss girl (Linda Geiser) who shelters him. Produced on a bare-minimum budget, Der 10. Mai is impressive more for its sincerity and raw energy than for its actual cinematic merits. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Geiser, Heinz Reincke, (more)
- 1955
A favorite of the church-basement and kiddie-matinee circuit, Heidi und Peter is a sequel to the 1952 adaptation of Johann Spyri's Heidi. The youthful protagonists are herein played by Elsbeth Sigmund and Thomas Klameth. Peter comes to visit Heidi while recuperating from an illness. He gets well in a hurry as he and Heidi embark upon all sorts of exciting adventures. The film's climax takes place in an oversized thunderstorm as Heidi and Peter try to safely negotiate a treacherous mountain. It's perhaps best to see Heidi und Peter in a subtitled version; the voices on the English-dubbed prints are obviously supplied by adults. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1955
Der Pfarrer von Kirchfield (The Parson of Kirchfield) is based on the popular German "folk play" by Ludwig Anzengruber. Bearing a strong resemblance to several other stories -- notably The Atonement of Gosta Berling -- the film stars Claus Holm in the title role. Holm's spotless reputation as village priest is compromised when he befriends unwed mother Anna Birkmaler (Ulla Jacobsson). Throwing caution to the winds, the priest falls in love with the "soiled" but basically decent Anna. Ultimately, however, he realizes that his covenant with God is stronger than his carnal desires. Previously filmed in 1930, Der Pfarrer von Kirchfield was challenged at the box-office in 1955 by an Austrian version of the same Anzengruber play. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Claus Holm, Ulla Jacobsson, (more)
- 1955
This follow up to Heidi tells of her adventures with Peter and a flood that threatens their village. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Heinrich Gretler, Elsbeth Sigmund, (more)
- 1954
Das Leben Beginnt Mit 17 (Life Begins at 17) is adapted from a novel by Gabor von Vaszary. Sonja Liebermann plays Madeleine, an unhappy 14-year-old who is habitually neglected by her wealthy mother Aline (Anne-Marie Blanc). When Aline is killed in an accident, her lover Raymond (Paul Humschmid), feeling responsible, takes Madeleine into his home. The girl instantly falls in love with Raymond, but he insists upon honoring proprieties, putting her off by saying "Wait until you're 17." The thing of it is, he has already fallen in love with her, but he refuses to cause her the same emotional pain that he'd inflicted on her mother. Despite its darker aspects, Das Leben Beginnt Mit 17 is essentially upbeat entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sonja Ziemann, Paul Hubschmid, (more)
- 1954
Swiss actress Signe Hasso, who'd previously toted up several respectable Hollywood credits, improved the international marketability of Die Sonne von St. Moritz (The Sun of St. Moritz). Hasso plays Gertie Selle, the wife of a seriously ill older man. Tending to the husband's needs is Dr. Robert Frank (Karlheinz Boehm, later billed as Karl Boehm), who falls in love with Gertie. When the wife administers a fatal overdose of medicine to her husband, Dr. Frank -- correctly suspecting that she has committed murder -- elects not to report the particulars of the death. This turns out to be a big mistake later on, when Gertie attempts to blackmail the doctor. The crisis seems to end with the death of one of the principals, but in fact it's only the beginning. Die Sonne von St. Moritz is based on a novel by P. O. Hoecker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Karl Heinz Böhm, Signe Hasso, (more)
- 1952
Filmed in Switzerland, White Hell of Pitz-Palu is a remake of the 1929 G. W. Pabst/Dr. Arnold Fauck production of the same name. The original had been one of the foremost examples of the German "mountain film" genre; it also served to enhance the star appeal of actress Leni Reifenstahl, who later became the Third Reich's most prominent propaganda filmmakers. The remake stars Liselotte (later Lilo) Pulver in the Reifenstahl role as one of several participants in a mountain-climbing expedition. The film's dramatic conflict concerns the personal hell of Dr. John Jensen (Hans Albers), who holds himself responsible for the death of his wife during a similar expedition some 20 years earlier. The superb exterior photography of Richard Angst is the main attribute of White Hell of Pitz-Palu, though Angst's work isn't quite in the same league as the lenswork in the earlier film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hans Albers, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1952
Gene Kelly tackles a rare non-singing or dancing role in this post-war drama. Kelly plays Capt. Jeff Eliot, whose life was saved during World War II when a German family rescued him after his plane was shot down over Munich. In 1948, Eliot travels to Germany to thank the Lehrt Family for their kindness, only to discover that they were killed during an air raid by U.S. forces near the end of the war. The only survivor was the family's oldest daughter, Wilhelmina (Pier Angeli), who works as a barmaid in a sleazy nightclub and has developed a bitter hatred of Americans. Eliot develops an infatuation for this tragic woman and spends enough time at the club to become familiar with Heisemann (Claus Clausen), a comic at the club who has a dark secret life. Heisemann is also a gold smuggler who is part of an underground Nazi movement that hopes to overthrow the post-war government and re-launch the Third Reich. When Eliot tells his superiors what he's discovered, he's ordered to continue his romance with Wilhelmina as a cover while he learns more about Heisemann's smuggling operations. The Devil Makes Three was one of several films MGM made in Europe to take advantage of frozen funds that the main office in Hollywood could not transport in cash but could use to finance production; another film produced under this scheme was one of Kelly's pet projects, the performance film Invitation to the Dance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Anna Maria Pier Angeli, (more)
- 1952
Unlike previous adaptations of the Johanna Spyri children's classic, this 1952 German-language version of Heidi was lensed on location in Switzerland. Elsbeth Sigmund plays the title character, who endures all sorts of hardships and setbacks before finding happiness in the form of her ex-curmudgeon grandfather (top-billed Heinrich Gretler). Isa Gunther co-stars as the crippled girl whom Heidi befriends; with her twin sister, Gunther had previously starred in the successful German farce Two Times Lotte (1950), which served as the inspiration for the 1961 Disney film The Parent Trap. Thanks to the built-in popularity of the Spyri original, Heidi managed good international booking even before it was finished. The film was the fourth effort by Praesens Productions, which had previously struck box-office gold with Four in a Jeep (1951). It was directed by Italy's Luigi Comencini, a specialist in films featuring wise-beyond-their-years children. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Heinrich Gretler, Elsbeth Sigmund, (more)
- 1951
Nachts aut den Strassen (Detour) stars German film favorite Hans Albers as a middle-aged truck driver named Heinrich. Coming across a traffic accident, Heinrich finds a small bagful of money. Figuring that no one will miss it, he pockets the cash and in so doing, condemns himself to a Living Death. The dramatic thrust of Nachts auf den Strassen is not so much that Crime Does Not Pay, but that no man can ever escape his most diligent nemesis -- himself. The film represented the first postwar effort from producer Erich Pommer, whose name hadn't been seen on screen since the 1940 Hollywood production They Knew What They Wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hans Albers, Hildegarde Neff, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.