Christiane Maybach Movies
- 1979
- R
The West German Just a Gigolo has little to do with the popular song of the same name. Its central character, played by David Bowie, is a World War I-era Prussian aristocrat. Living by his wits throughout Europe, Bowie uses his sexual prowess with beautiful women (and powerful men) to advance himself. The leering lothario eventually comes to grief in the decadent Berlin of the 1920s. We don't know how he did it, but director David Hemmings managed to corral some of the most stellar sex goddesses in film history to play cameos in Just a Gigolo: Kim Novak, Maria Schell, and even Marlene Dietrich. The film was originally released as Schoner Gigolo, Armer Gigolo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bowie, Sydne Rome, (more)
Faustrecht der Freiheit (Fox and His Friends) was one of the many films in the short, but prolific, career of German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder plays Franz Biberkopf, a financially poor gay man who performs in a traveling circus as Fox the Talking Head. One day, he lucks into winning half a million marks in a lottery. This attracts the attention of numerous swindlers, including Eugen (Peter Chatel), who becomes Fox's lover, gets Fox to spend the money on Eugen, and then dumps Fox mercilessly once the money is gone. Unable to come to terms with how he has been used, and miserable at being in the same place he was before he won the money, Fox commits suicide. The cast is rounded out by El Hedi ben Salem and Brigitte Mira, the stars of Fassbinder's celebrated Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Chatel, (more)
Originally billed as merely $, Dollars stars top box office draws Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. Beatty plays a security whiz, employed in Hamburg, Germany. He devises a clever method of robbing the secret bank vaults of notorious criminals, reasoning that the crooks will never turn to the cops. The notion that the crooks may have a few words to say to him does not dissuade Beatty as he and gold-hearted hooker Hawn work out their carefully calculated, meticulously timed robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, (more)
- 1971
Based on the novel Das Freudenhaus, by Henry Jaeger, this German language film concerns a madam in a whorehouse, herself once a prostitute. Despite, or perhaps because of her former profession, Rosi (Karin Jacobsen) feels that she needs a man in her life. Where should she turn but to the circus, where a clown, formerly a bookkeeper, responds to her attentions. He even doesn't mind her former profession too much, especially since the bordello keeps the money rolling in. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In A Study in Terror the ever popular Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson search for the Victorian serial killerJack the Ripper in this well-made and exciting mystery produced, written and directed by James Hill. In this adaptation of the popular character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes (John Neville) aided by Dr. Watson (Donald Houston) and his brother Mycroft (Robert Morley) are called in to help catch the crazed killer of prostitutes. This film combines all the elements beloved by fans of Sherlock Holmes resulting in a satisfying and well-acted mystery. John Neville is good as the cool, logical Holmes and Robert Morley adds a nice dash of humor to liven up the story. A Study in Terror is highly recommended for fans of Sherlock Holmes and should be enjoyed by any viewer who loves vintage mysteries. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Neville, Donald Houston, (more)
- 1965
In this spy comedy, a jet-setting playboy takes time off from his daredevil endeavors to help a seductive FBI agent save a nuclear scientist from a nefarious megalomaniac with designs on controlling the world. The sexy agent and the playboy are also pursued by a ring of Chinese agents who also want the scientist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Back in Germany for the first time since 1933, director Fritz Lang returned to the screen character that brought him enormous success in his pre-Hollywood years. The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse is not so much a sequel as an extension of Lang's early Dr. Mabuse (1922) and Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Set in 1960, the film begins with a series of unsolved murders in a Berlin hotel. The modus operandi of the murderer is the same as that of long-dead megalomaniac Dr. Mabuse. Police detective Gert Frobe and amateur sleuths Peter Van Eyck and Dawn Addams suspect that the killer is a man who believes that he is the reincarnation of Mabuse. Could the culprit be secretive insurance salesman Werner Peters, or blind seer Wolfgang Preiss? The title refers to the hotel's sophisticated TV surveillance system--dozens of roving cameras and TV monitors, inspired (claimed Lang) by a sophisticated bugging method used by the Nazis during World War II. The renewed popularity of the Dr. Mabuse character spawned five movie sequels, none of which were directed by Lang, who had washed his hands of the project. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gert Fröbe
A horror film of dubious taste, a least for the early '60s when it was released, this Gothic tale about transplanted heads comes from Germany and is directed by Victor Trivas. Prof. Abel (Michel Simon) has invented the miraculous "Serum X," and with it he successfully keeps a dog's head alive after the rest of the canine is quite dead. When the able Prof. Abel dies, his assistant, the odd Dr. Ood (Horst Frank), keeps Abel's head around -- but not for old times' sake. Dr. Ood is in love with a hunchbacked nurse (Karin Kernke) and he wants Abel's head to help him out with a novel transplant operation. Dr. Ood wants to take the body of a stripper (Christiane Maybach), snip off her head, and put the nurse's head in its place. Unfortunately, nothing goes exactly as he plans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Horst Frank, Michel Simon, (more)
- 1958
Starring the peripatetic Eddie Constantine as Eddie Petersen ("Hoppla Eddie"), this amusing crime parody pokes at the foibles of gangster movies. Eddie is a seaman working out of Hamburg who has been given the enviable job of watching over a group of pretty South American women. While this seems like a better assignment than putting out to sea for six months, he soon finds himself in more limited, but very hot water. One of the women may hold the key to a secret uncovered by her famous scientist-father, now deceased. He apparently discovered something cheap to power the automobile and a notorious international gang is after his invention. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Constantine, Maria Sebaldt, (more)
