Günter Meisner Movies

Although the Maori have fared perhaps the best of all the indigenous peoples who have had their homeland overrun by Europeans, many of their ancient cultural artifacts were stolen in the early years of colonization and were shipped all over the world. In this story, an old Maori woman remembers the story of some carvings which were stolen in this fashion and is campaigning for them to be returned. At the same time, a Maori writer visiting Berlin feels something which makes him feels that his ancestors are present with him in the German city. He eventually tracks down the source of these feelings in the form of the carvings, which are being kept in a museum. The writer and his uncle, who is also in the city, band together with others to liberate the carvings and return these beacons for the ancestral spirits to their proper home. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Isabelle Pasco and Gerard Sandoz play an impressionable young couple living in Marseilles. Both husband and wife are mesmerized by the lions in the city zoo, the wife in particular. The husband goes so far as to take a job at the zoo so as to be nearer the animals. Fired from his position, the husband takes the wife to another town, where they continue their vicarious love affair with lions in a circus. Roselyne et Les Lions is a typically out-of-mainstream effort by Jean-Jacques Beineix, the auteur of Diva and Betty Blue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as The Moon Child, El Niño de la Luna stars Enrique Saldana as a peculiarly gifted young boy. The youngster's supernatural skills bring him to the attention of a group of occult researchers. Whisked away to a research center, the boy is held prisoner while the scientists scheme to harness his talents for their own purposes. Saldana manages to escape with two other "moon children" and head to Africa, with their captors in hot, potentially homicidal pursuit. Director Agustin Villaronga doubled as screenwriter for El Nino de la Luna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stylistically compelling, morally ambiguous, and profoundly unsettling, this Spanish psychodrama from writer-director Agustin Villaronga stands beside Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo as one of cinema's most unflinching depictions of human depravity. The story opens in post-WWII Catalonia as former Nazi death camp "doctor" Klaus (Gunter Meisner) consummates his torture-murder of a young man by hurling himself from the roof of his house; this act, motivated either by a sudden attack of conscience or by some form of sexual mania, leaves him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. We soon find Klaus lying prone in an archaic iron lung, attended by his stern wife Griselda (Marisa Paredes) and young daughter Rena (Gisela Echevarria). When they become unable (or, in his wife's case, unwilling) to look after him, Griselda hires handsome young nurse Angelo (David Sust), unaware that the young man is one of Klaus' former victims, who has maintained a detailed dossier on the "doctor" and his countless unspeakable atrocities. Thus begins a perverse and surreal manipulation of master/servant roles between the immobile Klaus and his equally demented attendant, as the young man attempts to recreate the nightmare world of the camps, even procuring more young victims for his former tormentor's amusement. Though it could be asserted that the stylistically accomplished Villaronga has made a passionate artistic statement about mankind's capacity for unspeakable atrocities, his film may be construed as being one of those horrors in itself. At any rate, Tras el Cristal is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In the final episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, Ambassador-at-large "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) represents the US in a series of conferences with the intansigent Russian premier Josef Stalin (Anatoly Chauginian). Dallying briefly with his erstwhile British sweetheart Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant), Pug stays in Moscow long enough to witness the attempted Nazi invasion. Meanwhile, Pug's daughter-in-law Natalie (Ali McGraw) and her Uncle Aaron (John Houseman) are among the Jewish refugees being smuggled into Palestine. And back in the Western Hemisphere, Pug's sons Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) and Warren (David Dukes) are swept up in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fifth episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, US Naval Commander "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) continues acting as President Roosevelt's emissary of peace in war-torn Europe, even as Hitler (Gunter Meisner) secretly prepares to double-cross Stalin (Anatoly Chaguinian) by invading the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Henry's neglected wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) has a fling with handsome Palmer Kirby (Peter Graves). And in neutral Portugal, Pug's son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) proposes marriage to the much-older Natalie Jastrow (Ali McGraw), whose Jewish faith may well be an obstacle to the couple's safety in future episodes. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, several of the characters introduced in part one are swept up in the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland. Among these are Byron Henry (Jan-Michael Vincent), Natalie Jastrow (Ali McGraw) and Leslie Slote (David Dukes), who in true Casablanca fashion must realize that the problems of three little people aren't worth a hill of beans in this crazy world--especially after witnessing the Nazi slaughter of a Polish refugee caravan. Back in the US, Byron's father, Naval Commander Victor "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) is the recipient of personal, highly top-secret orders from President Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) himself--orders which may well determine the fate of the free world. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kabe (Marius Mueller-Westernhagen) lives with his wife Andrea (Patricia von Miseroni) in East Germany in an apartment that backs right up to the Berlin Wall. The Wall is only one of many confining aspects of life that drive Kabe nuts -- when he sees these barriers, he just has to cross them. Inevitably, he starts trying to jump over the wall again and again and is thrown first into a mental institution and then into jail for his repeated efforts -- which do, in the end pay off. It turns out he gets a reprieve when he is exchanged for some others on the opposite side of that wall in a deal between the East and West German governments, and lo and behold, Kabe is now in West Germany. Unfortunately, he is no happier looking at the wall from that perspective either. After all, his wife is on the other side -- and now what is he to do? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

When four young people move into a run-down villa in West Berlin, their attempts at converting it into an environmentally friendly place with a garden and a few farm animals just begin to bear fruit when the city notifies them that the whole place is to be razed - a modern housing complex is going up. The architect-father of one of the young women in the villa (formerly unaware he even had a daughter) is inveigled into taking up their cause and the five of them go to bat against the woman contractor in charge of the new development project. It turns out that the architect and the contractor had known each other before, making his task all the more challenging. Inspired by the commitment of the four youths, the architect installs solar panels, does a major rehaul on the house, hopefully enough to convince the city to rescind their order to destroy it. Time is running short, and the four youths gear up to face whatever may happen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Corin Redgrave plays a highly principled Australian doctor in Between Wars. As indicated by the title, the film concentrates on Redgrave's activities while the world around him is engulfed in combat. Arthur Dignam and Judy Morris are also featured. Between Wars was originally produced for Australian television in 1974. It was given a limited American theatrical and cable release 11 years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

David McCallum stars in Hauser's Memory as scientist Hillel Mondoro. At the behest of the CIA, Mondoro willingly has himself injected with the brain fluid from a dying fellow scientist named Hauser. The purpose of this experiment is to preserve the missile secrets lodged in Hauser's memory banks. The result is a deadly liason between Mondoro and Hauser's pro-Nazi wife Anna (Lilli Palmer). Susan Strasberg costars as Mondoro's nonplussed wife Karen, while German film director Helmut Kautner alsos plays an important featured role. Made for television, Hauser's Memory premiered November 24, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This spy saga differs from the usual Bond-styled fare that was popular at the time. There are plenty of gadgets but the hero Quiller (George Segal) never once uses a gun. Quiller is called on by his superior Pol (Alec Guinness) to infiltrate a Neo-Nazi gang in Berlin after two British agents have been killed on the same mission. After a teacher at a school has hanged himself when he is accused of being a war criminal, Quiller meets the late teachers replacement, the lovely Inge (Senta Berger). He willingly goes home with her before being beaten, drugged, and kidnapped by Nazi thugs, but the head Nazi Oktober (Max Von Sydow) allows Quiller to escape in hopes he will lead them to Pol. Quiller is captured again and given until morning to reveal information or he and Inge will die. George Sanders and Edith Schneider make the most of their limited screen time with fine performances. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this tense espionage drama set in 1942, William Holden plays Eric Erickson, an American-born Swede who is put on the Allied blacklist for trading oil with the Nazis. Collins (Hugh Griffith), a British intelligence agent, offers to expunge Erickson's name from the blacklist after the war in return for information on the Nazis. Erickson agrees to the plan and proceeds to make it look as if he is pro-Nazi. This subterfuge causes him to be branded a traitor, and his wife, believing Eric to be a Nazi, walks out on him. Nevertheless, Eric continues with his deceit and makes the Germans think that he is planning to construct an oil refinery in Sweden to serve as a fuel supply for Germany. As a result he is allowed entrance to four German oil refinery, and he passes on the information to Collins. But Eric is being put under surveillance by the Nazis. They discover that Eric's lover, Marianne (Lilli Palmer) is working for the Allies. Suddenly both Marianne and Eric are arrested and thrown into Moabit Prison -- with dire consequences for both of them. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide