Walter Schmidinger Movies
- 1980
- R
Produced and directed for German television, Ingmar Bergman's From the Life of the Marionettes starts out in color and switches almost immediately to black-and-white. This cinematic self-indulgence is ideally suited to the subject matter: the horrible consequences of a rapidly disintegrating marriage. The husband, Peter Egerman (Robert Atzorn) is unable to articulate his frustration through normal channels. Warped by his repression, Egerman ends up raping and murdering a prostitute. This outrage occurs at the very beginning of the film; the rest of the footage is devoted to a semi-documentary study of the failed marriage, the police investigation, and the husband's twisted psyche. Once again, Bergman's vision is superbly realized by the camerawork of Sven Nykvist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Buchegger, Martin Benrath, (more)
- 1974
The Pedestrian (Der Fussganger) was the second filmed directorial effort of German actor Maximillian Schell. Billed third under Gustav Rudolf Sellner and Ruth Hausmeister, Schell plays Andreas Giese, a Krupp-like industrialist whose past suddenly returns to haunt him. A newspaper article reveals that Giese was responsible for the wartime destruction of a Greek village and the wholesale slaughter of the villagers. Whether or not Giese feels remorse for his actions is ultimately beside the point: his family is torn apart and his son kills himself as a result of the accusation. Here as in other films, Schell exhibits his fondness for female European film stars of days gone by: Elizabeth Bergner, Lil (Metropolis) Dagover, Francoise Rosay and Peggy Ashcroft appear in key minor roles. The winner of several international awards and a "best foreign picture" Oscar nominee, The Pedestrian was also produced and written by Schell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
This provocative film anthology contains nine short fiction and documentary films believed to have had great influence on the development of New German Cinema. Each of the five was directed by a different German filmmaker and are set during the politically tempestuous summer of 1977 in West Germany when terrorism ran rampant. Filmmakers include Fassbinder, Boll, Schlondorff, Sinkel, Kluge (who narrates) and more. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caroline Chaniolleau
- 1975
Based on a very successful play of the same name by Tankred Dorst, this film tells a story about Norwegian author Knut Hamsun (here played by O.E. Hasse), a Nobel prizewinner for literature who was notorious for having collaborated with the Nazi regime. After the war, rather than hand him over for prosecution, he was sent to a retirement home. A young man, bitter about the war, tracks him down and begins to harass him in various ways. The author handles everything that comes to him with remarkable dignity, which eventually removes some of the taint from his actions. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.E. Hasse, Hannelore Hoger, (more)
- 1979
Marianne (Birgit Doll) is driven from her father's home when she is impregnated by Alfred (Hanno Poeschi), a vagabond loafer who abandons her after he has his fun. She goes to Vienna and takes a job in a strip club to provide for herself and her baby. Her father discovers his daughter's tawdry vocation when he and his buddies go to the club for a night of leering and drinking. Marianne later has no choice but to go back to the butcher to whom her father promised her in marriage before she fell for Alfred. The story is taken from a play by Oedoen Von Horath and is directed with flair by Maximilian Schell. Watch for silent movie star Lil Dagover playing the role of Helene. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Birgit Doll, Helmut Qualtinger, (more)
- 1988
- R
Based on a true story, Istvan Szabo's Hanussen centers on an Austrian soldier (Klaus Maria Brandauer) who becomes clairvoyant after he is shot in the head during World War I. He is able to read minds and predict the future. Before long, he has foreseen Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, and he soon finds himself in danger. Hanussen is the third of Szabo and Brandauer's collaborations, following Mephisto and Colonel Redl. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erland Josephson, Ildikó Bánsági, (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)
Director Hans-Christian Schmid helms this award winning account of a first-year university student whose bout with epilepsy leads to a tragic exorcism. Inspired by the same events that were previously dramatized in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Requiem follows college freshman and devoted Catholic Michaela Klinger (Sandra Hueller) as she attempts to adjust to dormitory life while struggling to meet the growing pressures and academic expectations of school. Though a tentative friendship with temperamental classmate Hanna (Anna Blomeier) and a blossoming romance with easygoing chemistry student Stefan (Nicholas Reinke) at first find the shy student developing a pair of healthy bonds, an ill-advised abandonment of her medication regimen sets into motion a chilling series of events. Warned by a series of apparitions and disembodied voices that she should stay away from rosaries and crucifixes, Michaela seeks out the help of both her parents and amiable priest Father Landauer (Walter Schmidinger) to no avail. When Michaela becomes convinced that she is being made to suffer in the same manner of a well-known saint, well-intending pastor Borchert (Jens Harzer) hastily assembles an in-home exorcism that is doomed to end in tragedy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Hueller, Burghart Klaußner, (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)
