Vera Tschechowa Movies

Not much happens in this slice-of-life romantic drama between a charisma-challenged East German archaeologist and a West German futurologist, which may in fact be the point. Both of them are single parents. They meet at a playground while tending to their children, and Elsa makes the moves for them to have a first date. Over coffee, they say little and don't seem to enjoy one another much: it's not a hilarious good time. However, perhaps their standards are much, much lower than usual, and they only want not to be grossly offended by the other. Whatever the reason, the two are soon an "item," barely speaking as they care for their children and share meals, occasionally rather dutifully making love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Escher (Jurgen Prochnow) wanders through the South Sea islands after his partner Quinn (Tony Doyle) is murdered in this drama taken from a novel by Joseph Conrad. When he checks into the Grand Pacific Hotel, Escher encounters a variety of memorable guests. Included are the perverted Mr. Jones (Sam Waterston), the sinister innkeeper Schomberg (Mario Adorf), and Julie (Suzanna Hamilton), a saxophone player in an all-female band. Escher helps Julie escape from the lecherous intentions of the philandering Schomberg. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This documentary on the Russian writer Anton Chekhov was released in honor of the 125th year since his birth and was written and directed by Vadim Glowna, whose wife Vera Tschechowa is a great-grandniece of Chekhov's. Both Glowna and Tschechowa traveled to the former USSR to film interviews with Chekhov's descendants there and to go through archival material, including film clips. Tschechowa's grandparents, Olga Tschechowa and Michael Chekhov were both actors, and after they were divorced, Michael went to Hollywood in 1944 where he landed roles in many films, working until his death in 1955. Olga Tschechowa also acted in over 100 films, and directed one movie. Although Olga and Michael may be the best-documented of Chekhov's living legacy to the theater and film, several other interviews testify to a broad range of influences deriving from the 19th-century author.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this curiously irresolute drama, Gabriele (Barbara Rudnik) is a young woman who lives at home in her wealthy parents' apartment, but dreams of returning to Australia to join her Aussie boyfriend. He keeps in touch by mailing her taped messages and a video of their good times together on the beach. She, in turn, is studying marine biology and working at a peep show at night so she can save some money to join him. Her nighttime job introduces new people into her life -- everyone from her manager who lusts after her, to the women who work in the peep shows, and the taxi driver who takes her to work each night. An uneasy sense of foreboding slowly takes over, raising the question of whether she may finally return to Australia or not. All this might be more compelling if the acting were less stylized and the script a little more convincing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This docudrama is based, in part, on Arnold Zweig's book The Axe of Wandsbek that tells the story of a riot on Sunday, July 18, 1932 in Altona (a Hamburg suburb). Brown-shirts looking for a fight marched into a neighborhood in Altona that was known to be leftist. The march provoked chaos, the police were called in, and 16 people were killed, almost all of them socialists or communists. Afterwards four communists were charged and sentenced to death, an execution carried out in 1933 with an axe. One of the four was a 19-year-old named Bruno Tesch, the one most clearly innocent of the charges against him. Tesch's story is featured in this docudrama, along with another story about a butcher named Albert Teetjen who was called on to execute four other communists in 1938 when the normal executioner was sick. Author Zweig discovered that a butcher had committed suicide after doing exactly what Albert Teetjen did in 1938, and putting two and two together, came up with the rest of his story. This film uses a combination of historical footage and interviews (with architect Albert Speer, participants in the 1932 riot, people who knew Tesch, and others) to provide a documentary complement to the fictionalized account of the events leading to Teetjen's death. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The doctors and patients in a psychiatric clinic are the subject of this hard-hitting docudrama by director Wilma Kottusch. As Dr. Angela Aschmann (Lisa Kreuzer) is introduced to her new job in the clinic, she slowly learns more about the condition of the patients, how they are treated, and what problems may plague some doctors who have already burnt out a long, long time ago. From helpless patients to overworked personnel, from nurses to a macabre undertaker, the people mixed together at the clinic are carefully delineated. The camera crew and actors actually went to a real psychiatric hospital, not just to film background scenes, but to have the actors engage the patients and staff, improvising dialogue along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two beautiful young women in a romantic relationship with each other experience difficulties and anxieties. After having been away from one another for four years, one of them attempts to rekindle the relationship and succeeds. Circumstances throw them together in such a way that their previous resistances can be dealt with. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When a ruthless crook kidnaps two young victims, he is out for more than he bargained. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Several internationally known directors contributed to this generally adept and compelling series of five brief vignettes on love and its many ramifications. François Truffaut starts things off with a story of innocent love between a young man in his mid-teens and a slightly older woman. Renzo Rossellini continues in sketch two about a tough mistress who keeps her lover on a short tether. Shintaro Ishihara renders the only violent episode -- that of a disturbed young worker who becomes a real lady-killer. Marcel Ophüls (son of the late and great Max Ophüls) directs an upbeat tale about a journalist who accepts the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood when a brief fling with a woman ends in a pregnancy. The last vignette, directed by the well-known Polish helmer Andrzej Wajda, is about a brave act by a young soldier whose deed gains him the admiration of a woman, but the response from other men his age is something different. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Die Junge Suenderim is a teen-centered drama about Eva Reck (Karin Baal), a nineteen-year-old woman born into a kind of respectable poverty, with a working-class father as the head of the family. Because she is beautiful, Eva tends to attract all manner of men, most of whom do not have innocent, romantic love on their minds. When she does fall in love with a student, she gives him up because one of her best friends is also in love with him. Eva continues on with her pure-hearted existence as yet another possible husband comes into view, and this time her chances of marriage and happiness look good. As might be deduced from the plot alone, there is not much depth of character in this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Austrian Unter Achtzehn (Under Age) deals with the plight of "problem" teenagers. Promiscuous 18-year-old Elfie Breitner (Vera Tschechowa) wants to become a fashion model. But Luise is under the jurisdiction of welfare officer Luise Gottschalk (Paula Wessely), who insists that the girl take a "useful" job in a laundry. Though Elfie rebels against Luise, in the end the welfare worker is proven to be right. In time-honored Cecil B. DeMille fashion, Unter Achtzehn illustrates the evils of illicit sex by showing off as much female skin as possible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This German presentation tells the story of a widower with five children who keeps very busy until a neighbor comes to help! ~ All Movie Guide