Andrea L'Arronge Movies
- 1996
Dr. Crusius is a dour judge who manages to alienate an entire legal community with his arrogance and ever-smoldering anger. Abel is a freewheeling, hotshot young attorney who uses unconventional methods to win his cases. This German courtroom drama chronicles what happens when the two are thrown together in a difficult situation. Abel is first seen helping a client beat a traffic ticket in Crusius' court. The humorless judge (a sore loser) is less than pleased and gives Abel a stern lecture. The two meet again when the judge is suddenly accused of murdering a young prostitute. All the evidence seems clear cut. More trouble for the old judge comes when all those he has alienated get revenge by refusing to represent him. Unfortunately for young Abel, he is given no choice. Before he can do anything though, the attorney must learn the carefully guarded truth about the judge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The Serpent's Egg, or Das Schlangenei is director Ingmar Bergman's second English language production (The Touch was his first). It is, however, his first completely non-Swedish production, made after his voluntary self-exile from Sweden over taxation issues. Set in Berlin in the early 1920s, it explores the fear and despair the city evokes in Manuela and Abel Rosenberg (Liv Ullmann and David Carradine), two Jewish trapeze artists. The suicide of Manuela's husband (Abel's brother), has stranded them in Berlin. Berlin is shown to already possess the sinister elements of cruelty and anti-Semitism which laid the groundwork for the later Nazi takeover. A series of misadventures gets them sent to a medical clinic for treatment. However, the clinic is actually a site for Nazi-type "racial" experiments on humans, which generally either madden or kill the subjects. Das Schlangenei was savaged by the critics for its improbable-seeming story and more particularly, for casting David Carradine (best known for his earlier appearances in the Kung Fu U.S. television series) in a crucial role. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, David Carradine, (more)
