Hilde Sessak Movies
- 1977
Grete Minde, based on the novel by Theodor Fontane, tells the story of a girl trapped in the turbulent religious and social prejudices of 17th-century Sweden. Born of a noble Lutheran father and his second wife, a Spanish Catholic, Grete is barely tolerated by her anti-Catholic older half-brother as long as her father is living; when her father dies, she flees to the home of an uncle with the help of a local boy who has grown accustomed to protecting her. Later, unwed and pregnant, she must flee again. She returns to her home town, but is tragically ill-received. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Siemen Ruhaack, Hannelore Elsner, (more)
- 1966
In this frilly-costumed comedy, Baron Halbach (Martin Held) and his daughter Dodo (Senta Berger) move freely among the wealthy social elite, stealing jewels. When Dodo falls for the handsome London lawyer Robert (Joachim Fuchsberger), the Baron tries to stop the budding romance. Later, Dodo is caught trying to pull off one last caper before she marries, but Robert successfully wins her case in court. Watch for James Robertson Justice as Robert's father Sir Hammond in this lavish production. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Senta Berger, Martin Held, (more)
- 1953
Young Britisher Susanne Mallinson (Claire Bloom) is visiting the occupied city of postwar Berlin, as the guest of her brother, Major Martin Mallinson (Geoffrey Toone) and his wife Bettina (Hildegarde Neff), whom he met during his initial stay in Berlin as a British Army doctor. They seem happily married, but Susanne soon notices that Bettina is trying to hide something, both from her and from Martin -- a secret involving a young boy (Dieter Krause) on a bicycle who seems to turn up everywhere she does, and figure whom she initially doesn't see. The truth finally comes out amidst a new skirmish between the British on one side and the East Germans in the Soviet zone on the other, and a man named Olaf Kastner (Ernst Schroeder), who seems to make a lot of mystery-shrouded trips in and out of the city's Russian Zone. Bettina was married to the mysterious Ivo Kern (James Mason), a handsome, smooth-talking former German army officer (with his own record during the Second World War -- as well as after -- to hide from) who was presumed dead after 1944, and declared so by the authorities. But now Ivo has turned up alive, an event that nullifies Bettina's and Martin's marriage, among other personal repercussions; and he has been working for the Russians in the eastern zone, engineering the kidnapping of people out of West Berlin. And he wants Olaf Kastner, who has been an embarrassment to the East Germans, and especially Kern's superior Halendar (Albert Waescher), with his success at rescuing people from the Eastern Zone; and Ivo might just get him if he can charm the wide-eyed, innocent Susanne sufficiently . . . . ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Claire Bloom, (more)
In this tragic true story based on the novel by Arnold Zweig, a butcher was called upon to execute four communists with a meat axe in 1938 because the normal executioner was ill. When author Zweig read about the execution, and then later read about the suicide of a butcher later in the same year, he came to the realization that both butchers were the same person, and he wrote this story. In the film Erwin Geschonneck plays the butcher who suffers miserably from his act and he is not alone in his misery -- his wife commits suicide while in deep despair. Unable to function properly, the butcher loses his customers and soon he himself cannot face living any longer. This 1951 East German movie was banned in West Germany and West Berlin until its well-attended 1983 premier at a retrospective for its director Falk Harnack. A 1982 documentary by the same title provides the background and the story of the butcher. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erwin Geschonneck, Kaethe Braun, (more)
- 1943
This German only video tells the story of Paracelsus nefarious activities after quarantining the city of Basel from the plague and using unusual means of healing, saves a man. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1939
Wasser Fur Canitoga (Water for Canitoga) is a duck-billed platypus of a film: a German-language western, filmed in Canada and designed as anti-British propaganda. Hans Albers, in 1939 Germany's most popular male actor, plays the rough-and-tumble hero. Falsely accused of sabotaging the system that pipes water to a remote Canadian outpost. The climax finds Albers struggling to save the subterranean piping machinery, at the cost of his own life. As he lies dying on the floor of the local saloon, his fellow miners strike up a soulful chorus of "Good-bye, Johnny!" This scene alone is worth the admission price of the slow-moving but undeniably compelling Wasser Fur Canitoga. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Crudely retitled Kidnapped Ladies for American consumption, Raub der Sabinerinnem is a comical spin on the legendary abduction of the Sabine Women. A bookish college professor (Max Guelstorff) is busily staging a theatrical production based on the story of the Sabines when a two-bit theatrical producer (Bernhard Wildenhain) catches a rehearsal. Inspired, the producer talks the professor into converting his serious drama into a farce comedy, complete with a tap-dancing finale. Somehow this enables the mild-mannered professor to win the love of the heroine, a cabaret dancer. Raud der Sabinerinnem was adapted from a popular stage comedy by the Schoenthan Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Guelstorff, Maria Koppenhofer, (more)
- 1937
According to the English-language translation of the film's title, "The Ways of Love are Strange." Presumably this proverb refers to Captain Costali (Carl Ludwig Diehl) and the beautiful Antonia Delvarez (Olga Tschechowa). After a revolution in a South American banana republic, Costali is condemned to death, forcing him to take refuge in the home of his sweetheart Antonia. Posing as the family butler, Costali is safe until he is betrayed by the chauffeur of police-chief Montefranca (Edwin Jurgensen). Arriving at Antonia's home ostensibly to arrest Costali, Montefranca proves to be an ally of the Captain, determined to join forces with him to organize a counter-revolution. So what does all this have to do with the ways of love being strange?? Well? -- if Montefranca hadn't suspected that Costali was hiding in Antonia's home, the whole story, and its twist ending, might never have taken place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Ludwig Diehl, Olga Tschechowa, (more)
- 1936
Marika Roekk, a favorite of German audiences if not German critics, dispenses charm by the bucketful in Leichte Kavallerie. The star is cast as Rosika, a young Budapest girl who becomes the darling of a travelling circus troupe. Ultimately, she must choose between a career in the Big Top and the love of hero Palato (Hans A. Schlettow). So far as the critics were concerned, the acting honors were stolen from the pretty but marginally talented Roekk by Fritz Kampers as Cherubini, a villainous clown. Leichte Kavallerie was based on a Hungarian stage play which, believe it or not, was just as spectacular and elaborate as the film version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marika Rökk, Fritz Kampers, (more)
- 1936
The story opens as Hans (Gustav Froelich), a Berlin subway guard, saves department-store mannequin Gerda (Heli Finkenzeller) from committing suicide. Taking pity on Gerda, who had elected to end it all because her brother was in jail, Hans offers to marry her, which proposal earns him a sock on the jaw from his class-conscious father (Otto Wernicke). Feeling that she's responsible for the rift between father and son (which, frankly, she is), Gerda tries to patch things up between the two stubborn men. Her good intentions are nearly dashed when her no-good brother (Paul Hoffmann) shows up with blackmail on his mind. One thing leads to another, and by film's end Hans is obliged to rescue Gerda from self-destruction again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gustav Froehlich, Heli Finkenzeller, (more)
- 1936
The English-language title of this German comedy is Dissatisfied Woman. That's putting it mildly: Lisa Brandt (Fita Benkoff) is not only dissatisfied but downright contemptuous of her old-fashioned husband Paul (Johannes Riemann). She wants to modernize their home, but he can't bear to part with such vestiges of the past as a worn-out radio, an ancient car, and the gas stove in the bathroom. On the advice of her friends, Lisa tries to "cure" her husband by pretending she doesn't recognize him any more and by treating him as a total stranger. When wifey caps her deception by pretending to make love to the family doctor, hubby is snapped out of his antiquated ways immediately! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fita Benkhoff, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, (more)
- 1936
Sinister Vogeloed Castle is the setting for this complicated whodunit. The lord of the manor is Graf Leopold (Walter Steinback), whom the audience is conditioned to despise when he steals the sweetheart (Carola Hoehn) of his own brother Andreas (Hans Stuewe). Thus, when Leopold is murdered, no one is too upset, and everyone assumes the brother did it. But there's a smattering of other suspects in contention, notably the castle's crooked major-domo Von Safferstadt (Hans Zesch-Ballot). Schloss Vogeloed gets down to business fairly quickly and stays there, wasting little time on comedy relief or the romantic subplot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Steinbeck, Carola Hoehn, (more)
- 1935
In this Swedish romance, a strapping farm boy is betrothed to a pretty socialite. Unfortunately, he really loves a simple girl from the marsh. His engagement to the wealthy lass is broken after he gets into a barroom brawl. He is then able to marry the woman he really loves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
