Hannes Messemer Movies

Paul (Herbert Stass), a widowed East German railroad worker, has retired at the age of 65 and goes to West Germany to live with his sister, the two of them were very close when they were young and it was natural for him to think of her on his retirement. The sister Hilde (Ilsemarie Schnering) is a widow herself and the siblings will try to make a go of it, even though they have a lot to learn about each other's cultural experience over the years. For example, Paul brought all his savings with him, 10,000 East German marks, but he has no idea how little the money is worth until he sees the cost of living in West Germany. He keeps up contact with his former friends, and when one comes to visit, the truth about the gaps between east and west is brought home again. These cultural issues continue until at one point when Paul is on a vacation trip with his sister he feels like he has wasted his entire life -- and takes it out on the understanding and sympathetic Hilde. But after all is said and done, brother and sister -- East and West Germany incarnate -- have a bond that proves stronger than any differences between them. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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

In 1944, with Paris on the verge of Liberation by the allies, Adolph Hitler ordered that the City of Light be blown up and burned to the ground. General Dietrich Von Choltitz, after much rumination, decided that he didn't want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris. His refusal to follow Hitler's orders would make him a pariah in Germany for the rest of his life; nor was his gesture ever rewarded by the Allies. From this very human story in the midst of one of the most inhuman conflicts in history grew the screenplay (by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola) of the all-star, internationally produced Is Paris Burning? Whereas the earlier The Longest Day was able to support a castful of celebrities and brief subplot vignettes, Is Paris Burning? seems more weighted down than weighty. Still, a modern audience will have fun playing "spot the star" throughout the film, especially when those spotted stars include the likes of Gert Frobe (as Choltitz), Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Kirk Douglas (as Patton), Glenn Ford (as Bradley), Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Robert Stack, and even Anthony Perkins as a wide-eyed GI. Filmed on a gargantuan scale, Is Paris Burning? was based on a book by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. The film was lensed in black and white, save for the Technicolor finale (in the original road-show prints). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Walter Slezak plays a guide in a Vienna wax museum in this fantasy. When the tourists get to the figure of Chancellor Metternich, they are magically transported back in time to the Viennese Congress of 1814. The aristocrats are much more interested in parties and social affairs than the affairs of state, leading to a series of amorous escapades. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This standard spy-suspense yarn of political intrigue is based on the East-West division in Germany at this time. On the West German side of the political dividing line, a spy ring of East Germans has been prying state secrets out of workers in the West German government. Their technique is straightforward. They promise to release relatives of the workers to West Germany in exchange for the information. When a prisoner in East Germany is released and returns to the West, he discovers that his wife has been murdered. Immediately suspecting an East German connection, he starts to hunt down and locate the members of the spy ring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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

Ruth Leuwerik plays a courageous female doctor in the German POW drama Taiga. Interred in a Siberan prison camp during WWII, Leuwerik lifts the spirits of her fellow prisoners with her dedication to her job and her indomitable spirit. The doctor's humanitarianism even extends to an oaf (Gunter Pfitzmann) who tries to rape her; he wins his undying respect when she protects him from retaliation by the other prisoners. The film's romantic angle is handled by Hanns Messmer as an inmate who vows to marry Leuwerik if and when they are released. Hardly a slice of life-the POW camp is nowhere near as brutal as the real thing -- Taiga nonetheless scores on the strength of its leading players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Der Arzt von Stalingrad (The Doctor of Stalingrad) was one of four films directed in 1958 by the prolific Hungarian-born helmsman Geza von Radvanyi. Set in a Russia POW camp during WII, the film concentrates on an imprisoned German doctor, played by O.E. Hasse. Denied sophisticated surgical tools, the doctor relies solely upon his medical skill to pull his patients through. He manages to win the confidence and respect of his Soviet captors when he removes a brain tumor from the son of the commandant. Less happy are the results of a wartime romance between the doctor and a female Russian physician. Though not altogether sympathetic to the Russians, neither can Der Arzt Von Stalingrad be considered 100% pro-German. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

West Germany's entry in the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was this cinemadaptation of the Gerhardt Hauptman play Rose Bernd. The title character, played by Maria Schell, is a servant girl on a remote farm. Sexually assaulted by both her employer and a coworker, Rose later bears a child, who die soon afterward. After nearly two hours of unrelieved misery, Rose finally finds happiness in the arms of a longtime admirer (where has he been for the past 12 reels?) Rose Bernd (aka The Sins of Rose Bernd) received a smattering of American showings thanks to the drawing power of star Maria Schell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide