Fritz Alberti Movies

Die Sporkc'schen Jaeger (The Sporck Batallion) is where Lt. von Naugaard (Fritz Genschow) calls his home during WWI. A courageous soldier, the lieutenant unfortunately suffers from a mental aberration which compels him to poach on game preserves. Lt. von Naugaard's reckless slaughter of the local deer population casts shame upon his fellow soldiers, but with the help of the poor man's superior officer, all is set right. To non-German eyes, the central conflict in Die Sporkc'schen Jaeger may seem like much ado about nothing. Of far more interest is the romance between von Naugaard and the apple-cheeked heroine (Reva Holsey). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this German comedy is derived from a colloquialism which translates as By the Skin of His Teeth. In the tradition of Harold Lloyd and Ben Turpin, leading man Siegfried Arno manages to wriggle in and out of one devastating dilemma after another, always managing to escape by the proverbial teeth-skin. Arno, who later enjoyed a lengthy Hollywood career as a character actor, was a slight, meek-looking individual, making his various on-screen adventures all the more amusing. Critics, then as now, were resistant to such pure-slapstick endeavors as Um Eine Nasenlaenge, and most of them turned thumbs down. But audiences -- especially German audiences -- were too busy laughing to notice the plot and production deficiencies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is a loose adaptation of Dostoyevsky's classic The Brothers Karamazov. It chronicles the story of Dimitri who gave up his high social standing and his fiance to pursue a love affair with a whore. Dimitri's father is also in love with her. When the father turns up dead, Dimitri is convicted for the crime and is sent to Siberia with the prostitute who refuses to leave her side. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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 legendary European clown Grock plays himself in this lachrymose German biopic. Celebrated by countless admirers as the funniest man in the world, Grock was in real life one of God's most miserable creatures -- at least, that's what it says here. The plot follows along these Pagliacci lines for well over 90 minutes, evenly balancing laughter and tears throughout. Not surprisingly, the film's highlights are its re-creations of Grock's more famous stage routines, in which he is assisted by his longtime partner Max von Emblen. Reportedly, $150,000 was expended on this production -- not so lofty a sum by Hollywood standards, but a veritable fortune in Germany. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Because I Loved You was the first German-made talking picture to obtain a widespread release in the U.S. Mady Christians stars as Inge Lund, a popular stage actress who plans to retire upon the occasion of her marriage. Shortly before the wedding, she allows her drunken leading man Otto Radney (Walter Jankuhn) to invite himself into her apartment. One thing leads to another, and before long Inge and Otto end up in bed together. Years later, Inge, happily married and the mother of a child, is unexpectedly reunited with Otto when the latter shows up in town with a touring play. Upon learning of her brief affair with Otto, Inge's husband dissolves the marriage and takes custody of the child. To assuage her grief, Inge returns to the stage. More years pass; Inge comes back to the town where her ex-husband resides, hoping for a reunion with her beloved child. Variations of Because I Loved You would pop up in Hollywood for years afterward, usually starring the likes of Kay Francis and Ruth Chatterton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rosenmontag (U.S. title: Carnival's End) was based on the novel of the same name by Otto Erich Hartlebein. Thanks to ugly gossip, a young Army lieutenant is convinced that his sweetheart is an unfaithful trollop. He becomes engaged to another woman then marches off to war, having promised to forsake all other women. Eventually, he discovers that the stories about his first love were all lies. He returns to her and rekindles the romance, whereupon he remembers vowing eternal devotion to his present fiancee. Rather than sacrifice his honor, the lieutenant resorts to extreme and tragic measures to keep his promise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This self-conscious German "art" picture stars musical-comedy favorite Jenny Jugo, here doing a Marlene Dietrich imitation (before Dietrich had been "invented" by Josef Von Sternberg). Nearly plotless, the film concentrates on a group of low-lifes who hang out along the waterfront in Hamburg. There are the usual jealousies, petty squabbles and not-so-petty outbursts of violence. Heroine Jugo, her splendid singing voice unheard, comes off best under the circumstances, while Willy Fritsch and Fritz Rasp do their best to hold the audience's attention. The prints distributed to the U.S. were substandard, at least according to contemporary critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prolific filmmaker Gustav Ucicky cut his cinematic teeth on such minor efforts as Inherited Passions (Vererbte Triebe). Walter Rilla plays a pleasant young man who unfortunately carries with him his family's "curse": alcoholism. Whenever he gets drunk, Rilla's Dr. Jekyll personality degenerates into Mr. Hyde. First, he murders a prostitute then tries to bump off his stepfather's new young wife. Arrested and put on trial, he is defended by that selfsame stepfather, who argues that Rilla's "inherited passions" were beyond the poor boy's control. An argument is made for the "sexual sterilization" of such unfortunates as Rilla. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Considered the magnum-opus of filmmaker/screenwriter Henrik Galeen, and featuring actor Conrad Veit in one of his finest performances Student of Prague is considered an important work in German Expressionist cinema. It is also the first to present a dark exploration of the inner realms of the self that would obsess German filmmakers for years to come. The decidedly Faustian tale centers on a student (Veit) who encounters a minion of the devil and in exchange for the love of a woman and wealth, sells him his reflection. The student's mirror image turns into a doppelganger. The student marries a baroness, but his happiness is ruined by his troublesome, malevolent double who destroys his marriage and his life. In hopes of ending the torment, the student tricks the doppelganger back into the mirror and then shoots him. Ironically, it is the student who dies. While the haunting story itself is intriguing, it is film's exquisite production design, careful expressionistic lighting that imbues the film with its moody, humanism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The biggest-budgeted movie ever produced at Germany's UFA, Fritz Lang's gargantuan Metropolis consumed resources that would have yielded upwards of 20 conventional features, more than half the studio's entire annual production budget. And if it didn't make a profit at the time -- indeed, it nearly bankrupted the studio -- the film added an indelible array of images and ideas to cinema, and has endured across the many decades since its release. Metropolis had many sources of inspiration, including a novel by the director's wife, Thea von Harbou -- who drew on numerous existing science fiction and speculative fiction sources -- and Lang's own reaction to seeing the Manhattan skyline at night for the very first time. There are some obvious debts to H.G. Wells (who felt it "the silliest of films"), but the array of ideas and images can truly be credited to Lang and von Harbou.

In the somewhat distant future (some editions say the year 2000, others place it in 2026, and, still others -- including the original Paramount U.S. release -- in 3000 A.D.) the city of Metropolis, with its huge towers and vast wealth, is a playground to a ruling class living in luxury and decadence. They, and the city, are sustained by a much larger population of workers who labor as virtual slaves in the machine halls, moving from their miserable, tenement-like homes to their grim, back-breaking ten-hour shifts and back again. The hero, Freder (Gustav Froehlich) -- the son of Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), the master of Metropolis -- is oblivious to the plight of the workers, or any aspect of their lives, until one day when a a beautiful subterranean dweller named Maria (Brigitte Helm) visits the Eternal Gardens, where he spends his time cavorting with various ladies, with a small group of children from the workers' city far below. They are sad, hungry, and wretched looking, and he is haunted by their needy eyes -- something Freder has never seen or known among the elite of the city -- and by this strange and beautiful woman who tells all who hear her, workers' children and ruler's offspring, that they are all brothers. He follows her back down to the depths of the city and witnesses a horrible accident and explosion in the machine halls where the men toil in misery. Haunted by what he has seen, he tries to confront his father, only to find that the man he loves and respects believes that it is right for the workers to live the way they do, while he and his elite frolic in luxury.

Freder decides to do something about it, but he must first learn more, and also locate Maria. With help from Josaphat (Theodor Loos), Fredersen's recently dismissed office manager, he goes below again and takes over the job of one of the workers, in order to find Maria. Meanwhile, Fredersen is concerned about the rumblings of unrest among the workers, and his son's sudden interest in their plight; he assigns "Slim" (Fritz Rasp), his investigator, to follow Freder. Meanwhile, he goes for advice to an old acquaintance, the inventor C.A. Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). Rotwang once was a rival to Fredersen for the love of the woman Hel, who married Fredersen and died bearing his son, Freder. Rotwang still feels the loss, but he is a cunning and practical man, and is willing to help his old "friend," but not before showing off his latest creation -- a robot that he has modeled in the image of his beloved Hel, that he may have her again. Rotwang answers Fredersen's question by taking him to the catacombs below the modern city, where they see Maria preaching the gospel and counseling patience, in the hope that a "Mediator" -- who will be able to reconcile the "head" and "hands" of society (i.e. the ruling and working classes) -- will come among them.

Fredersen will hear none of it, and sees the need to break the workers' resistance and destroy Maria's influence among them. He arranges with Rotwang to make his robot creation into a duplicate Maria (which requires his kidnapping her), and to send her out among the workers to incite them to violence, so that Fredersen can use force against them. But he doesn't reckon with Rotwang, who despises Fredersen and his ruling class, and has commanded the robot to obey his orders and follow a plan that will destroy the city, both above and below ground. Fredersen also doesn't reckon with his own son Freder, who not only believes in what Maria is preaching but is beginning to see himself as the "Mediator," and is right in the midst of the conflagration when the workers' uprising starts. Soon, fires and floods spread, threatening to doom the children of the workers, abandoned in their parents' frenzied attack on the machines, and the city of Metropolis faces an impending disaster of biblical proportions. Meanwhile, the now-mad Rotwang tries to reclaim his lost Hel, and Maria and her evil robot twin are both stalked by crowds of workers driven to a murderous rage.

When it was premiered in Germany in January 1927, Metropolis ran 153 minutes when projected at 24 frames per second. That complete version was heavily cut for release in America, removing a quarter of the movie -- this included the personal conflict between Fredersen and Rotwang; a subplot involving double-dealing, espionage, and the mysterious "Slim"; a section taking place in the "red-light" district of the city; a good deal of the symbolism in the movie's original dialogue; and a large chunk of the chase at the end. In Germany in the spring of 1927, an edited version modeled roughly on the American edition, though running slightly longer, was prepared and released, and that became the "standard" version of the movie, for both domestic (i.e. German) distribution and export. In subsequent years, other editions were circulated and still others were found deposited in various archives; in a surprising number of instances -- including that of a source stored at the Museum of Modern Art in New York -- there were tiny fragments to be found of the lost, longer version of Metropolis.

The movie's reputation was further compromised with the lapsing of its American copyright in 1953, after which countless copies and duplicates, in every format from 8 mm to 35 mm (and, later, VHS tape and DVD) came to be distributed in the U.S. by anyone who could lay their hands on a print, of whatever quality and with whatever music track they chose (or didn't choose) to put on it. While several versions of the movie from these sources -- each with plot elements missing -- circulated, various restorations of the movie were attempted over the decades by responsible parties, as well. The BBC did a very effective one in the mid-'70s that was a hit on public television in America, utilizing an electronic music track that sometimes mimicked some of the industrial images on the screen. Also, there was the Giorgio Moroder version from 1984, heavily tinted and re-edited, with a rock score grafted onto it, which introduced the movie to a whole new generation of fans and turned it into a modern pop-culture fixture. The copyright was re-established in 1998 by the F.W. Murnau Foundation, and a restoration in 2002 brought the movie back to a 127 minute running time, in addition to utilizing a full orchestral score based on Gottfried Huppertz's original 1927 music. In 2008, it was reported that a significant part of the "lost" footage from the 1927 153-minute version of Metrpolis had been found in Argentina. The newest restoration of the complete Metropolis was on-going as of 2009, and a theatrical premiere was anticipated for 2010. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide