Charlotte Susa Movies

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

Paul Hartmann stars as businessman Bernhard Fredersen, who tries to make a go of his inherited business in South Africa. When Fredersen begins losing his eyesight, he is deserted by friends, business associates, and clients; only his wife, Agnes (Charlotte Susa), remains faithfully by his side. The villain of the piece is Eugen Schliebach, a Teutonic "Uriah Heep" who takes advantage of Fredersen's blindness to try to seduce the long-suffering Agnes. Schliebach is played by Gustaf Gründgens, one of the leading lights of the German theater, whose film appearances were infrequent but always welcome. Produced in Bavaria, Inheritance in Pretoria smells a bit of the lamp, with grandiose gestures and stagey direction carrying the day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Das Gelbe Haus des King Fu was adapted from the stage melodrama The Yellow House of Rio. The film is an extended exercise in oriental exotica, with heroine Charlotte Susa facing several fates worse than death at the hands of the Fu Manchu-like villain. Critics were underwhelmed by the picture, citing director Karl Grune, normally a capable craftsman, for failing to bring his material to life. Even so, Grune apparently commanded great loyalty from his cast. After the premiere showing of Das Gelbe in Berlin, leading lady Susa bravely made a personal appearance, exhorting the audience to give the director a round of hearty applause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gustav Froehlich and Charlotte Susa play Rochus and Judith, the zwei menschen (two humans) of the title. Rochus' domineering mother insists that he enter the priesthood, but he is reluctant to break up his blissful romance with the fair Judith. A religious fanatic of the first order, the mother swears before God and her Church that Rochus will indeed take his vows. When this does not come about, she dies of grief, whereupon the guilt-stricken Rochus abandons Judith to become a priest. The girl subsequently commits suicide -- and it is Rochus who must officiate over her body during the funeral. This final scene was excised from the print of Zwei Menschen released in New York, leaving audiences hanging in regard to Judith's ultimate fate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this German thriller translates as Pullman Train 13 Late. When a railroad attendant notices that the rails have been disabled, Pullman #13 is detained at a small, out-of-the-way train station. One of the passengers, a young bridegroom, snoops around the station out of boredom, discovering by accident that the rails had been deliberately tampered with. The culprit is a professional gunman, hired to assassinate the owner of an oil cartel. The hapless bridegroom manages to elude the villain, notify the police, and emerge as the hero of the day -- while his new bride remains in her pullman car, blissfully sleeping through the whole ordeal. Evidently, D-Zug 13 Hat Verspaetung was given a going over by the German censors before its release, which may explain why the assassination target is referred to as an oil man in some scenes, and as a European political ruler in others. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Zapfenstreich" translates as "Military Music," of which we hear plenty in this Germany comedy. The hero is a handsome Army lieutenant (Hans Stuwe), in love with several young ladies at once. While sorting out his romantic travails, the officer must contend with two new recruits: silk-hatted magician Siegfred Arno, who shows up in camp with a prop bird cage, and clumsy musician Erno Verebes, a habitual screw-up. The two comic characters eventually stage a camp show, culminating in a happy ending for Stuwe and his sweetheart Charlotte Susa, and Verebes and his sweetheart Maria Solveg. Typically heavy-handed, Zapfenstreich aus Rhein undeniably delivers the laughs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Der Greifer translates as The Copper -- and, yes, this is a detective yarn. Hero Hans Albers, representing Scotland Yard, mingles with the cream of British society to bring a murderer to justice. Greeting everyone, friend and foe alike, with the same off-handed cheerfulness, Albers is able to put the culprit "at ease" long enough to tighten the noose. And, of course, he wins the girl, fetchingly played by Charlotte Susa. As often happened in German films of this period, the depiction of British aristocrats in Der Greifer is too broad and stereotyped to be believable -- though to be fair, German characters were treated in much the same manner in British films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide