Günter Meisner Movies

Brigitte Bardot was at the height of her fame when she starred in this engagingly silly military comedy. Babette (Bardot) is a beautiful but unfortunately clueless young French woman who, in 1940, becomes a refugee when she seeks safe haven in England as the Germans move in to occupy her land. Babette is recruited as part of a scheme to help British military intelligence foil a German plot to invade England. The idea is for Babette to use her good looks to win the confidence of German officers and learn their secrets; however, despite her enthusiasm, Babette's striking ineptitude when it comes to military espionage makes her as much of a threat as an asset to Allied forces. Babette s'en va-t-en Guerre (released in the United States as Babette Goes To War) also stars Ronald Howard, Jacques Charrier, and Michael Cramer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

"Wunderbar" takes on a new meaning in this routine satire by Bernhard Wicki about a bar that is miraculously transported by God Himself to a nearby, new location on an island. The nature of the miracle is a bit strange, but it comes in answer to Pater Malachias' prayers to get the sin-ridden place out of the center of the city. The good and naive Malachias is subtly played by Horst Bollimann. Once this miracle of relocation has occurred, the sharks and entrepreneurs, who would bilk both the faithful and the curiosity-seekers alike, crop up like an unwanted epidemic. The mercenary and the sacred clash, as many try to find deeper meaning in what has happened, and Pater Malachias starts to doubt the wisdom of his original prayer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, 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

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

This bleak World War II action drama, directed by John Guillermin, concerns the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen -- the last remaining span across the Rhine into Germany during the final days of the war in 1945. German General von Brock (Peter Van Eyck) is ordered to blow up the bridge rather than let it fall into American hands. Von Brock is reluctant to carry out the orders, however, because that would mean abandoning 50,000 soldiers to the on-coming Americans. Putting Major Paul Kreuger (Robert Vaughn) in charge, he tells him to try to hold the bridge as long as possible. Meanwhile, U.S. Brigadier General Skinner (E.G. Marshall) is trying to trap the retreating Germans by making a push to the Rhine. Leading the offensive is Major Barnes (Bradford Dillman), an officer held in contempt by most of the men. Platoon leader Lieutenant Phil Hartman (George Segal) takes a particular dislike to him. Hartman is also at odds with Sergeant Angela (Ben Gazzara), a scavenger who likes to steal from the corpses of dead German soldiers. As the Americans push onward to Remagen, the Germans step up their resistance. When the Americans reach Remagen, Krueger unsuccessfully attempts to blow up the bridge and throws all his soldiers into a full-assault on the Americans. Skinner orders that the American soldiers must push forward and take the bridge intact. In the face of heavy German opposition, Hartman and Angelo find that they must put aside their differences and fight for a common cause -- to take the bridge at all costs. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Promoted as a family musical by Paramount Pictures, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is more of a black comedy, perversely faithful to the spirit of Roald Dahl's original book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable grandfather (Jack Albertson). In the course of the tour, Willy Wonka punishes the four nastier children in various diabolical methods -- one kid is inflated and covered with blueberry dye, another ends up as a principal ingredient of the chocolate, and so on -- because these kids have violated the ethics of Wonka's factory. In the end, only Charlie and his grandfather are left. Ostensibly set in England, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was lensed in Germany (as revealed by the film's final overhead shot). ~ Hal Erickson, 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

The heiress Claire (Charlotte Rampling) in this movie is the daughter of the Miss Blandish of the film No Orchids for Miss Blandish. She has been raised under the unsympathetic eye of her aunt (Edwige Feuillere), who has no intention of seeing her receive her large inheritance. A somewhat violent girl (her father was a mentally retarded killer), she has been confined in a mental asylum. All the men who help her meet tragedy and death in the course of the film, but Claire gets help from other quarters, and her prospects look good. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Often described as "Ship of Fools with a conscience," Voyage of the Damned is based on a true story. In 1939, the Nazis ostentatiously loaded a luxury liner with hundred of Jewish refugees from all walks of life. The ship then tried to drop anchor in Havana, Cuba-only to have its passengers refused entry by the Cuban government, in keeping with its super-stringent immigration policies. This was exactly what the Nazis expected to happen, and indeed wanted to happen. By having the refugees turned away from Havana, the German government could "prove" that the Jews were indeed the most unwanted race on earth, thereby justifying Hitler's extermination policy. The crosssection of humanity on board the ship includes the requisite big-time stars: Faye Dunaway as a monocle-sporting countess and Oscar Werner as Dunaway's society-doctor husband; professor Luther Adler and his wife Wendy Hiller; poverty-stricken Nehemiah Persoff and Maria Schell, who hope to be reunited with their "fallen" daughter Katherine Ross; disbarred attorney Sam Wanamaker and his family (wife Lee Grant, daughter Lynne Frederick); anti-Nazi captain Max Von Sydow; and so on. Representing the Cuban government are president Fernando Rey and bureaucrat Jose Ferrer; other Havana denizens include businessman Orson Welles and minister James Mason. Despite its morbid overtones, Voyage of the Damned ends on a faintly positive note. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also released as Sergeant Steiner, Breakthrough is a German war flick helmed by western specialist Andrew McLaglen. Richard Burton stars as Sgt. Steiner, a German who doesn't subscribe to the Nazi party line. When the plot to kill Hitler is hatched, Steiner is persuaded to join the conspiracy by General Hoffman (Curt Jurgens). Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger costar as American officers peripherally involved in the storyline. Intended as a sequel to the successful Cross of Iron, Breakthrough failed to match the box-office performance of the earlier film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In mid-1978, the cult fantasy guru and comic book illustrator Bill Richert -- after months directing Jeff Bridges and Belinda Bauer in the scattergun carnival of a political satire, Winter Kills -- faced a real head-scratcher. With Winter yet to be completed, Richert's backer, Avco-Embassy, lopped off all funding and suspended production indefinitely. Projectless, Richert spun around, picked up an unproduced feature script by drive-in director Larry Cohen (Q, It's Alive!), and somehow found the cash to churn out a second piece of eccentricity with Bridges and Bauer in the leads, this one for Columbia Pictures -- hoping he could use the latter's earnings to polish off Winter. Thus began a very shaky history over the next 30 years for a little film originally called The American Success Company. This ghost of a picture bombed at the box office in 1979, was later reedited twice by Richert under distinct titles (first as American Success in 1981 and then as Success in 1983), and received limited theatrical distribution. It has since fallen through the cracks of movie history, never receiving official distribution on home video but popping up in bootleg versions under the titles Good as Gold and The Ringer. The movie tells the story of Harry Flowers (Bridges), a Milquetoast employee of a Munich-based credit card company, AmSucCo (did AmEx raise any eyebrows at that?), married to the daughter (Bauer) of his slightly tyrannical boss (Ned Beatty). Flowers allows himself to be shoved around and coddled by everyone, until he suddenly decides to slip into an assumed identity -- that of a gruff, bull-by-the-horns modern-day prince, determined to "rescue himself" from wimpdom by learning sexual aggression from a prostitute (Bianca Jagger) and ultimately wresting millions from the hand that feeds him. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Lee Marvin plays a CIA agent who lures a Soviet biological warfare expert aboard a European train in the hopes of murdering the expert, thus eliminating a world threat. Things go awry when the train is caught in an avalanche. ~ All Movie Guide

Two friends chart a daring path to freedom in this drama from Walt Disney Pictures. Peter Strelzyk (John Hurt) and Guenter Wetzel (Beau Bridges) are two men living in East Germany who can no longer tolerate the petty tyrannies of Communist rule. Together, they formulate a daring plan to escape to democratic West Germany in a hot air balloon, but Peter and Guenter realize that they have to build a very special lighter-than-air craft to carry both themselves and their families to safety. Night Crossing also features Jane Alexander, Doug McKeon, and Keith McKeon as members of the Strelzyk Family, and Glynnis O'Connor, Michael Liesik, and Geoffrey Liesik as the Wetzels. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide