Michael Hinz Movies
The Death of Mario Ricci is a Swiss/French/West German coproduction, filmed on location in Switzerland. Gian-Maria Volonte stars as a TV newscaster who journeys to a remote alpine village to interview a famed malnutrition expert. Upon his arrival, Volonte learns that there's an ongoing investigation in the village concerning the mysterious death of an Italian immigrant. Inexorably, the journalist becomes involved in the investigation, and with equal inexorability the chain of evidence leads to the malnutritionist. The Death of Mario Ricci is consistently lovely to look at, though dramatically it's as hollow-centered as a piece of Swiss chocolate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Jean-Michel Dupuis, (more)
During her marriage to British director "Kip" Gowens, American actress Lee Remick resided in England. Here she made a number of obscure films, one of the obscurest of which was The Hunted. This time around, Remick plays the secretary of an industrialist (Ivan Desny). A corporate spy (Michael Hinz) uses the secretary as a means of getting to her boss. When the industrialist is killed, she is the sole witness. The last half hour of the film takes place in a locked building in the dead of night, with the villain playing a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse with our wide-eyed heroine. The Hunted was released in England as Touch Me Not. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Captain Lee Mitchell (Stuart Whitman) is the American officer who joins the British in an attempt to smuggle scientist Von Heinken (Pinkas Braun) out of Germany. The group also assists refugees trying to escape the wrath of the Nazis. Mitchell must quickly mold an inexperienced unit of British soldiers into an effective unit before the Russian tank squadron invades Munich. SS troops and Allies engage in fierce combat as both sides try to capture the noted scientist in this routine World War II drama. The film was made in 1968 but not released until 1970. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, John Collin, (more)
Joachim Mahlke (Lars Brandt) is a high-school student who dreams of being awarded the German Iron Cross so he can wear it to hide his Adam's apple. When he steals one from a war hero, he is expelled from school. He joins the military and eventually earns his own medal, but in spite of his heroism, the older and wiser Joachim (Peter Brandt) is not forgiven by his former school principal. The film received a lot of publicity before it was even shown for having the two sons of West German Mayor Willy Brandt as the principle actors. Brandt would later become Chancellor of West Germany. Many former Nazi war veterans voiced their objections to the alleged "ridicule" of awarded military medals -- and they were in turn eternally ridiculed for being Nazis. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wolfgang Neuss
In this German comedy-melodrama, the exploits of a plucky WW II orphan as he moves from foster family to foster family are chronicled. He is first taken in by a Yankee pilot who subsequently dies during the Korean War. As a teen, he is then adopted by a German family and soon falls for his step-sister. He really wants to join the US Air Force, so he steals a uniform and fakes the appropriate documentation to get in. With the help of an understanding sergeant, the ploy works, but just as he is about to be sent Stateside, the truth is exposed and he is booted out. Later the sergeant offers to adopt him, but the youth decides to stay in Germany with his love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Senta Berger plays retail clerk Jenny who falls for painter Jack (Brett Halsey). Between their quarrels and reconciliations, however, Jenny marries a wealthy businessman but eventually divorces him when the two go their own ways. It isn't until after a second marriage to a divorced playboy, that Jenny realizes her deep love for Jack. This unsuccessful comedy from director Victor Vicas was based on the novel Early to Bed by Anne Piper. Russian-American Vicas directed several features in Germany during the early '60s, though only a couple decades before, he had escaped from a German POW camp. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brett Halsey, Senta Berger, (more)
Director Akos von Rathony, perhaps best known for his 1960 Mrs. Warren's Profession, guides a talented cast of American and German actors in this entertaining comedy that pokes fun at cultural morés on both sides of the Atlantic. Helmut (Michael Hinz) is an orphan with plenty of Yank friends, enough to make him desperate to get to the U.S. To that end, he nabs an Air Force uniform and the proper credentials and then makes a brave attempt to hop on an American military jet. In the meantime, Inge (Christine Kaufmann) has her own ideas about Helmut's future and they do not include any trip that takes him away from her. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Kaufmann, Michael Hinz, (more)
This light comedy concerns psychiatrist Lilli Koenig (Maria Schell). Her practice revolves around idle, wealthy women with too much time on their hands who imagine they are suffering from a bevy of complexes. She catches the eye of fashion-photographer Martin Bohlen (Paul Hubschmidt), who longs to zoom in on her with more than just his camera lens. In the darkroom of his lovestruck mind, he develops a scheme to get near the doctor by pretending to suffer from a variety of ailments. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Paul Hubschmid, (more)
Director Ladislao Vajda has another success on his hands with this crime thriller about a beleaguered lightship (a ship that functions like a lighthouse to warn vessels about unseen hazards). Capt. Freytag (James Robertson-Justice) is in charge of the lightship when three bank robbers board the vessel and take it over by force. They want to hijack the ship to Denmark, but the captain is unwilling to comply. He knows that if the lightship leaves it might mean disaster and fatalities for other vessels that depend on it so as not to go aground on the sand bars here. The thieves terrorize the crew, but Freytag is determined to hold his own against their demands. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Robertson Justice, Dieter Borsche, (more)
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)
Based on a novel by Trygve Gulbranssen about a feud reminiscent of the Hatfields and McCoys, this conventional drama in a rural setting is aptly directed by Gustav Ucicky and stars Mai-Britt Nilsson as Adelheid, a woman sought after by young Dag (Hans Nielsen). Although the everyday concerns and problems of peasant farmers are a prominent part of the story, the focus lies in the machinations of some unfriendly neighbors. Even when the large rift between neighbors looks like it can be healed over, there is one disagreeable woman who specializes in squelching any deals. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maj-Britt Nilsson, Brigitte Horney, (more)
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)












