Gustav Knuth Movies
- 1968
The thin plot of this film takes place during the Napoleonic invasion of Germany and is a backdrop for displaying several nude females. Susanne (Terry Torday) is the hostess of a well-known house of ill repute on the Lahn River. Susanne travels to Italy to deliver a message to Count Enrico (Jeffrey Hunter), an amorous lover under the spell of Napoleon's sister. She sets him up with a bride and manages to uncover some military secrets in the court of the amorous emperor. Folk songs were written about this actual historical hostess who dazzled young students with her legendary beauty. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascale Petit, Jeffrey Hunter, (more)
- 1965
Tissot (Pierre Brice) is French secret agent No. 11011 in this James Bond-style spy thriller. He is sent on a mission to retrieve stolen plans for a newly developed steering mechanism for rockets. The typical genre mix of comedy, sex, and fight scenes overcomes a sometimes confusing storyline. Distaff interest is provided by Jana Brejchova and Daliah Lavi. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brice, Heinz Drache, (more)
- 1965
German director Werner Jacobs 1965 drama Heidi stars Eva Maria Singhammer in the title role of a young girl who happily resides in a quaint mountain chalet with her kindly grandfather (Gustav Knuth). When Heidi is taken by her aunt to live in Frankfort and help Klara (Gertraude Mittermayr), a wealthy man's crippled daughter, she finds herself under the constant watchful eye of a cold and aloof governess and grows to miss her grandfather terribly. Fortunately, as Heidi works to raise Klara's spirits, the two form a strong bond with one another. Adapted from the novel by Johanna Spyri, this is just one of countless filmed versions of the tale. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eva Maria Singhammer, Gertraud Mittermayr, (more)
- 1964
Willy Fritsch and his son Thomas co-star in this Austrian comedy directed by Axel Von Ambesser. Clemens Andermann (Willy) is a successful businessman and ladies man whose son Andreas (Thomas) is equally unsuccessful in love and the business world. Andreas does score big in the theater before moving onto motion picture stardom. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willy Fritsch, Thomas Fritsch, (more)
- 1962
The trilogy on Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria and his queen Empress Elizabeth by director Ernest Marischka has been cut and spliced to make this interesting though slow-paced, two and a half-hour compilation costume drama. The tale starts out with the courtship of the future queen, known as "Sissi" (Romy Schneider, who made her screen debut in the first of the three dramas), an attractive and lively young woman. After Franz Josef (Karl Boehm) falls in loves and captures Sissi's heart, they plan their wedding and head into the topic of the second feature in the series, the coronation of Franz Josef in Budapest. Finally, Sissi is shown as being instrumental in helping to keep the peace -- or obtain it -- among the belligerent nations of Europe. The original titles of each of the three separate dramas were Sissi, Sissi, die Junge Kaiserin, and Sissi, Schicksalsjahre Einer Kaiserin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Carl Boehm, (more)
- 1962
In this German comedy, singer Freddy Quinn discovers that a vein of copper runs through the tract of Canadian land he has inherited, and he must battle with a greedy neighbor to secure his mineral rights. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Excellently directed by Ladislao Vajda, this combination of gentle comedy and children's film stars Heinz Ruehmann as Sebastian, a single, kind-hearted father trying to make the best of it. He has the care of his eight-year-old daughter Nicky (Julia Folina) after his wife left him and in order to make Nicky's life as trouble-free as possible he resorts to lying to cover up bad things. As he gets steadily more caught up in these falsehoods -- only meant to mask the worst of life's difficulties -- the tangle gets serious. He loses his job and soon the powers-that-be question his ability to educate his daughter. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annemarie Düringer
- 1960
This Man in a Black Derby needs more than a bowler approach to comedy, it needs a bolder approach as well. Feeble and flatter than any hat, the Swiss tale is about an insignificant male of the species who has fallen for a significant female, at least, a significantly rich female. He is convinced he cannot win her affection unless he has some way to outdo her pocketbook. The only way he can devise to overcome his disadvantage is by turning to a particularly gutsy robbery, certain that he has to steal some cash before he can steal his lady love's heart. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sabina Sesselmann, Walter Roderer, (more)
- 1960
This drama provides an account of an honorable German soldier during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. A German soldier is filled with guilt when he kills a French officer. After killing him, he goes through the officer's clothing and learns his name. A short time later, he is wandering through a French village and see's the dead officer's name on a door. He goes there and meets the man's mother and daughter. They do not know that he is dead. The German resembles the woman's son and so offers him hospitality. He stays in the home and soon falls in love with the daughter. He finally confides the truth to her; she requests that he refrain from telling the mother who is dying. Just before the woman passes on, the daughter convinces the German to don the dead officer's uniform to comfort her mother. Later he goes outside still wearing it. He is instantly shot by Prussian troops. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
An uneven comedy that opens well and then slows down, Der Teufel Hat Gut Lachen features three tramps, Barbarossa (Max Haufler), Clown (Ruedi Walter), and Duerst (Zarli Garigist). The hoboes are leading a fairly carefree life considering their extreme poverty, but when the Devil appears to tempt them with a stash of cash they forget their present happiness and snatch it up. The new-found fortune leads them first into one adventure and then another, and all the while their bankroll is inexorably unrolling. It looks like the trio are heading right back to their starting line. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Haufler, Ruedi Walter, (more)
- 1959
For some reason, European filmmakers are irresistibly attracted to the notion of sex and betrayal under the big top. The Austrian/German Hippodrome stars Gerhard Riedmann as a circus tiger trainer, hopelessly in love with ballerina Margit Nunme. The girl plays up to Riedmann so that she can join his act. The trainer is transferred to another circus, so Margit takes up with sharpshooter Willy Birgel. When Riedmann returns, the jealous Birgel drugs his tigers, then kills himself when he's found out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Beginning with the declassé premise of this ostensible, unconvincing slice-of-life comedy -- that the heroine's overriding objective in life is to find THE man for her -- French director Julien Duvivier already has problems. Doris (Giulietta Masina) is a woman not prone to deep thinking, whose quest for the perfect mate leads her to break apart friends' relationships while trying out "their" men. She also goes in and out of dependent relationships with men in which she essentially lives off their largesse. Neither of these types of sexual-romantic adventures are very commendable, and that among other factors, takes away much of the comic sheen meant to liven these exploits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulietta Masina, Agnes Fink, (more)
