Senta Berger Movies
Austrian actress Senta Berger was born while Vienna was under siege; reportedly, her family was bombed out four times before she was five. Enrolled in ballet school, Senta was asked to leave at 14 because she had "developed" too much. She studied drama at the Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, then began her German film career in 1957. The publicity folks said that Senta won her first English-language role in The Secret Ways (1961) when star Richard Widmark spotted her riding a bicycle. Most American film fans first saw the sensuous Senta on, of all places, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, in that 1963 TV series' two-parter "The Waltz King." Though an actress of more than average talent, Senta was regarded as just another European sex bomb by most Hollywood publicity flacks; her fine performance as an Israeli freedom fighter in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) took second consideration to the well-circulated still photos from that film, in which she was seen in form-fitting shorts. By 1970, Senta Berger evidently gave up any hopes of being taken seriously, agreeing to appear in the caveman spoof When Women Had Tails. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
One of Germany's most important female directors, Doris Dörrie chose the subject of the universal quest for happiness for the film Bin ich Schön?. Set in Spain and Germany, the film interlaces individual stories of broken hearts and broken dreams with aspirations of new beginnings. On a hot afternoon in Spain, Linda is standing beside the road wearing a thin summer dress and carrying a handbag. A car stops and Werner, a robust-looking German, picks her up. She shows him a note which says, "I am deaf-mute and in need of your help." Werner is touched. As they move off together, Linda throws her handbag out of the window. In a near-by motel, Klaus is on the phone to Munich trying to convince his reluctant girlfriend Franziska to come down to Spain. Linda and Werner have checked into the next room where Werner is asking Linda to hit him with his belt. Plots and subplots intertwine until the film reaches a climax during a religious procession. In an ironic way, the film celebrates life with a message that life is here today and then it's gone. No beginning, no end and enjoy it while you can. Bin ich schön? was screened as part of the New German Films at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Senta Berger, Gottfried John, (more)
Adapted from a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher, the two-part British miniseries Coming Home re-created the years between 1936 and 1941 as experienced by a brace of young and impressionable girls. Meeting in a boarding school, Judith Dunbar and Loveday Carey-Lewis became close friends, though they were miles apart in terms of social status. But when Judith's wealthy Aunt Louise perished during the 1940 London Blitz, Judith inherited a fortune, and was thus "acceptable" to Loveday's upper-crust family. Complications ensued when Billy Fawcett, the decadent middle-aged sweetheart of Loveday's married mother Diana, began to lust after the hapless Judith. Boasting a stellar cast of reliable British stage and screen actors including Peter O'Toole, former New Avengers co-stars Joanna Lumley and Patrick Macnee, and onetime Man From U.N.C.L.E regular David McCallum, Coming Home was seen through the facilities of ITV in the autumn of 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley, (more)
- 1986
Based on a true story that happened in 1921, this drama features a frivolous opera company, their relationships with one another, and their rehearsals of Franz Lehar's "Mazurka Blu" just before their theater is bombed. While Greta, the leading lady (Senta Berger), is being romanced by Milan's Chief of Police (Erland Josephson), a right-wing terrorist group that supports Mussolini is planning to bomb the opera's theater and blame it on Communists. Success means that the local government will have a good excuse to give free rein to the fascists and indirectly help Mussolini come to power. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erland Josephson, Senta Berger, (more)
- 1985
The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal is based on Le Deux Vite di Mattia Pascal, one of Luigi Pirandello's many stories concerning the transitory nature of the intangibles "Truth" and "Identity" Marcello Mastrioanni is a downtrodden average man, treated like trash by his fiancee, scorned by his associates, and cheated out of his inheritance by contemptuous relatives. The dispirited Mastrioanni heads to Monte Carlo, where he accrues a fortune. He also assumes the identity of a less fortunate gambler who has committed suicide. The "new" Mastrioanni is treated with a dignity and respect that overwhelms him--and nearly kills him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Flavio Bucci, (more)
- 1979
Salvini (Jean-Pierre Cassel) is an orchestra conductor of some renown. While rehearsing for a performance of Verdi's Othello he has a psychological crisis, brought on by his recognition of the man playing tympani in his orchestra. Near the end of World War II, Salvini took a false identity and hid in a remote monastery. While there, he encountered Romualdi, a funny, blustering buffoon who thought of himself as a true musical genius. Salvani and an actress, who was also hiding nearby, had some mean-spirited fun with Romualdi, pretending that the man was in fact a genius, and encouraging him in his delusions. Seeing Romualdi years later, humbly playing the least prestigious position in the orchestra, gives him pause, and causes him to rethink his career. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Cassel, Renzo Montagnani, (more)
- 1977
The protagonist in this film is a surgeon whose wife is running around with his young partner, and whose medical career is hampered by his need to find a way to perform a heart-valve replacement operation. His wife's lover plans to move to Hong Kong, with her in tow, to learn something of acupuncture (which might help with the operation). The wife is involved in an auto accident before their trip, and he goes on without her. On the way there, he meets a mysterious Russian-refugee doctor who has a set of wonder-working acupuncture needles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In this episodic anthology, written and directed by assorted Italian filmmakers, the political and social aspects of Italian life are chronicled. In one satirical episode, The Bomb, a bogus bomb threat at a police headquarters gradually balloons into a real terrorist plot culminating with the bombing of the police commissioner. Other episodes satirize the CIA, Christmas in Naples and pompous public officials. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In Mitgift Senta Berger plays a woman who marries handsome or rich men and murders them when she grows weary of them. She poisons her current husband with the help of her lover, Edgar (Mario Adorf). Now married to her, Edgar understands what his fate is to be, and, seeing that she is already bored with him, he attempts to beat her to the punch. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1976
After an impoverished mother of three takes in a father and son as boarders, she finds them both panting after her in this Italian feature (with English subtitles). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
A quote from Bertolt Brecht ends this bitter and angry war film by Sam Peckinpah: "Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again." Peckinpah's intense and belligerently non-commercial work, (based on the book by Willi Heinrich), is a World War II tale told from the German perspective, following a platoon of German soldiers in the Russia of 1943, when the German Wehrmacht forces had been decimated and the Germans were retreating along the Russian front. James Coburn is Steiner, a German corporal and recipient of the Iron Cross who feels that he owes his loyalty to his family and fellow soldiers and not to Hitler and the German war machine. But when a new commander, Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), takes over the platoon, Steiner and Stransky come into immediate conflict. Stransky is a career soldier, the complete opposite of Steiner, and a man who pledges himself heart and soul to Hitler and the war. But he envies Steiner for having been awarded an Iron Cross and deeply desires one himself. The problem is Stransky is a complete coward and recognizes that the only way he can be awarded an Iron Cross would be to get the bitter Steiner on his side. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1973
Two teenagers impact the love life of a long time married couple in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Senta Berger, Christopher Hodge, (more)
- 1973
This Italian film is a searing indictment of the greed and ambition which warp the medical profession. It focuses especially on surgeons in the persons of Professor Valiotti (Gabriele Ferzetti) and Dr. Giordani (Enrico Maria Salerno). Many of the scenes are based on Italian news stories of the period ('70s) which recount the suffering and high costs of unnecessary or overly aggressive treatment motivated by academic ambitions or simple greed. Director Luigi Zampa's previous film about the medical system was a satire/comedy: Be Sick, It's Free. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Der Moral der Ruth Halbfass is based on a true story, but modifies the facts slightly for cinematic purposes. The mores of the patriarchal German haute bourgeoisie regarding women are satirized here. Ruth (Senta Berger) has grown weary of being dependent on her wealthy husband, a playboy in his own right. She has a lavish affair with an impecunious married art teacher. The affair is hard on her pocketbook, and her husband is growing suspicious, so the adulterous couple discuss doing away with Ruth's industrialist husband. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Wim Wenders' The Scarlet Letter (German title: Der scharlachrote Buchstabe) may well be the most fascinating of the many screen versions of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 19th-century novel. Though the story is set in 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, the film was lensed in Spain. Senta Berger is surprisingly well cast as Hester Prynne, whose sexual indiscretions have compelled her to wear the letter "A" (for adultery) on blouse--a symbol of shame to her neighbors, but a strange source of pride for Hester. Lou Castel plays the tortured Reverend Dimmesdale, the man who impregnated Hester but whom has been sworn to secrecy by the self-sacrificing heroine for the "good of the community." Hans Christian Blech portrays Hester's long-lost husband, whose reappearance sets the stage for the wrenching climax. Wenders' interpretation of the customs, behavior and inbred bigotry of the early American immigrants is eye-opening, as only an "outsider's" perception of what we take for granted can be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this French crime thriller, you can leave the mob, but the mob won't leave you. Louis (Jean Yanne) has retired to a Thailand plantation with an Asian wife and child. Back in Marseilles, however, because a no-holds-barred gang war has broken out, Louis' large collateral family is wiped out, and he is family are slated for destruction. Hit-men are sent, and they kill his wife, but fail to get Louis. Now incensed, he returns to Marseilles to set these people straight. They confuse him with a policeman (Sterling Hayden) who is escorting Louis' daughter to Paris, and though they kill his daughter, Louis is able to get through the airport and into town. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this Italian comedy, Bissa's simple, almost luxurious life as an eel-poacher is forced out of existence by development in commercial eel-growing. No more will he romance the countess (Senta Berger) in her husband's crypt, and his rival the game warden will be victorious with her at last. Bissa (Lino Toffolo) has a friend, a small-time gangster, who takes him in and gives him work. Circumstances conspire to put him into the path of bigger and bigger criminals until he meets up with the deadly innocence of a certain girl (Ottavia Piccolo). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
