Maria Schell Movies
The older sister of actor Maximillian Schell, Viennese-born leading lady Maria Schell was one of four children born to a Swiss author and Austrian actress. Billed as Gritli Schell, Maria Schell made her screen debut at 16 in the Swiss-filmed Steibruch; it would be six years before she'd appear before the cameras again, in 1948's Der Engel Mit der Posaune. This last-named Austro-German production was simultaneously filmed in an English-language version, Angel With a Trumpet, which brought Schell to the attention of international filmgoers. In 1954, she won a Cannes Film Festival award for her enigmatic portrayal of a German nurse imprisoned in wartime Yugoslavia in The Last Bridge; two years later, she claimed a Venice Film Festival prize for her work in Gervaise (1956). Schell's American film career consisted of starring roles in The Brothers Karamazov (1958, as Grushenka), the Gary Cooper vehicle The Hanging Tree (1959), and the remake of Edna Ferber's Cimarron (1961). Dissatisfied with the diminishing value of the characters she was called upon to play, Maria Schell retired in 1963, but made a comeback in character roles five years later; among these later assignments was her fleeting appearance as a Kryptonian judge in Superman: The Movie (1978) and her portrayal of Albert Speer's mother in the made-for-TV Inside the Third Reich. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1948
Nach dem Sturm (After the Storm) is based on a story by the prolific Carl Zuckmeyer. Shortly after VE day, Austrian girl Barbara von Trentini (Marte Harrell) falls in love with American occupation soldier Maj. Michael Sinclair (Nicholas Stuart). Their romance is fiercely opposed by both Barbara's family and Sinclair's superiors, but the lovers pay no heed to the many nay-sayers. Besides, they've already selected "their song," a popular ballad called "Somewhere, Some Time." Except for the timeliness of the film's postwar setting, Nach dem Sturm is really nothing new or innovational. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marte Harell
- 1950
Eileen Herlie, a German girl of Jewish heritage, is in love with Norman Wooland, but at her family's insistence marries Basil Sydney. Wooland's reaction is swift and decisive: he commits suicide. Years later, Hitler comes to power. Once more, Herlie's fate is in the hands of others. This time, however, she makes up her own mind as to what her future holds in store. An unpleasant, relentlessly unhappy tale, brilliantly acted by a top-drawer cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eileen Herlie, Basil Sydney, (more)
- 1951
The Magic Box was the English film industry's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Its all-star cast generously forsook their usual salaries for the privilege of paying tribute to that unsung pioneer of cinema, William Friese-Greene, here played by Robert Donat. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, Magic Box contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, and not such upstarts as W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappoints, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries. The huge cast includes such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and, best of all, Laurence Olivier as the confused bobby who witnesses Friese-Greene's first motion picture demonstration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Margaret Johnston, (more)
- 1952
So Little Time takes so much time to tell its thinnish story. The scene is Nazi-occupied Belgium. Maria Schell plays a proud Belgian aristocrat; Marius Goring is a ruthless but innately decent German colonel who is billeted in Schell's mansion. At first hostile toward each other, the conqueror male and conquered female fall in love. This alliance may be foredoomed, but is fun while it lasts. So Little Time was produced during a period in which German officers were occasionally cast in a sympathetic light (e.g. Erwin Rommel in Desert Fox), but had to die for the sins of Hitler anyway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bailey, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1953
Heart of the Matter is a faithful if somewhat austere adaptation of the same-named novel by Graham Greene. Set in Sierra Leone during WW II, the film stars Trevor Howard as assistant police commissioner Scobie. While his wife Louise (Elizabeth Allan) is away on vacation, Scobie falls in love with Helen (Maria Schell), the widow of a U-boat victim. Scobie would like to get a divorce from his wife, and she from him, but their Catholicism prevents not only this break but Scobie's planned remarriage to Helen. In despair, Scobie chooses a desperate means of solving his dilemma--which only furthers to exacerbate the religious quandary in which everyone finds themselves. Posing several ethical questions throughout its 105 minutes, Heart of the Matter wisely allows the viewers to come up with their own answers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Elizabeth Allan, (more)
In this German-language romantic drama, Elisabeth (Maria Schell) tries to make it to her husband's (O.W. Fischer) performance of Beethoven pieces, but arrives late, only to walk in on the solo violinist, Michael (Philip Dorn). She immediately falls in love, and Michael returns the feeling when he later meets Elisabeth face-to-face. Soon, Elisabeth must make a tough decision in a love triangle in which she is the only aware party. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1954
In this German drama, a mediocre actress is quite happy to have a steady stream of bit movie roles. Unfortunately, an egocentric director sees her and vows to make her a star whether she wants to be one or not. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Maria Schell, who attained international stardom with her performance in The Last Bridge, essays the title role in Angelika. Based on a popular radio serial, the story revolves around the incurably ill daughter of wealthy Herr Alberti (Carl Wery). Angelika falls in love with her doctor, a young man named Holl (Dieter Borsche), who marries the girl out of pity. Only after developing a miracle serum that will save Angelika's life does Dr. Holl truly fall in love with her. The couple's future happiness is threatened by the presence of Holl's disgruntled fiancee Helga (Heidemaire Hatheyeer). Angelika was scripted by Thea von Harbou, best known for her 1920s and 1930s collaborations with her ex-husband, director Fritz Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Heidemarie Hatheyer, (more)
- 1954
The winner of the International Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Die Leitze Bruecke (The Last Bridge) was the most financially successful postwar effort of its co-director, veteran German filmmaker Helmut Kauetner. Filmed in a manner resembling Italian neorealism, the story concerns a German lady doctor, played by Maria Schell. While serving in WW II, Maria is captured by Yugoslavian partisans. Despite her distaste for her captors, she nonetheless tends to their wounded. As the film progresses, Maria realizes that people are people no matter what the color of their uniform. None of this altruism matters, however, when she voluntarily crosses "the last bridge," which, symbolically, is her bridge to the Next World. Like the film itself, Maria Schell won the Cannes Film Festival award; equally impressive is future director Bernhard Wicki as the partisan leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Bernhard Wicki, (more)
- 1955
When director Robert Siodmak filmed a German-language version of the Gerhardt Hauptmann play Die Ratten he simultaneously shot an English version of the same film with the same cast, which would later be released in Australia as The Rats. No, this isn't a Willard-style horror film. Maria Schell stars as an East German girl anxious to get a fake passport to the West. To raise the necessary funds, she sells her illegitimate baby to another woman (Barbara Rush), who hopes that the child will bring her closer to her husband. There are rats scampering on the set and chewing up prop food, but the actual "rats" of the title are of the human variety--notably the petty crook (Curt Jurgens) who impregnates Ms. Schell in the first place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Heidemarie Hatheyer, (more)
Showing no signs of slowing down in his 70th year, Sacha Guitry served as director and writer of the lavish historical epic Napoleon, and also costarred as Talleyrand. It is now hard to assess the quality of the film, since most American prints are severely edited, and the color photography appallingly washed out. Reviewers in 1955 admired the effort that went into this $1,800,000 production, but complained that the viewer left the film with no deeper understanding of Napoleon Bonaparte than the viewer had had when coming in. Daniel Gelin poses impressively as the young Bonaparte, registering emotion only when things go wrong in his conquest of Europe, while Raymond Pellegrin is somewhat better as the older, more jaded Napoleon (the transition between the two actors is handled in a near-comic fashion). The Revolution is reduced to a few fleeting scenes, while the rest of the film is devoted to political infighting and betrayal. The huge supporting cast includes Michele Morgan as Josephine and Lana Marconi and Dany Robin, respectively, as Napoleon's mistresses Waleska and Desiree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Pellegrin, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1955
The popularity of Maria Schell continued on its upward course via the 1955 drama Herr Ueber Leben und Todd (Master Over Life and Death). Schell plays Barbara Bertram, whose life is thrown into turmoil when she gives birth to a mentally defective child. Her somewhat fascistic doctor husband George (Wilhelm Borchert) is all for "euthanizing" the unfortunate infant. Barbara's shock at her husband's attitude virtually forces her into the arms of the more sympathetic -- and handsomer -- doctor Daniel Karentis (Ivan Desny). The plot takes a unexpected twist when one of the principal characters dies under mysterious circumstances. Herr Ueber Leben und Todd is based on a novel by Zuckmayer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Ivan Desny, (more)
Emile Zola's obscure novel entitled "L'Assommoir" has been made into several films. This is one of the best. In this two hour movie an entire mini-series worth of problems have been compressed about a young woman to whom life has dealt hard blows. Set in the 19th-century, this woman deals with an alcoholic husband while doing everything within her power to keep the family together. An incredibly depressing movie in which the protagonist keeps on trying no matter what besets her, the performances are creditable and the direction superb. Self-involved characters give viewers no one to cheer for, but this movie received multiple awards, ranging from Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival to an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. The music was composed by Georges Auric. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, François Perier, (more)
- 1956
West Germany's entry in the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was this cinemadaptation of the Gerhardt Hauptman play Rose Bernd. The title character, played by Maria Schell, is a servant girl on a remote farm. Sexually assaulted by both her employer and a coworker, Rose later bears a child, who die soon afterward. After nearly two hours of unrelieved misery, Rose finally finds happiness in the arms of a longtime admirer (where has he been for the past 12 reels?) Rose Bernd (aka The Sins of Rose Bernd) received a smattering of American showings thanks to the drawing power of star Maria Schell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Raf Vallone, (more)
Shy young Marcelo Mastroianni ambles across a bridge one evening, where he meets a strange but alluring girl (Maria Schell) who is awaiting her lover. This chance acquaintance is the first strand in a complex web entrapping Mastroianni in a dreamlike world of flashbacks, flashforwards and false visions. The girl, suspecting that her lover is staying at a nearby hotel, asks Mastroianni to deliver a note to the errant swain. He agrees--then destroys the note, setting the plot in motion. Updated from a 19th century story by Dostoyevsky, White Nights (Le Notti Bianche) was later refilmed by Robert Bresson as Four Nights of a Dreamer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1958
A Life is based on a novel by Guy De Mauppasant. Maria Schell plays Jeanne, who enters into a loveless marriage with impoverished Julien (Christian Marquand). Having married Jeanne only for her money, Julien has no qualms about carrying on an affair with Gilberte (Antonella Lualdi), the family maid. Even after Gilberte gives birth to Julien's child, Jeanne forgives her husband, but he fails to learn his lesson and suffers spectacularly as a result. The physical and psychological isolation of the long-suffering heroine is emphasized by director Alexandre Astruc's decision to film Un Vie almost exclusively in a remote, sterile country mansion. Un Vie was released in the U.S. as End of Desire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Christian Marquand, (more)
- 1958
Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov is given a Hollywood screen treatment by producer Pandro S. Berman and director Richard Brooks. Yul Brynner plays Dmitri Karamazov, a callous Russian officer who cuckolds his domineering father (Lee J. Cobb) with the old man's mistress Grushenka (Maria Schell). Richard Basehart is Dmitri's intellectual brother Ivan, while William Shatner is the pious Alexey Karamazov; both men eventually enjoy the attentions of the willing Grushenka. The Karamazovs' half-brother is Smedyakov (Albert Salmi), an epileptic whose purpose in the story is clarified after the family patriarch's murder. It is now part of Hollywood folklore that Marilyn Monroe fought long and hard to be cast as the enigmatic Grushenka. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1959
Filmed in Germany, Duel in the Forest is set in the 18th century. Feudal lords regularly oppress the German peasantry, taxing them into starvation. From out of the hills rides a band of highway robbers, acting as Teutonic Robin Hoods, to steal from the haves for the benefit of the have-nots. Duel in the Forest is so obscure that it virtually never appears in the official credits of its stars Curt Jurgens and Maria Schell. The film did not receive an American release until it was sold to television in the early 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
