Hans Quest Movies
- 1959
This light romantic comedy features Toni Sailer, an Alpine skiing gold medalist (three golds in the 1956 winter Olympics) in his film debut. He would continue to work in a handful of films over the next two decades. In this story, a group of twelve attractive young women go out on a ski tour and encounter a talented police inspector (Sailer). While the inspector is saddled with the job of breaking up a ring of smugglers, one of the twelve women turns out to be a more serious romantic interest than the other eleven. A police chief (Ernst Waldbrunn) provides a few laughs, and Sailer gets to ski. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toni Sailer, Gunther Philipp, (more)
- 1955
The classic British stage farce Charley's Aunt is given a Teutonic flavor in this 1956 release. The story is updated and the character names changed, but the plot, about a young man forced by circumstances to dress up as a middle-aged woman, remains intact. Heinz Ruehmann stars as Dr. Otto Dernburg (originally "Lord Fancourt Babberly"), whose friends Charley (Walter Giller) and Ralf (Claus Biederstadt) are expecting female visitors. The girls won't show up without a chaperone, so Otto is inveigled into disguising himself as "Charley's Aunt, from Brazil, where the nuts come from." The comedy of errors and misunderstandings is played to the hilt, with time out for an unexpected musical number. Charley's Tante was one of Germany's biggest film hits of the mid-1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hertha Feiler, Claus Biederstadt, (more)
- 1975
In this romantic melodrama, a pregnant and unmarried country girl travels to the city to have her child anonymously. Bravely confronting the tasks of finding a place to live and work in a new location, she finds some solace in her relationship with an upper-class lad whose family is strongly opposed to their being together. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susanne Uhlen, Beatrice Kessler, (more)
- 1972
This German comedy is a starring vehicle for beloved entertainer Peter Alexander. Here he plays a school teacher who has a chance to be given his dream house, if only he will arrange for the daughter of a wealthy businessman to pass her exams. However, just now it is the summer holiday, and he'd rather dream about his house than receive payola for dishonest deeds. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1954
In this emotional melodrama, a woman is devastated to discover that her beloved has fathered the child of her closest friend. With many tears, she breaks their engagement and moves into the country where she eventually falls in love with a handsome schoolmaster. Unfortunately, this sets local tongues to wagging and, unable to bear the scandal, she leaves. Time passes and when she learns that the teacher has been horribly burned while saving someone from a fire, she returns to marry him. Unfortunately, while helping a friend's ailing child she catches diphtheria. Just before she passes on, she vows that she will love the teacher forever. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Lording (Haggis Kraals) is the high school student who is distracted from his final exams when he falls in love for the first time. Flashbacks are employed to recall his past experiences in this romantic comedy. He delights in telling his new love of the childhood pranks he will soon leave behind for the more serious affairs of the heart. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hansi Kraus, Rudolf Rhomberg, (more)
- 1956
Filmed in Germany (where it was released in 1954), Republic's Magic Fire is the life story of controversial 19th century composer Richard Wagner. Alan Badel comes off more as villain than hero as Wagner, which though historically accurate makes it hard for the audience to pull for the central character. Wagner's bizarre relationship with Ludwig II (Gerhard Riedmann), the "mad king" of Bavaria, is downplayed, while the composer's vitriolic anti-semitism is ignored altogther. The women in Wagner's life are played by Yvonne de Carlo, Valentine Cortese and Rita Gam, while Carlos Thompson does the "best friend/severist critic" bit as fellow composer Franz Liszt. Dramatically uneven, Magic Fire is rescued by Erich Wolfgang Korngold's orchestrations of Wagner's most famous operatic and symphonic works. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Rita Gam, (more)
- 1956
Manoever Zwillig (Twin Maneuver) stars Gunter Phillip, who also penned the film's screenplay. Set during WWI, the story is predicated on the notion that two draft-age brothers are identical twins. When one of the brothers (Gunther Phillip) is unable to show up at the front, his sibling (also Phillip) takes his place. The mistaken-identity angle is played to the hilt, both comedically and romantically. Director Hans Quest manages to sustain the lighthearted ambience of the storyline without ever sacrificing the thrill factor of the battle scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gunther Philipp, Doris Kirchner, (more)
- 1985
The life and times of Marie Ward, the founder of the Loretto Order of nuns, (aka the Institute of Mary) are examined in this religious biography that is filmed on locations related to her activities. The unusually devout and independent nun originally came from a Catholic family in Yorkshire and took her vows and training at St. Omer in France. An activist to the core, she spent time helping those in prison and started the Institute of Mary in 1606, with the idea of bringing other nuns out into society to help those in need. As she defends her Institute to two successive Popes, it is ultimately banned until 1707, a half-century after her death. This bio also examines other difficulties and trials that made her career a challenge, and ultimately undermined her health.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hannelore Elsner, Irm Hermann, (more)
- 1991
- R
This dramatic presentation is the story of the landscapes that inspired Caspar David Friedrich. Narrated by Friedrich's friend and pupil, Carl Gustav Carus (played by Helmut Griem) this takes place on location throughout Europe. Mr. Friedrich's will not appear, except with his back to the camera, as he paints. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helmut Griem, Sabine Sinjen, (more)
- 1941
This German only film tells the true life story of a tournament rider's victories and defeats. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1958
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
- Starring:
- Ruth Leuwerik, Hannes Messemer, (more)
The Serpent's Egg, or Das Schlangenei is director Ingmar Bergman's second English language production (The Touch was his first). It is, however, his first completely non-Swedish production, made after his voluntary self-exile from Sweden over taxation issues. Set in Berlin in the early 1920s, it explores the fear and despair the city evokes in Manuela and Abel Rosenberg (Liv Ullmann and David Carradine), two Jewish trapeze artists. The suicide of Manuela's husband (Abel's brother), has stranded them in Berlin. Berlin is shown to already possess the sinister elements of cruelty and anti-Semitism which laid the groundwork for the later Nazi takeover. A series of misadventures gets them sent to a medical clinic for treatment. However, the clinic is actually a site for Nazi-type "racial" experiments on humans, which generally either madden or kill the subjects. Das Schlangenei was savaged by the critics for its improbable-seeming story and more particularly, for casting David Carradine (best known for his earlier appearances in the Kung Fu U.S. television series) in a crucial role. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, David Carradine, (more)
A retired circus clown overcomes the pain of his past to reach for the stars once again, only to find his dreams of success fading when his young performing partner is summoned back home to the United States. Six year old Ulli believes Teddy Lemke to be his real father, and Teddy is more than happy to indulge the wide-eyed youngster his fantasy as the pair take up residence in Miss Biermann's boarding house. Then, one day, Ulli discovers a children's clown outfit in the attic of the boarding house, prompting Teddy to finally come clean about his past. Back in the day, Teddy and his son were a famous father/son clown team who entertained the masses under the name "Teddy and Teddy." When the younger Teddy died in a tragic accident, his grieving father went into early retirement. But Ulli is convinced Teddy still has what it takes to be an entertainer, and before long the duo has begun performing together, successfully recapturing the spirit of the original "Teddy and Teddy." Just as the pair approaches the pinnacle of their success, however, everything threatens to fall apart when Ulli receives word that his mother has remarried, and wants her son to be a part of her new life in America. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
