Curd Jürgens Movies
German actor Curd Jurgens worked as a journalist until his first wife, actress Louise Basler, persuaded him to take up acting. In 1935 he began appearing on the German stage and screen, and gradually increased his career status until 1944, when he was sent to a concentration camp at the order of Dr. Goebbels. After his release he continued to appear in German films, gaining international recognition with his work in The Devil's General (1955). Jurgens went on to be a leading star of the European stage and international films; onscreen he often played urbane villains, and sometimes was cast as a Nazi. Although he appeared in over 100 films, he considered himself primarily a stage actor. He directed a few films with limited success, and also wrote screenplays. Jurgens was married five times; one of his wives was actress Eva Bartok. He authored an autobiography, Sixty and Not Yet Wise. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1938
In this drama, a devoted woman takes the rap for her yellow-bellied lover's crime and gets sent to Australia's Parmatta Pententiary. When her boy friend finds out where she is, he moves to Australia to get in touch. He doesn't succeed and soon finds himself marrying the governor's daughter. Meanwhile, the girl is eventually released when she marries an upstanding settler. When she learns that her old lover has married another, the distraught lass takes off and attempts to start a new life as a nightclub singer. In the end, she winds up choosing to return to prison. Her good husband again comes to her aid and saves her from prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
It hardly takes a linguistics expert to figure out that the title of this German comedy translates as Family On Parade. Curt Juergens heads the cast as Erik, a young Swedish count who gets a big surprise on his 21st birthday. Erik discovers that he's not a nobleman at all, but the bastard son of a family servant. The revelation of this long-closeted skeleton threatens to disrupt his impending marriage to Alice (Ellen Franck), the daughter of a pompous and hypocritical baron. The laughs just keep on coming in Familienparade, as director Fritz Wendhausen takes great delight in puncturing the pretensions of Scandinavian aristocracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernst Dumcke
- 1936
Originally Der Konigswaltser, The Royal Waltz is a lighthearted opera with no message or moral whatsoever. As he often would be during his long career, Curd Jurgens (here billed as Juergens) is cast as Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. Set in Munich in 1852, the story concentrates on the impending marriage between the Emperor and Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria (Carola Hoehn), affectionately known as "Cissy." Their love affair is counterpointed with the backstairs flirtation between young Count Ferdinand (Willi Forst) and humble caterer's daughter Theres Tomasoni (Beli Finkenzeller), which sparks a scandal that only Franz Joseph himself can iron out. The English subtitles of Royal Waltz undercut the film's charm with such anachronistic exclamations as "She's hot stuff!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hoerbiger, Carola Hoehn, (more)
