Günter Meisner Movies

This film of Ira Levin's novel The Boys from Brazil wastes no time in establishing the fact that several seemingly unrelated men have been mysteriously murdered. Elderly Jewish Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier), brought into the case when the clues seem to point to a neo-fascist plot, traces the trail of evidence to Paraguay. Here he finds an unregenerate Auschwitz doctor, patterned on Joseph Mengele and played by -- of all people -- Gregory Peck. Lieberman discovers that the murdered men had all fathered sons who were identical -- the results of a cloning experiment, designed to create a race of incipient Hitlers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Telly Savalas, James Mason and Robert Culp join together to discover a hidden cache of $6 million in Nazi gold in this action caper retitled both Hitler's Gold and The Golden Heist. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

Christian de Bresson plays the son of East German minister Michael Gwynn. The Communist regime has decreed that all children of "dissidents" will be denied entry in a prestigious music conservatory. Anxious to be accepted, young de Bresson prepares to answer the seven questions required by the conservatory, the seventh of which will require him to deny his religious convictions. Before this can happen, the boy is invited by the Communist Party to perform at the Berlin Youth Festival. The boy's father protests, knowing that the Communists intend to use his son as a political pawn, to "prove" to the world that East Germany affords equal rights to persons of the cloth. It is de Bresson himself who decides to quit the Festival and defect to the West. Financed by Lutheran Film Associates, Question 7 was given an honored showcase by the Berlin Film Festival--held, of course, in the western sector. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi