Kurt Meisel Movies
The Odessa File is set in Hamburg in the winter of 1963. Jon Voight plays Peter Miller, a German reporter who is investigating the whereabouts of missing Nazi war criminals. After reading the diary of a Holocaust survivor who has recently committed suicide, Miller goes on the trail of in-hiding SS officer Eduard Roschmann (Maximilian Schell). The reporter finds his investigation blocked by members of a secretive group called Odessa. With the help of Israeli activists, Miller persists in his search. Schell's sister Maria also appears in The Odessa File as Miller's mother, the widow of a German soldier. Based on a nailbiting novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Odessa File is highlighted by the exquisitely Teutonic score of Andrew Lloyd Webber. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1970
Michael Strogoff (John Phillip Law) is the courier to the Czar who is helped by Nadia (Mimsey Farmer) to repel Tartar barbarians led by Feofar Khan (Kurt Meisel) from raping and pillaging in the steppes of Siberia. Ivan (Hiram Keller) is the Tartar sympathizer and activist who conspires against the Czar and his minions. Several expansive battle scenes employ the beautiful Bulgarian countryside to re-enact the clash between the rival factions. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Phillip Law, Mimsy Farmer, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Michael (David Warner) is an independent businessman and a happily married man with two children. Traveling to the market one day, he is victimized by a nobleman who demands compensation for crossing his land. Michael leaves two horses and a caretaker on the noble's land after he has paid for passage. He returns for the horses when he discovers that the landowner has no legal right to demand the compensation. Michael discovers his caretaker has been beaten and the horses are near death. A court rules he must take back the horses in their pitiful condition, and he refuses to accept the verdict. His wife Elisabeth (Anna Karina) is killed by a stampede, pushing Michael over the edge. He succumbs to a life of crime, when he torches the nobleman's castle, but the evil count escapes. Michael becomes a hero as people join the cause in rebelling against the unpopular judgment, but he really only wishes to take back his horses and have the nobleman held accountable for his actions. He tracks the nobleman to another town and his rebel army kills the soldiers protecting the cowardly count. A rapist is hung for his crimes, and Michael agrees to turn himself in when officials promise his case will be heard again in this brutal tale of political crimes and reprisals of the common man. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Warner, Anna Karina, (more)
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1959
In this war drama, three Nazi survivors are rescued after their battleship sank. Initially they are given heroes' accolades for their courage, but then it becomes apparent that these men actually jumped ship three hours before the boat sank. The men are tried and subsequently executed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
La Chatte (The Cat) in this wartime meller is played by Francoise Arnoul. When her husband is murdered by the Gestapo, Cora (Arnoul) joins the French resistance movement. Gaining a reputation underground for her catlike grace and cunning, Cora has sworn not to complicate her life with romance until the war is won. Even so, she falls hard for Swiss journalist Bernard (Bernard Wicki). This proves fatal when Bernard turns out to be a Nazi spy. Both star Francoise Arnoul and director Henri Decoin seem preoccupied with other matters throughout La Chatte. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Arnoul, Bernhard Wicki, (more)
- 1958
A beautiful criminology student poses as a prostitute to conduct first-hand research on her thesis paper, in the process discovering that a dear friend is a virtual prisoner in Berlin's most elite brothel. Karin is a brilliant student whose good looks give her an added advantage in assuming the role of a prostitute and exploring Berlin's thriving sex industry. Hired posthaste by nefarious Madame Clavius, the pretty blonde sets about gathering information for her thesis when she discovers that her old friend Madeline has been financing her luxurious lifestyle by working as a call girl in the very same brothel. The situation turns sinister when Madeline reveals to Karin that she has fallen in love and longs to start a new life, but any girl who tries to leave Madame Clavius is soon discovered dead. When Madeline admits to considering suicide, Karin hatches a plan for both of them to make a clean break from the brothel and avoid Madame Clavius' deadly wrath. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Based on the popular Franz Werfel novel, Der Vernuntreute Himmel (The Embezzled Heaven) was deftly directed with both eyes on the box office by operetta specialist Ernst Marischka. Annie Rosar heads the cast as the naively pious Aunt Teta, who is certain that she will be assured a place in heaven by performing one good deed. That deed is to bestow her life savings upon her spoiled-rotten nephew Mojmir (Kurt Meisel) so that he may be able to afford to study for the priesthood. Of course, Mojmir has no such intentions, but he's certainly not above taking Aunt Teta's money. The melodramatic machinations of the storyline are largely forgotten during the film's spectacular climax, largely shot on location inside the Vatican. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Rosar, Hans Holt, (more)
- 1958
Douglas Sirk directed this doomed World War II love story, seen from the German side of the war, as filtered through a distinctly late-'50s Hollywood banality. The film is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the author of the classic World War I anti-war novel All Quiet On the Western Front -- and who makes a cameo appearance in the film as an elderly schoolteacher. The film stars John Gavin as Ernst Graber, a young Nazi soldier home on leave during the height of World War II. While on leave, he falls in love and marries Elizabeth Kruze (Lilo Pulver). With bombs falling all around the young couple, they set up house with a kindly old woman. Then Elizabeth becomes pregnant. But before Ernst can grasp the reality of his becoming a father, he is sent back to the war -- to fight the brutal battle along the Russian front. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gavin, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1955
Two films concerning the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Adolph Hitler were released in Germany within the same week. The second to arrive on the scene was G. W. Pabst's Es Gescham am 20 Juli. Actor/director Bernhard Wicki heads the cast as Oberst Graf Von Staufenberg, the prime mover of the assassination conspiracy. The reasons for Von Staufenberg's actions are never fully articulated; the film is more concerned with the mechanics of the plot and the placing of the bomb. Though Hitler never appears in Es Gescham am 20 Juli, Joseph Goebbels does, by way of newsreel footage; cleverly, director Pabst allows Goebbels to betray himself as the jabbering lunatic and craven coward that he really was. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Filmed on location in Rio De Janeiro, They Were So Young is a tawdry "white slavery" melodrama, elevated by a first-rate cast and excellent production values. Innocent young Johanna Metz is hired for a modelling job in South America. Upon her arrival, she finds herself broke, stranded and at the beck and call of a criminal gang. Escaping from the crooks, Johanna is rescued by Scott Brady, an engineer in the employ of tycoon Raymond Burr. Unfortunately, Burr turns out to be the leader of the gang from whom Johanna has escaped. Financed in Germany and released in the US by Lippert Productions, They Were So Young (aka Violated and Party Girls For Sale) was released in English- and German-language versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Brady, Raymond Burr, (more)
- 1942
Controversial Nazi-era filmmaker Veidt Harlan was the guiding hand behind Die Goldene Stadt. The heroine (Kristine Soderbaum) is a naïve farm girl who wants nothing more out of life than to visit the "Golden City" of Prague. Once arrived, she quickly falls into a bad crowd. She is ultimately disowned by her father and abandoned by her beau. Distinctly xenophobic in tone, Die Goldene Stadt doesn't stand the test of time too well. Lensed in Agfacolor, the film was based on Die Gigant, a play by Richard Billinger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
