Mario Adorf

Densely plotted and featuring a large ensemble cast, this German drama offers a smorgasbord of lush visuals, intrigue, sex, egos run amok, and raw emotion. Set in Bavaria, within a posh Italian restaurant owned by Pierrot, much of the story centers on a filmmaker and his producers as they try to keep bankers from backing out on their promise to pay for a new film about the Lorelay, the ideal woman of German mythology. At the same time, the director is searching for a woman to play her. Despite his outward confidence, the director Uhu is deeply insecure about his career. Beautiful Snow White is determined to win the title role and will stop at nothing, not even the prostitution of her body, to get the part. Her girlfriend, Watsussnik is not pleased but is too emotionally unstable to speak out. Meanwhile Jakob, the writer of the novel on which the film is to be based, sits in a back room musing about how to get the film rights for himself. As the stories progress and unfold, more people are added to the mix, including a lonely beauty who is worshipped by a cosmetic surgeon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Harry has grown up amongst the dregs of society and so it is little wonder that he, like Willi, the estranged father he idolizes, ends up in prison; his young girlfriend Marlies is also incarcerated. Following convictions for car theft, the two are fatefully sent to the same coed penitentiary where Willi and his girlfriend reside. With a little wangling, Harry manages to become his father's new cellmate. Marlies is placed with Willi's girl. The four communicate via toilet pipes as do other inmates. Thus the stage is set for a series of funny and earthy conversations that illuminate and educate both generations of crooks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Carlos (Daniel Kuzniecka) won the custody of his son when he separated from his wife Negra. She was a political activist in left-leaning movements during the rule of Argentina by a military junta. When she disappears, apparently taken by the police, Carlos decides that he and the little fellow, whom he calls Amigomio, should leave the country as soon as possible. He takes off to the northwest across the mountains, traveling through Bolivia into Ecuador on foot. Along the way, father and son run into a bizarre collection of individual loonies, revolutionaries and bandits. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Bachelor is based on a novel by Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler, of Affairs of Anatol fame. Keith Carradine stars as an unmarried doctor who prefers his will-o-the-wisp existence, avoiding any lasting relationships. Carradine is thrown for a loop when the only person whom he cares about commits suicide. Left with no frame of reference, the doctor is forced to start his life all over again-beginning with his belated sexual initiation. As superb as Carradine is in The Bachelor, his costar Miranda Richardson is absolutely stunning in a dual role. Released in Italy as Mio caro dottor Grasler in 1991, The Bachelor made it to American shores two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The social ferment in late 19th century Russia which led to the 1917 Russian Revolution is movingly portrayed in this lengthy historical drama, which is very faithful to the 1907 novel The Mother by the celebrated Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). In the story, "the mother" (Inna Tchourikova) has no other recourse than to watch her decent, kindly husband turn into an animalistic, drunken brute as a result of working in the inhuman conditions of a steel mill in the town of Sormovo. When he begins to express his suppressed rage by beating her, she is defended by her teenaged son Pavel (depicted Viktor Rakov as an adult, Sacha Chichonok as a boy). After his father's death, Pavel is forced to go to work in the same factory. However, Pavel and his friends begin investigating Marxism and socialist thought, and work to organize their fellow workers. One of them becomes a police informer, and when the friends discover this, they force him to commit suicide. Later, when Pavel is captured by the police, he pretends to be willing to inform on his group as well, but this is a ruse, and he leads demonstrations against the ownership of the factory. Meanwhile, Pavel's mother has gotten involved in the cause in small way. When the socialist cell Pavel belongs to is taken away to trial, they are sentenced to a prison term in Siberia, and he makes a fiery pro-socialist speech from the train platform as he is being shipped away. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Stars and famous locations abound in this multinational production, a would-be "financial thriller" about swindles and betrayals among jet-set gazillionaires, which takes place in glamor spots all over the globe. Somebody has stolen millions of dollars from his father, and Frank Cimballi (Eric Stoltz) means to find out who. To that end, he enlists the help of a variety of people, including a man (Mario Adorf) who is wealthy in his own right, and a French private eye (Bruno Cremer) who appears to have read too many American detective novels. The bad guys seem to have Nazi connections, which adds spice to the chase, but reviewers discounted this movie, based on a best-selling French novel, for its slapdash storytelling. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this spy spoof and thriller, director Guy Hamilton seeks to renew the success he had with the James Bond thriller Goldfinger. The story (based on a novel by James Hadley Chase) concerns the efforts of the genial and deceptively tentative Lepski (Michael Brandon), an insurance company detective, to track down a valuable medieval Russian icon, which was stolen by Bradley (David Carradine), a master thief. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Told in flashback, the film relates Francis of Assisi's evolution from rich man's son to religious humanitarian and eventually to full-fledged saint. Francesco was based on Hermann Hesse's Francis of Assisi, which director Liliana Cavani had previously filmed in 1966. The Saint and founder of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor is played by Mickey Rourke, and his inspiration, the woman who later became Saint Clare, is played by Helena Bonham Carter. Raised as the pampered son of a merchant, Francis goes off to war only to return with a profound horror for the society which generated such suffering. In one scene, as an act of renunciation, he strips himself of his fine clothing in front of his father and leaves the house naked and barefoot, joining the lepers and beggars in the poor section of town. The film follows with a series of episodes from the saint's life rather than a coherent narrative, following up until his final days when he receives the stigmata, or wounds similar to those on the body of Jesus at the crucifixion. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Otello (Marco Messeri) is the honest lawyer who accepts the position of planning a natural park in Italy's Po valley region. He turns down corrupt officials who offer bribes in exchange for favors. He continues his work but soon uncovers a scandal that led to the murder of an unfortunate inspector. Daria (Giulia Boschi) is a former political activist who provides love interest for the lonely lawyer, and Otello's friend Cecco (Meme Perlini) provides comedy relief in this mystery with touches of film noir. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide