Ruth Hausmeister Movies
- 1974
The Pedestrian (Der Fussganger) was the second filmed directorial effort of German actor Maximillian Schell. Billed third under Gustav Rudolf Sellner and Ruth Hausmeister, Schell plays Andreas Giese, a Krupp-like industrialist whose past suddenly returns to haunt him. A newspaper article reveals that Giese was responsible for the wartime destruction of a Greek village and the wholesale slaughter of the villagers. Whether or not Giese feels remorse for his actions is ultimately beside the point: his family is torn apart and his son kills himself as a result of the accusation. Here as in other films, Schell exhibits his fondness for female European film stars of days gone by: Elizabeth Bergner, Lil (Metropolis) Dagover, Francoise Rosay and Peggy Ashcroft appear in key minor roles. The winner of several international awards and a "best foreign picture" Oscar nominee, The Pedestrian was also produced and written by Schell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1960
In this WW II drama, two French soldiers are captured and forced to work as farm hands on a German family's land. One of the soldiers tricks the farmer's innocent daughter into helping him escape. The other soldier has truly fallen for the girl and decides to stay. At the war's end, the escaped POW becomes a successful journalist and the other has gone back to his original wife whom he despises. Later the husband leaves his family and returns to the girl, while the journalist returns to his former mistress who risked it all to save him from being arrested. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Aznavour, Nicole Courcel, (more)
- 1959
Bernhard Wicki's directorial debut, this is an excellent little film with little plot and no known names on the roster. In the final days of World War II, German teenagers join the Nazi army in a futile attempt to stop the enemy invasion. A sympathetic officer places the boys as guards of a seemingly unimportant bridge. The seven youths are thrown into battle when American tanks unexpectedly appear and try to cross the bridge. The film has a definite anti-war message. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, (more)
- 1958
Originally Das Madchen Rosemarie, this German "musical tragedy" has a lot in common with the Bertold Brecht/Kurt Weill theatrical pieces The Threepenny Opera and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahoganny; in fact, the music heard throughout was taken from Weill's backlog. Austrian beauty contest winner Nadja Tiller plays the prostitute heroine, based on a real-life call girl whose predilection for blackmailing her high-profile customers ended with her mysterious death in 1957. The film was advertised as a "satire," with the satirical level exemplified by a chorus of capitalist businessmen rhythmically opening and closing their briefcases. The "frivolity" of Rosemary is punctuated by moments of chilling horror, including the film's bleak denouement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadja Tiller, Peter Van Eyck, (more)
- 1950
Girls Behind Bars was one of the first films lensed in the American zone of Berlin after World War II. The lurid title obscures the film's avowed purpose: to bring about much-needed reforms in Germany's juvenile reformatories. The "old guard" wants to use the severest forms of discipline to keep their charges in line. The "newer" authorities, however, believe that an ounce of kindness is worth a pound of retribution. Most of the footage is devoted to Petra Peters, cast as an innocent girl trapped by circumstance in the mazelike reform-school system. American prints of Girls Behind Bars are shorn of a rape scene and several shots of the female inmates showering in the nude (how times have changed!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Hausmeister, Petra Peters, (more)
