Inge Marschall Movies

Whatever it is about 19th century composer Robert Schumann and his pianist wife Clara Wieck that fascinates filmmakers, it is a strong enough fascination to prompt a retelling of the Schumanns' lives every few years. First, there was the 1947 Katharine Hepburn/Paul Henreid film vehicle Song of Love. Then there was a well-received 1950s episode of The Loretta Young Show. And in 1983, we were treated to the German-made Spring Symphony (originally Fruehlingssinfonie). This time around, Nastassja Kinski is Clara and Herbert Gronemeyer is Robert; the story of how fame can destroy the relationship between a sensitive woman and a workaholic man remains the mixture as before. Oddly, given the usual "warts and all" movie mentality of the 1980s, Spring Symphony is even more fanciful and romanticized than earlier versions of the Schumann saga. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, the trouble begins when a computer whiz tries to explain to the cops that his car was wrecked by an elephant. The cops naturally think he is looney, a suspicion confirmed when he frantically demands they let him go because his duck will be ringing at seven-thirty and he must be home to answer it. Despite his protestations, they immediately squire him to the local nut house. Unfortunately, the hacker is perfectly sane. There really was an elephant; it really did sit on his car, and his "duck" is his computer. Now the only way the hapless nerd can get home is to feign insanity so that the shrinks will free him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi