Rudolf Platte Movies
- 1982
- R
Originally Die Sehnsucht de Veronika Voss, this Rainer Werner Fassbinder spin on Sunset Boulevard stars Rosel Zech as film actress Veronika Voss. Once the toast of Germany, Veronika had allegedly been an intimate of Joseph Gobbels. But the Third Reich is dead...and Veronika may as well be. Playing to an increasingly diminishing fan following, Veronika turns to drugs to cushion her against the cruelties of life. Her self-destruction is accelerated by her "Doctor Feelgood" Annemaire Duringer, who plys Veronika with morphine in order to gain control of the actress's money and property. Well-meaning sportswriter Hilmar Thate tries to save Veronika from herself, sacrificing his own personal happiness -- and the life of his girlfriend Cornelia Froeboess -- in the process. Allegedly an amalgam of several true stories, Veronika Voss is the last of Fassbinder's "postwar trilogy" (the first two were The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate, (more)
- 1970
In this crime comedy, Herbert Zaenker (Martin Held) is the retired judge who is called on to monitor the movements of a shady criminal masking as a boxing promoter. Bruno "Dandy" Steigler (Mario Adorf) has just returned to Berlin and plans a series of robberies with his criminal cronies. Herbert uses his experience to recruit former criminals to thwart the efforts of the gang, who manage to stay one step ahead of the puzzled Dandy. Herbert continues to befuddle the crime boss as the legal dragnet tightens around the gang. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Held, Walter Giller, (more)
- 1968
A scholarly library researcher inherits a steamship from a distant relative. The mild-mannered man is compelled to sail away to fulfill his lifelong dream of adventure on the open seas. He arrives at the boat to find it is being inhabited by a group of hippies. He and the psychedelically inspired crew set sail for a mythical port of paradise in this only slightly amusing comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1964
While on tour in Yugoslavia, members of a German men's choir find themselves stranded when their bus runs out of petroleum. In the small village nearby live only women, all of whom are dressed in black. The women lost all the men in their village when, during the war, they were taken as prisoners by German soldiers and killed. Rather than help these German tourists, the women are hostile to them, even going as far as trying to kill them. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hans Nielsen, Götz George, (more)
- 1962
Adapted from a successful stage play, ~Window to the Hall~, this standard comedy centers on the gradual disillusionment of Annie Wiesner (Inge Meysel) who works in a Berlin rooming house as a cross between a door guardian and a receptionist. She has great hopes for her two daughters and one son -- they will surely go farther than Annie's meager position in life, especially since the older daughter is already in the U.S., married to a millionaire. Her husband Karl (Rudolf Platte) works as a streetcar conductor and the interactions between the couple provide much of the humor. The rest is provided when the supposedly well-married daughter returns home very much single, with a little child in tow, needing her parents support. And then the rest of the brood contributes to Annie's woes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Inge Meysel, Rudolf Platte, (more)
- 1959
The dancing talent of Marika Roekk allows this otherwise routine musical to rise above its limited storyline and banal dialogue. Marika (Roekk) is divorced from a popular composer (Johannes Heesters) and is determined to show him she can make a name for herself without riding his coattails. Her idea is to keep at it until she achieves well-deserved recognition in a musical and dance revue. Since Marika Roekk herself came back from semi-obscurity with her preceding film, At Green Cockatoo, most Germans would easily make the connection to her role in this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marika Rökk, Johannes Heesters, (more)
- 1958
In this romantic comedy, a cocquette playfully pursues any man she can find. She is most enamored of a handsome playboy whom she pursues through some of Europe's most scenic sights including St. Moritz, Switzerland, Berlin, and Hamburg. After many adventures, the young flirt finally settles down with a less glamorous but true-blue fellow who has been there to pick her up everytime one of her romantic schemes fails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Officially listed as an Austrian film, Verliebte Leute (Loving Couples) was actually an Austro-German co-production. Through a series of comic complications, a humble telephone operator (Hannelore Bollmann) is mistaken for the daughter of a millionaire (Oskor Sims). Thus, when the chauffeur (Peter Passetti) falls in love with the girl, he feels he must prove himself worthy of her "station in life." Several misunderstandings later, the truth comes out, but love conquers all, as the audience knew it would in Reel One. The most striking aspect of Verliebte Leute is its breathtaking location photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hannelore Bollmann, Doris Kirchner, (more)
- 1955
Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager (Love, Dance and 1000 Songs) is nothing more nor less than a showcase for popular German-based songstress Caterina Valente. The star plays a small-town girl who is tapped for big-time stardom by talent agent Rudolf Platte. That's about all the plot there is, save for a few peripheral scenes involving Caterina's disapproving father (Williy A. Kleinau, whose film career flourished on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the mid-1950s). Ms. Valente's singing is superb; as for her acting. . .well, at least she doesn't bump into the furniture. Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager enjoyed a healthy second life in the then-thriving German-language cinema circuit in the United States. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caterina Valente, Peter Alexander, (more)
- 1954
Two of Charlie Chaplin's talented offspring -- Charles Jr. and Sidney -- make a rare joint appearance in the German comedy Columbus Entdeckt Kraehwinkel (Columbus Discovers Kraehwinkel). The Chaplin boys play a couple of American ex-GIs who return to the tiny Teutonic village of Kraehwinkel after the war, there to be reunited with their fraulein sweethearts. They also intend to bring Kraehwinkel into the 20th century by "Americanizing" the place, despite fierce opposition from the tradition-bound locals. Their scheme works so well that one of the boys loses his girlfriend to the town's new pro-USA burgomeister. A film that has apparently long since disappeared, Columbus Entdeckt Kraehwinkel might prove an interesting rediscovery for Chaplin buffs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eva Kerbler, Charles Chaplin, Jr., (more)
- 1951
This German comedy tells of a man who can't marry the opera singer so he marries her sister. Join in the laughter with all the comic mix-ups. ~ All Movie Guide
