Hildegarde Neff Movies
German actress Hildegarde Neff was enrolled right out of high school with UFA Studios' Training Program in preparation for a film career. After a brief period as an artist in an animation firm, she commenced her movie acting with 1945's Fahrt ins Gluck. One year later, Hildegarde attained fame beyond the boundaries of Germany for her role in Murderers Among Us (1946). An actress first and star second, Ms. Neff divided her time between films and stage work for the Deutsches Theatre. A potential 1948 contract with American producer David O. Selznick (prompted by the actress' appearance on a Life magazine cover) came to nothing, but the publicity attending her nude scene in the 1950 German film The Sinner won the actress a pact with 20th Century-Fox. In 1951, Hildegarde appeared in Decision Before Dawn, a Fox picture shot primarily in Germany. The studio changed the spelling of her name for marquee purposes - it had been "Knef" on her birth certificate and in her German appearances - and cast her in such "alluring European" roles as the depraved Countess Liz in Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952). Disturbed that she was perceived as a mere foreign "type" by American producers, Hildegarde returned to Europe in 1952. Her next significant success was back in the USA in the 1955 Broadway musical Silk Stockings, which made her a favorite in New York but failed to convince Hollywood that she was anything more than a pretty commodity. As "Hildegarde Knef" again, the actress spent the '60s performing in her nightclub act both in the US and the Continent, and acting occasionally in second-rate films; these were years blighted by poverty and the loss of fair-weather friends. She made a major dramatic comeback in 1970 with a European TV production of Jean Cocteau's La Voix Humaine, and the next year published her best-selling autobiography, The Gift Horse. Hildegarde Neff/Knef's second book came out in 1975: The Verdict was a no-nonsense account of her ongoing struggles with cancer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1953
Young Britisher Susanne Mallinson (Claire Bloom) is visiting the occupied city of postwar Berlin, as the guest of her brother, Major Martin Mallinson (Geoffrey Toone) and his wife Bettina (Hildegarde Neff), whom he met during his initial stay in Berlin as a British Army doctor. They seem happily married, but Susanne soon notices that Bettina is trying to hide something, both from her and from Martin -- a secret involving a young boy (Dieter Krause) on a bicycle who seems to turn up everywhere she does, and figure whom she initially doesn't see. The truth finally comes out amidst a new skirmish between the British on one side and the East Germans in the Soviet zone on the other, and a man named Olaf Kastner (Ernst Schroeder), who seems to make a lot of mystery-shrouded trips in and out of the city's Russian Zone. Bettina was married to the mysterious Ivo Kern (James Mason), a handsome, smooth-talking former German army officer (with his own record during the Second World War -- as well as after -- to hide from) who was presumed dead after 1944, and declared so by the authorities. But now Ivo has turned up alive, an event that nullifies Bettina's and Martin's marriage, among other personal repercussions; and he has been working for the Russians in the eastern zone, engineering the kidnapping of people out of West Berlin. And he wants Olaf Kastner, who has been an embarrassment to the East Germans, and especially Kern's superior Halendar (Albert Waescher), with his success at rescuing people from the Eastern Zone; and Ivo might just get him if he can charm the wide-eyed, innocent Susanne sufficiently . . . . ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Claire Bloom, (more)
- 1952
Given to violent, unpredictable behavior, composer Richard Morton (Gary Merrill) is an accident waiting to happen. Attempting to drown his problems in drink, Morton awakens with a monumental hangover -- and the nagging belief that he has murdered a woman. Did this, in fact, happen? And was the victim his wealthy, quarrelsome wife (June Vincent), his former mistress (Hildegarde Neff) or the movie star (Linda Darnell) with whom he has been carrying on a casual romance? As he attempts to contact the three women, Morton flashes back to his experiences with each one. The ending is pure Hitchcock, even though the director of the moment was future Saint helmsman Roy Baker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Darnell, Gary Merrill, (more)
- 1952
This minor 1952 drama resurfaced during the 1989 Berlin Film Festival, and was found to have previously unsuspected historical and artistic merit. At the time it was made, Sybille Schmitz, one of the great movie stars and beauties of the Nazi era, was fading into her final dissipation and scandal-ridden suicide in 1955 (the subject of a later film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Veronika Voss). At the same time, two of her costars in this film, Hardy Kruger and Hildegard Knef, were just beginning to make their presence known. The story in this black and white film in some ways parallels the actor's actual circumstances at the time, and gains resonance from that fact. In the film, Schmitz is a wealthy widow who has grown romantically attached to a band leader who is at least as well known for his seductions as for his music. When her son, Kruger, becomes aware of her impending marriage to this cad, he enlists the help of his tragically ill fiancee (Knef) to unmask this man for the villain he really is. Alas, when the widow's illusions are shattered, her dreams are also, and by the end of the film she is alone and miserable, watching the two young lovers head off "into the sunset." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hardy Kruger
Ernest Hemingway could never come to terms with Hollywood's preoccupation with The Happy Ending: he accepted the money for the screen rights to his short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, but he could never bring himself to watch it. Gregory Peck plays a character based, in decidedly unflattering fashion, on Hemingway crony F. Scott Fitzgerald. While hunting in the African mountains in the company of his faithful lady friend Susan Hayward, Peck is seriously wounded; in fact, it doesn't look as though he'll survive the night. In the few hours he has left, Peck reflects upon what he considers a wasted life. Having aspired to be the Great American Novelist, Peck has only turned out money-making drivel. The only time that he truly felt as though he'd made a contribution to the world was when he fought on the Loyalist side in Spain (this element isn't in the short story, but is drawn from Hemingway's own experiences). As for his lost romance with his late wife Ava Gardner, Peck still cannot figure out what went wrong. The Hemingway original ended with the Peck character dying from his wounds; producer Darryl F. Zanuck wouldn't hear of this, preferring that Peck survive with the resolve to write something of lasting value. The Technicolor location photography of Leon Shamroy and the rumbling musical score of Bernard Herrmann are the main attractions of The Snows of Kilimanjaro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, (more)
- 1952
When undercover secret agent Tyrone Power is thwarted in his efforts to obtain a vital document with details of the Russian invasion of Yugoslavia by the death of the courier at the hands of two Russian agents, played by Mario Siletti and Charles Buchinski (aka Charles Bronson), it becomes his duty to go after the murderers and retrieve the papers. With more loops and turnabouts than a snake, the plot has surprises with agents, double agents, mistaken information and is, all in all, a surprisingly exciting spy vehicle. Michael Ansara and Lee Marvin also make brief appearances in this early cold war story. A script with a lot of holes in it is pulled off by the fine performances and tight direction given in this film. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Patricia Neal, (more)
- 1952
Also known as Alraune and Mandrake, The Unnatural is a kinky science fiction film, elevated by the bravura performance of Erich Von Stroheim. Playing a mad scientist (again?), Von Stroheim artificially inseminates an addled prostitute with the sperm of a vicious murderer. The result of this unholy union grows up to be Hildegarde Neff, who is none too stable herself. Combining the worst traits of both her parents, Neff lures unsuspecting males to premature deaths. Just when Neff is about to consummate her first genuine romance with Karl Bohm, she is killed by Von Stroheim, who has long harbored incestuous feelings for his "foster daughter." Officially, The Unnatural was adapted by Fritz Rotter from a novel by H. H. Ewers, but one has the impression that Von Stroheim might have dropped a few suggestions of his own here and there. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hildegarde Neff, Erich Von Stroheim, (more)
- 1952
Holiday for Henrietta (originally released in 1952 as La Fete a Henriette) is a Pirandellian comedy about the art of moviemaking. Louis Seigner and Henri Cremieux play a team of screenwriters whose latest project is stuck in a mire of indecision. Should fictional heroine Henriette (Dany Robin) be permitted a happy ending as the romantic Seigner insists, or suffer an unhappy one as "film noir" specialist Cremieux demands? While the screenwriters hash out their contrasting points of view, we see a film-within-a-film, dramatizing the formulating screenplay and its abrupt changes of mood and direction. Finally reaching a compromise, the writers are interrupted by one of the actors in their imaginary movie, who informs them that their "original" plot has already been filmed! When Hollywood got hold of Holiday for Henrietta, it pumped up this modest project into a bloated star vehicle for Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, titled Paris When It Sizzles (63). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Auclair, Dany Robin, (more)
- 1951
The ever-popular Viennese operetta star Willi Forst serves as producer, director, co-writer and star of Es Geschehen Noch Wunder (Miracles Still Happen). The whimsically old-fashioned plotline concerns a pair of young lovers who are haunted by a strange melody. Only the lovers can hear the music, leading to several comically dicey complications. Forst's leading lady this time out is the lovely Hildegarde Neff, who is clearly much, much younger than the star, making certain passages of the storyline a bit hard to swallow. At 125 minutes, Es Geschehen Noch Wunder wears out its welcome long before fadeout time, though Willi Forst's legions of fans never complained. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willi Forst, Hildegarde Neff, (more)
- 1951
The Sinner was heralded by a storm of publicity regarding its director Willi Forst and its star Hildergarde Neff. The film was Forst's first effort since 1942, and as such it was highly anticipated. The film was also Neff's last German production before her "new" career in Hollywood. According to most contemporary reviews, The Sinner was considered unworthy of Forst's and Neff's talents, though this may have been a negative reaction to the publicity blitz. The film casts its star as a young girl who is no better than she ought to be, but whose good intentions outweigh her bad impulses. Believing she has finally found true love in the form of an artist (Gustav Frolich), the girl is in for a major disappointment when her lover begins behaving erratically due to a brain tumor. The spectacularly tragic ending to this sorry little tale, coupled with a handful of highly censurable love scenes, seriously impaired any chances for The Sinner to achieve box-office success in the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hildegarde Neff, Gustav Fröhlich, (more)
- 1951
Nachts aut den Strassen (Detour) stars German film favorite Hans Albers as a middle-aged truck driver named Heinrich. Coming across a traffic accident, Heinrich finds a small bagful of money. Figuring that no one will miss it, he pockets the cash and in so doing, condemns himself to a Living Death. The dramatic thrust of Nachts auf den Strassen is not so much that Crime Does Not Pay, but that no man can ever escape his most diligent nemesis -- himself. The film represented the first postwar effort from producer Erich Pommer, whose name hadn't been seen on screen since the 1940 Hollywood production They Knew What They Wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hans Albers, Hildegarde Neff, (more)
With the Third Reich disintegrating, several members of the German army are defecting to the Americans and offering their services as spies. US officer Gary Merrill trusts none of these last-minute "converts", but German prisoner Oskar Werner seems to be sincere. Werner insists that by helping the Americans, he is saving Germany from destruction. Merrill sends Werner behind enemy lines for counter-espionage with an American officer (Richard Basehart), who still isn't convinced that the German expatriate means what he says. At several critical junctures, it seems as though Werner had been lying about his mission, but at the last moment he saves Basehart's life at the cost of his own...but was this act of bravery intentional? A thoughtful World War II drama, Decision Before Dawn was filmed on location in Europe. Watch for a young and sickly-looking Klaus Kinski as an overeager defector. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Basehart, Gary Merrill, (more)
- 1950
The reminiscences of a maid provide the basis for this German drama. The story is told via flashback. The maid recalls the affair between she and the employer who fell in love with her. They are separated, but then they come back together. All of this is from the imagination of the screenwriter who while sauntering about looking for inspiration, sees a couple walking on the street. His resulting story is interspliced with an actor who interprets the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hildegarde Neff, Willy Fritsch, (more)
In this, the first film produced in postwar Germany, a doctor who served in a concentration camp attempts to deal with his immense guilt and ascribe meaning to his life. Driven to drink by his tormented conscience, the doctor wanders through a Germany ruined by the privations of the war, while his former captain at the camp has neatly segued back into a nice life with his family, apparently untroubled by his participation in the Holocaust. Encouraged by his girlfriend, a concentration camp survivor (Hildegarde Knef, in her first starring role), the doctor decides to denounce his captain to the war crimes investigators. Their personal crusade to bring the Nazi captain to justice becomes an allegory for the state of the German people. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hildegarde Neff, Wilhelm Borchert, (more)
