Marianne Koch Movies

In this children's drama, a loving lighthouse keeper finds a stray seal and brings it home for his children to raise. Meanwhile, the kids try to run heartless poachers out of town. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

David (Mark Stevens) is a physician who returns to Spain 30 years after his involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Now a member of a medical convention, he looks up old friends and finds his former lover, now a married woman with a flamenco-dancing daughter. He and the daughter (Manuela Vargas) have an immediate and mutual attraction to each other. He considers running away with the exotic beauty before asking his wife to join him for an extended vacation after the convention . ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The fine line between drama and real life is crossed with tragic results in this German horror mystery film that is set in modern London and centers on a stage production of Jack the Ripper's life. During the run of the play, a series of murders, eerily similar to Jack's, occur. This doesn't bother the lead actor too much until he discovers that his fake knife has been replaced by a real one during a performance. Horrified, he flees the theater. Pursued by Scotland Yard, he must somehow prove his innocence lest he be sent to the gallows. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this western, the town of Glory prepares to stage its annual Founder's Day showdown on Main Street. The guest gunslingers this year are two notorious gunmen. Unfortunately, the festivities are halted when a drifter rides to town claiming that he has killed one of the gunmen. The town fathers then persuade him to take the deceased's place and his name. Just before the battle, the drifter takes of to a different town where he meets another stranger, the other gunman though the drifter doesn't know it. They become friends and agree that Glory is too lawless for its own good. They vow to clean it up. When they get there, they learn that they were supposed to fight each other. They decide to fake the whole thing. Later they run the wicked men behind the gruesome tradition right out of town and peace ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the mid-1960s, Richard Todd starred in two British films based on Edgar Wallace's Sanders of the River. Coast of Skeletons was the sequel to Todd's earlier Death Drums Along the River. Playing insurance investigator Harry Sanders, Todd comes upon an insidious scheme to steal the valuables from the sunken ships insured by Sanders' firm. The mastermind behind the plan is one A. J. Magnus, played by the usually heroic Dale Robertson. Since we know from the get-go that Sanders will be triumphant, suspense is minimal in Coast of Skeletons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Not generally released in the U.S. until 1964, As Long as You Live originally premiered in Germany in 1955 under the title Solange du Lebst. Popular German film star Marianne Koch stars as a nurse in a sleepy Spanish village during the 1936 Civil War. Refusing to escape when given a chance, Koch remains to minister to the wounded even after the communists take over the local government. She later risks her life to save an injured German aviator. The film was partially designed to showcase newcomer Karin Dor (the wife of Dr. Harald Reinl, the film's director), who appears in the supporting role as the mayor's daughter. As Long as You Live was picked up for American distribution by RKO, but went into limbo when that studio folded. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

By the time Sergio Leone made this film, Italians had already produced about 20 films ironically labelled "spaghetti westerns." Leone approached the genre with great love and humor. Although the plot was admittedly borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), Leone managed to create a work of his own that would serve as a model for many films to come. Clint Eastwood plays a cynical gunfighter who comes to a small border town and offers his services to two rivaling gangs. Neither gang is aware of his double play, and each thinks it is using him, but the stranger will outwit them both. The picture was the first installment in a cycle commonly known as the "Dollars" trilogy. Later, United Artists, who distributed it in the U.S., coined another term for it: the "Man With No Name" trilogy. While not as impressive as its follow-ups For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), A Fistful of Dollars contains all of Leone's eventual trademarks: taciturn characters, precise framing, extreme close-ups, and the haunting music of Ennio Morricone. Not released in the U.S. until 1967 due to copyright problems, the film was decisive in both Clint Eastwood's career and the recognition of the Italian western. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

A musical work by Johann Strauss first performed in 1874 provides the basis for this musical comedy set in Vienna during the late 19th-century. It tells the story of a prince who plans an enormous costume ball with Phillip, his good friend. They are holding the ball to get revenge on Alexander, another friend. As the lavish dance begins, comic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Devil's Agent is Peter Van Eyck in this economical espionager. A Viennese wine merchant, Van Eyck becomes the unwilling dupe for the Russians. In retaliation, he offers to become a double agent for the United States. The better-than-average cast includes Macdonald Carey, Christopher Lee, Billie Whitelaw, Marius Goring and Helen Cherry. Somewhat lost amidst the flashier James Bond clones of the late 1960s, The Devil's Agent holds up pretty well when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pleins Feux sur l'Assassin is a passable murder mystery by Georges Franju set in the atmospheric interior of an old chateau and involving the heirs to a fortune. The dying man whose fortune it is has played an unusual trick on those who would have his riches. He has hidden himself in a secret room inside the chateau, knowing that his body has to be found before the castle can be passed on as an inheritance. The would-be heirs are caught in a dilemma but decide to turn the venerable structure into a light-and-sound show extravaganza in order to attract tourist money. That is just fine, except a series of accidents among them soon begins to look like murder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Setting aside the politics of Nazism and its followers, this tongue-in-cheek parody of post-war conditions stars popular actor O.W. Fischer as Philipp Kalder, a former prisoner of war who has now wholeheartedly gone into black-market operations. Quick to see where a fortune can be made, his underhanded dealings ironically bring him legit recognition from the city that profited by his shenanigans. While busy with building his bank account, Kalder meets Hilde von Hessenlohe (Marianne Koch) also in the black-market sweepstakes, and plans on using her for his own purposes. Then the unexpected happens, he falls in love with her. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi