Christine Kaufmann Movies
In German films from the age of eight, sad-eyed leading lady Christine Kaufmann gained international recognition when she essayed the demanding role of a teenaged rape victim in 1961's Town Without Pity. The press of the period was less concerned with Kaufmann's histrionic skills than with the revealing bikini which she wore in her early scenes (some historian has incorrectly claimed that Kaufmann was the first actress ever to bare her navel on screen). While playing the heroine of the big-budget Taras Bulba (1962), Kaufmann fell in love with her co-star, Tony Curtis. They were married in 1963, then appeared together in the frothy Universal comedy Wild and Wonderful (1964). Briefly retiring from films after this project, Kaufmann returned to acting following the breakup of her marriage. Since 1976, Christine Kaufmann has accepted choice supporting roles in major German films; her best showing was in the Percy Adlon-directed cult favorite Bagdad Cafe (1987). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1989
This final episode of Moonlighting finds Bert (Curtis Armstrong) and Agnes (Allyce Beasley) getting married, just as David (Bruce Willis) is breaking up with Annie (Virginia Madsen), the cousin of his partner and former lover Maddie (Cybill Shepherd). At the same time, the Blue Moon Detective Agency closes its doors, whereupon ABC network executive Walter Whitebread (Mark L. Taylor) solemnly begins dismantling the set. An eleventh-hour effort to save the Agency--and the series--is foiled by the demographic evidence supplied by big-time Hollywood producer Cy (played by Dennis Dugan, billed under his Moonlighting character name of Walter Bishop). Even worse--the Anselmo Case (you remember the Anselmo Case) may never be solved! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In this mystery/thriller based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, Nico Thomkins (Udo Schenk), a writer, and his wife Helen (Anke Sevenich) are in the habit of playing games with one another. Even while they are breaking up, they are sufficiently in tune with one another to continue this practice. When the writer's wife takes off without leaving a note behind, people begin to suspect that he may have murdered her, and he plays along with this notion to the point of planting clues which would incriminate him. Obviously, no one with a shred of common sense would do such a thing, and these tricks get him into trouble. However, his troubles don't really begin until he starts to search for her in earnest. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Udo Schenk, Anke Sevenich, (more)
- 1989
Financed in West Germany and filmed in the Soviet Union, Hard to Be a God (Es Ist Nicht Leicht Ein Gott Zu Sein) is set some thousand years or so in the future, when all forms of hostility and aggression have been purged from the earth. A group of space travellers stumble upon an alien civilization that seems mired in the Middle Ages. Astronaut Edward Zentara is sent out to explore this primitive land, and in so doing he becomes involved in war and bloodshed for the first time in his life. Eventually, he leads the downtrodden local citizens into battle against his fellow Earthlings. Produced on an epic scale over a six-year period, Hard to Be a God is stronger in its action sequences than in its ponderous dialogue exchanges. Watch for German director Werner Herzog in a brief opening-scene bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Zentara, Alexander Filippenko, (more)
- 1988
This is the only Moonlighting episode in which neither Cybill Shepherd nor Bruce Willis appear. Instead, the focus is on nerdish detective Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong), who has gone into a deep blue funk over an imagined slight from Blue Moon secretary Agnes Dipesto (Allyce Beasley). In the course of a very long night in which Bert is required to guard an "experimental grapefruit", he dreams of his future with Agnes, in sequences inspired by Rudolph Valentino's silent "Shiek" pictures and the 1940s classic Casablanca (in which "As Time Goes By" is replaced by "Chopsticks"!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In this period film about the life of an aristocratic family in Munich just before World War I and the end of the aristocracy as such, there are a series of garden parties for the royalty and nobility, Christmas celebrations, an appearance by Eleanora Duse at the local theater, music recitals, and majestic ballroom dances. No strong dramatic content or major story line holds the events in a thematic scheme, but the Lautenschlag family serves as the axis around which events come and go. This fictional family unit and the story, come from the partly autobiographical novel titled The Swing, written in 1934 by Annette Kolb. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joachim Bernhard, Lena Stolze, (more)
- 1983
This film is a superficial extravaganza on the "roaring 1950s" in West Germany and West Berlin, when the rich, according to director Peter Zadek, were partying through the decade with little else on their minds than hedonistic pleasures, and the poor were struggling to become richer. Documentary clips bring in the realities of the Berlin Wall and the Cold War, and their honesty stands in sharp contrast to the exaggerated lifestyles that permeate the screen. The story focuses on the super-rich Jakob Formann (Juraj Kurkura) and his exploits and friends in high and low places. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boy Gobert, Peter Kern, (more)
- 1983
Using George Orwell's 1984 as inspiration, director Gabor Altorjay has projected current problems and characteristics of socialist governments into the future in this rather conventional film. The setting is a "nerve clinic" whose patients' fantasies provide some needed relief to the heavy-duty handling of the bleak institutionalized living that is portrayed here. What is needed to complete Altorjay's inspiration is more of a story line. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Udo Kier, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1983
A group of former student revolutionaries meets to reminisce and view old newsreels of their protest years. Three people in the group -- a husband and wife (and their child), plus a friend -- have moved into an abandoned railroad station near Cologne, intent on staying there for keeps. One of the men is a filmmaker who, in the course of his work, encounters some verses about an old fighter at the wall before a firing squad saying good-bye to his friends - and he is haunted by his former days of revolutionary ardor. Next, he runs into a scientist and the two discuss infinity and the beginnings of the universe. This "larger picture" transforms the vision of the filmmaker as he makes his plans for his own future and rethinks his past. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1982
In this non-story of the mentally and emotionally impaired inhabitants of a clinic for the insane, the medical profession along with humanity is distorted into a long, filmic exhibition of sado-masochism, urination, and ample nudity for its own sake. Critics that support the avant-garde might feel that the lack of apparent purpose in each "idiot's" (the title is "Day of the Idiots') physical and emotional problems is a form of high art. The viewers will have to decide for themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Bouquet, Ingrid Caven, (more)
- 1981
The strange life of Austrian painter Egon Schiele, one of the fathers of expressionism, is chronicled in this dramatic biography. He began his career during his stint as a soldier in WWI. He gained notoriety for his pornographic nudes and was eventually arrested for creating them. At the same time, his first love dies, and his next lover dumps him. His paintings finally become popular at the war's end. Unfortunately, he dies of a strange disease before he can enjoy his success. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Carrière, Jane Birkin, (more)
- 1978
Italian screen legend Fabio Testi stars as a young police detective investigating the brutal sexual assault and murder of a young girl discovered near the edge of the city limits. Later, after discovering a luxury villa in which the murdered girl's friends entertain a group of powerful local businessmen, the detective discovers that the frightened girls have been intimidated into silence. As the detective sets out to question the girls, he quickly discovers that someone is willing to kill in order to keep their dark secret. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Things run steadily downhill for Maxmilian (Towje Kleiner), a divorced journalist who is trying to sell a novel he has written. On the very day his divorce is finalized, he meets a divorced woman and begins an affair with her. At the same time he learns that he is about to be fired from his newspaper job, he discovers that the one publisher expressing interest in his novel wants him to write some sex scenes for it. Meanwhile, his new girlfriend has moved into his two-room apartment with all her furniture, practically crowding them out of it, and she is urging him to move to the countryside with her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Towje Kleiner, Helmut Fischer, (more)
- 1976
Good guys chase bad guys and vice versa, only instead of horses, they use automobiles in this "western on wheels." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Kaufmann, Lisa Kreuzer, (more)
- 1965
In this German crime drama, a young woman is kidnapped by one of her two jealous lovers. Later the kidnapper is killed by her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this comedy, a Yankee musician is working in Paris when he encounters a movie star chasing after her naughty French poodle Monsieur Cognac. The name is most apropos for the little doggy is quite the lush when it comes to booze. This suits the hard-drinking musician just fine and the two go out on a bender. Later the star and her father find the toasted twosome. The star begins falling in love with the musician. Despite her father's objections, the two get married. Unfortunately, Mr. Cognac accompanies them on the honeymoon. He becomes quite jealous of the woman's new husband and ruins their wedding night. Because she refuses to relinquish the dog, their new marriage is nearly destroyed. They separate until the husband manages to bring home Pink Poupee, a charming female poodle. Suddenly Mr. C forgets all about his jealousy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1964
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
- 1962
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)
- 1962
Based on an actual escape from East to West Germany staged on January 28, 1962, this routine docudrama by director Robert Siodmak re-enacts the tale. Kurt Schroeder (Don Murray) is a chauffeur, the young East Berliner who gets the idea of digging a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall. Thus well-assured that no guards will be able to see him escaping, Kurt carefully implements his plan. But he is not thinking of himself alone, and when the time comes to use the tunnel and leave East Germany behind, he takes his family and a few dozen other people along with him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1962
This is a typical costume drama and adventure story with plenty of fencing, and swash and buckle but not much ingenuity. Based on a story by Anthony Marshall, a swordsman by the name of Thomas Stanwood (Stewart Granger) finds himself fending off a multitude of attackers before he is captured and realizes he was defending himself against the very duke, Don Carlos (Riccardo Garrone), that he is supposed to be helping. The Duke overlooks the mistake and puts Thomas to guard his intended spouse, Orietta Arconti (Sylvia Koscina). She is a cold, arrogant woman who immediately antagonizes Thomas -- until he begins to realize a few things. Orietta's father was killed by the Duke when he took over their city, so how could she really be on the side of Don Carlos? As certain as night follows day, Thomas and Orietta are going to make an unbeatable pair when it comes to righting the wrongs of the past. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Sylva Koscina, (more)
The spectacular hordes of Cossack horsemen flying across the steppes to do battle with first one enemy and then another are the highlights of this otherwise thinly scripted costume drama set in the 16th century in the Ukraine. After the Cossack leader Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner) makes a pact with the Poles to join forces against the Turks and drive them from the European steppes, victory brings betrayal as the Poles then turn on their ally and force the Cossacks into the hills. From there, Taras Bulba decides that one of his sons, Andrei (Tony Curtis), will be sent to Polish schools to better learn the nature of their enemy. While away from home and hearth, the adult Andrei falls in love with a Polish noblewoman, Natalia (Christine Kaufmann, who would become the second Mrs. Curtis). As time progresses, the tensions between father and son, loyalty and love, ethnic identity and assimilation steadily increase until they end in tragedy. Taras Bulba was nominated for a 1963 Academy Award for "Best Music", scored by Franz Waxman. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner, (more)
One of the many Italian sword-and-sandal adventure stories roughly depicting historical events -- sometimes too graphically -- this drama by director Lionello de Felice has its merits. The action moves along at a good clip, as Constantine's (Cornel Wilde) rise to power is depicted, amidst battling armies and political intrigue. All the well-publicized, old Roman entertainments such as feeding Christians to the lions are shown in more detail than might be necessary, leading to one of the main points of featuring Constantine at all -- he was the emperor who gave Christians the freedom to worship as they pleased. His cronies and his enemies, his loves and his successes all have their moment in the sun. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
