Margaret Jahnen Movies
- 1964
This thriller is set aboard a Frankfurt bound train and chronicles the desperate flight of an East German refugee. When the other Germans learn that the fellow is aboard, they demand that he be turned over to the authorities. Fortunately, the chief authority is a renegade and plans to disobey his orders. His actions nearly cause an international incident between the US and the Soviets and the CO is forced to reluctantly turn in the prisoner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Captain Sindbad was based on an Arabian Nights story, was filmed in Germany, and starred an American leading man (Guy Williams), a German leading lady (Heidi Bruhl) and a Mexican villain (Pedro Armendariz). How's that for cultural diversity? Anyway, the story involves Sindbad's (Williams) efforts to enter the impenetrable castle where the evil El Kerim's (Armendariz) heart is being kept. So long as his heart is outside his body, El Kerim is invulnerable, enabling him to be as wicked and despotic as he chooses. Sindbad comes to the rescue just seconds before the heroine (Bruhl) is about to be crushed to death by an elephant. Despite the mortality rate on both sides, Captain Sindbad is pure kiddie-matinee stuff, adroitly put together by director/cinematographer Byron (War of the Worlds) Haskin and boasting top-notch special effects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Williams, Heidi Bruhl, (more)
- 1961
Christian de Bresson plays the son of East German minister Michael Gwynn. The Communist regime has decreed that all children of "dissidents" will be denied entry in a prestigious music conservatory. Anxious to be accepted, young de Bresson prepares to answer the seven questions required by the conservatory, the seventh of which will require him to deny his religious convictions. Before this can happen, the boy is invited by the Communist Party to perform at the Berlin Youth Festival. The boy's father protests, knowing that the Communists intend to use his son as a political pawn, to "prove" to the world that East Germany affords equal rights to persons of the cloth. It is de Bresson himself who decides to quit the Festival and defect to the West. Financed by Lutheran Film Associates, Question 7 was given an honored showcase by the Berlin Film Festival--held, of course, in the western sector. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Gwynn, Margaret Jahnen, (more)
- 1958
Writer/director Robert Siodmak based his German-filmed The Devil Strikes at Night on an actual case. Set during the last months of the Hitler regime, the film concerns a series of rapes and stranglings of young women. Gestapo officer Rossdorf (Hannes Messemer) and non-party member Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) investigate the trail of evidence. They discover that the criminal is Bruno Leudke, a mental defective (played by Mario Adorf). An open-and-shut case...except for the fact that Adorf is a loyal Nazi Party member! The dilemma now is to stem the crime spree without publicizing the embarrassing fact that "Aryan supremacy" is capable of yielding a monster like Adorf. Originally titled Nachts, Wenn der Teufel Kam, The Devil Strikes at Night has also been released as Nazi Terror at Night and Nights When the Devil Came. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Adorf, Claus Holm, (more)
