Heinz Rühmann Movies
Diminutive German character actor Heinz Rühmann performed in over 100 films and, during his seven-decade career, was designated his country's most popular actor 12 times. A versatile performer, Rühmann was particularly adept at comedy and specialized in playing an idealized sort of average man, the so-called Good German, a man who inwardly thumbs his nose at the authority he outwardly tries to respect and who gets through even the stickiest situations on the strength of his cleverness.Rühmann originally played leading men with the Munich Kammerspiele theater company in 1925 (he would continue to work occasionally on stage throughout his career). He made his feature film debut in The German Mother Heart (1926), but he didn't become a star until he appeared in his first talkie, Three From the Gas Station (1930). He made his directorial debut in 1938 with Lauter Lügen and, over the next two decades, directed five more features.
When the Nazis took over the German government in 1933, they pressured Rühmann to divorce his wife, Maria Bernheim, because she was Jewish. In a fashion typical of his film persona, rather than acquiesce fully, Rühmann helped her escape to Sweden. With the heat off, he continued his career. After the war, Rühmann and his wife reunited, publicly proclaiming on television that their breakup was solely due to political oppression.
The years after the war were difficult for Rühmann. Tired of being typecast, he founded Comedie, his own film company, in hopes of changing his image. But the public didn't want a change, the company failed, and the actor went back to what he did best. As a result, his popularity skyrocketed. Many still consider his best role to be the title one in The Captain From Koepenick (1956). Over the years, he received many German awards for excellence. In addition to his film and stage work, he often appeared on television, especially after the 1960s. Rühmann made his final screen appearance in Far Away, So Close (1993). He passed away the following year, at the age of 92. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Wim Wenders revisits his masterpiece Der Himmel Uber Berlin in this film which picks up several years after the original left off. Cassiel (Otto Sander) is an angel who watches over the lives of the people of recently reunified Berlin with Raphaella (Nastassja Kinski). Damiel (Bruno Ganz), Cassiel's former partner who opted to return to the land of the living in the first film, now lives happily as a pizza chef with the woman he loved and married, circus performer Marion (Solveig Dommartin). While angels are forbidden to directly intervene in the lives of humans, Cassiel impulsively breaks this rule when a little girl falls from the balcony of an apartment block, and he swoops down to catch her. Suddenly made flesh and blood, Cassiel has earned the enmity of Emit Flesti (Willem Dafoe), a sort of overseer of the angels on the physical plane. Emit makes it his business to make things difficult for Cassiel now that he's living among the humans, and after a period of alcoholism and imprisonment, Cassiel finds himself working for gangster Tony Baker (Horst Buchholz), who distributes weapons and pornography on the black market. However, Cassiel has a change of heart and decides to destroy Tony's stockpile in a bid to make the world a better place. Peter Falk, who played himself in Der Himmel Uber Berlin, makes a return appearance when a gallery shows the sketches that he was making in the first film; rock singer Lou Reed and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev also appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Sander, Peter Falk, (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
- 1977
In this gentle drama, Alfred Eisenhardt (Heinz Ruehmann), an elderly homeless man, begs and lives on the Munich streets. He has a small bank account, and a good friend in policeman Erwin Kolzeczik (Mario Adorf). His dream is to someday take his tiny savings account and "retire" in the sunny south. However, he is a soft touch for friends in need, and he has many. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Adorf
- 1972
This German drama is a star vehicle which was apparently created specifically for the venerable and beloved German actor Heinz Ruhmann In it, he plays a freight-ship captain, Ebbs, who is given an opportunity to captain a Mediterranean luxury liner. The liner's passengers are "toffs," upper-class people, and the captain would much rather be with his greasy freighter crew than have to deal with these fussy people. This movie marks Joseph Offenbach's last appearance on film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
In this comedy, the trouble begins when a computer whiz tries to explain to the cops that his car was wrecked by an elephant. The cops naturally think he is looney, a suspicion confirmed when he frantically demands they let him go because his duck will be ringing at seven-thirty and he must be home to answer it. Despite his protestations, they immediately squire him to the local nut house. Unfortunately, the hacker is perfectly sane. There really was an elephant; it really did sit on his car, and his "duck" is his computer. Now the only way the hapless nerd can get home is to feign insanity so that the shrinks will free him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hertha Feiler, Graziella Granata, (more)
- 1967
An ingenious thief steals Michelangelo's Pieta, worth $30 billion in the farce. The trouble is, he has no buyers and so lets an American gangster have it for $40 and a spaghetti dinner. Meanwhile, the Vatican, not wanting the abduction to become public, sends out a priest to find the thieves and retrieve the statue. The priest, a former Indy 500 winner, proves himself to be more than well-equipped for job. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Archilochos (Heinz Ruehmann) is a Greek bookkeeper in an imaginary country who takes out an add in the newspaper in this comedy directed by (Rolf Thiele). He seeks a Greek woman with the object being matrimony. Archilochos is delighted to find Chloe (Irina Demick), a Greek-born woman, and falls in love with the beauty. He then learns that the woman has a checkered past, causing him to consider suicide. Arch must decide if his love for Chloe is enough to sustain a long-term relationship as he considers forgetting about her dubious history. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irina Demick, Hannes Messemer, (more)
The first person the audience sees in Ship of Fools is dwarf Michael Dunn, who speaks to viewers directly and acts as a Greek chorus throughout the film. It begins on the deck of an ocean liner travelling from Vera Cruz to Bremerhaven. The time is the 1930s, so close and yet so far from war. The cross-section of humanity on board includes ship's doctor Oscar Werner, Spanish political activist Simone Signoret, aging coquette Vivien Leigh, hedonistic baseball player Lee Marvin, philosophical Jew Heinz Ruhmann, a smattering of pro- and anti-Hitlerites (Jose Ferrer plays the nastiest and most vocal "pro") and young lovers George Segal and Elizabeth Ashley. Yes, it's Grand Hotel at sea, a feast for stargazers and an endurance test for those who aren't comfortable with non-stop speechmaking. Despite such lines as "What can the Nazis do? Kill all six million of us?," Ship of Fools manages to stay afloat throughout its 148 minutes. Michael Dunn was nominated for an Academy Award for his interlocutory characterization; the rest of the performances range from brilliant to merely filling up the room. Other Oscars were presented to cinematographer Ernest Lazslo and to the art-direction staff. Ship of Fools was adapted by Abby Mann from the novel by Katharine Ann Porter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, (more)
- 1965
This comedy is taken from the popular stage play by Curt Goetz. Circumstantial evidence implicates Agda Liselotte Pulver in the drowning death of her artist husband . Even her own attorney doubts he can win the case. Another lawyer is hired, but he is discredited when it is revealed that he is also her lover. Soon it is revealed Agda is involved in a plot that is designed to capitalize on the paintings of her murdered husband. There are plenty of surprises, twists, and turns in this offbeat entry. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liselotte Pulver
- 1963
Professor Traugott Naegler (Heinz Ruehmann) is a small-town teacher with 12 children in this remake of the 1951 feature of the same name. He once had chased his sister away for living an amoral life. When the sister dies, she promises to leave her fortune to the first family member who has a child out of wedlock. Naegler writes off the money as a lost cause until he learns that his own marriage is not valid and he will soon have another child, all of whom are deemed illegitimate. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Leuwerik, Ilse Page, (more)
This is a deft satire by Axel von Ambesser that undercuts the adage that a soldier must always obey orders, no matter what. At the heart of the story is Schwejk (Heinz Ruhmann), a canine salesman who is drafted into the army during World War I. The setting is Bohemia when it was under the sway of a combined Austro-Hungarian rule. Once Schwejk has his uniform on he so devotedly follows the very letter of the law, every order that is given him, that he comes off as a total idiot. Nevertheless, he manages quite well with this tactic, whether it is feigned or not. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1960
In this drama, a compassionate liberal judge's belief that young delinquents should be reformed rather than placed in prison is sorely tested by young woman convicted of blackmail. First he sends her to prison for eight months to get her away from her wicked boyfriend. When she threatens suicide, the judge must let her go, but before he does, he convinces his reluctant landlady to give her a job waiting tales at his boarding house. She does okay until the boyfriend reappears and cons her into stealing from another resident. The judge covers for the girl and she begins to fall in love with him. Seeing this, the bad boyfriend attempts to blackmail the judge into revealing that he has been making love to the girl. Instead the judge journeys to the boy's hangout and lectures his gang about reform. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karin Baal
- 1960
Mein Schulfreund has an ostensible anti-Nazi theme yet there are aspects of this wartime drama that seem ambivalent. At the heart of the story is Herr Fuchs (Heinz Ruhmann), a postman who finally turns against the war when he sees it is killing innocent children -- a remarkably slow realization. So Fuchs writes an emotional protest to his old school chum, Field Marshall Hermann Goering. The letter is intercepted and Fuchs lands in prison though he is not to be executed for his treasonous missive. Instead, orders come down to declare him officially insane. Although that allows him to mouth off against the Nazis, it also has its negative impact on his future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heinz Rühmann, Loni von Friedl, (more)
- 1959
This is a remake of the award-winning 1932 classic Grand Hotel with Michele Morgan in the role of Grusinskaya (originally portrayed by Greta Garbo). Based on a book by Vicki Baum, all of the action takes place in the course of one day in a luxury hotel in Berlin. Grusinkaya is a ballerina staying at the hotel, other guests include Baron von Gaigern (O.W. Fischer) a sophisticated thief, Otto Klingelein (Heinz Ruehmann) a dying man, Preysing (Gert Froebe) a businessman, and a stenographer (Sonja Ziemann). Events intertwine the lives of these strangers, bringing them together for some dramatic moments but not quite as effectively as in the 1932 film which boasted the Barrymores (John and Lionel), as well as Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford in its cast -- a hard combination to beat in any era. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.W. Fischer, Michèle Morgan, (more)
- 1959
A charming, sophisticated, off-beat, and unlikely comedy, Ein Mann Geht durch die Wand has a title that describes the crux of the humor: an unprepossessing underling in the revenue offices discovers he can walk through walls. Herr Buchsbaum (Heinz Ruehmann) is naturally quite surprised at this development, but he soon finds some very understandable ways to use his newfound ability. His exploits lead both to laughter and to a tug at the heartstrings. Also figuring in the tale are his attractive next-door neighbor, two colleagues at work, and his boss. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Courcel, Rudolf Rhomberg, (more)
