Hubert Von Meyerinck Movies

In this German detective thriller, swindlers using a false charity as a front send a hit man around London to murder wealthy people whose deaths can benefit the organization. This film is one of a very large number of German Scotland-Yard thrillers based on the novels of Edgar Wallace. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

German comedian Rudi Carrell stars in this age old farce where men dress up in women's clothing. Cases of mistaken identity and sight gags highlight this uninspiring feature that does little to display the talents of the popular television comic. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Ape Creature is one of a mid-1960s series of German suspense films, loosely based on the works of Edgar Wallace. As the title indicates, the principal character is a large gorilla. Terrorizing the London waterfront, the ape may be answerable to a higher, more sinister power. That's what we find out after several waterfront denizens have been pummeled and mangled, with appropriately gruesome sound effects. Horst Tapper and Uschi Glas head the "human" cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If you happened to catch Joachim Fuchsberger in a late-60's film, chances are he was appearing in a Edgar Wallace mystery. The German Hand of Power is no exception to this rule. Fuchsberger plays an inspector in search of an elusive criminal who uses a scorpion-shaped ring, filled with poison, to dispatch his victims. As is customary in films of this nature, the villain is a lot more colorful than his dedicated but drab Scotland Yard pursuers. But Edgar Wallace was averse to promoting a "crime pays" message, so rest assured that the Hand of Power is stilled by the time the film's alotted 88 minutes has passed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his last starring film (it was supposed to be his last film, but Ragtime came along in 1981), James Cagney plays Coca-Cola executive C.R. MacNamara. Assigned to manage Coke's West Berlin office, MacNamara dreams of being transferred to London, and to do this he must curry favor with his Atlanta-based boss, Hazeltine (Howard St. John). Thus, MacNamara agrees to look after Hazeltine's dizzy, impulsive daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), during her visit to Germany. Weeks pass, and on the eve of Hazeltine's visit to West Berlin, Scarlett announces that she's gotten married. Even worse, her husband is a hygienically challenged East Berlin Communist named Otto Piffl (Horst Buchholz). The crafty MacNamara arranges for Piffl to be arrested by the East Berlin police and to have the marriage annulled, only to discover that Scarlett is pregnant. In rapid-fire "one, two, three" fashion, MacNamara must arrange for Piffl to be released by the Communists and successfully pass off the scrungy, doggedly anti-capitalist Piffl as an acceptable husband for Scarlett. MacNamara must accomplish this in less than 12 hours, all the while trying to mollify his wife (Arlene Francis), who has learned of his affair with busty secretary Ingeborg (Lilo Pulver).

Seldom pausing for breath, Billy Wilder's film is a crackling, mile-a-minute farce, taking satiric scattershots at Coca-Cola, the Cold War (the film is set in the months just before the erection of the Berlin Wall), Russian red tape, Communist and capitalist hypocrisy, Southern bigotry, the German "war guilt," rock music, and even Cagney's own movie image. Not all the gags are in the best of taste, and most of the one-liners have dated rather badly, but Cagney's mesmerizing performance holds the whole affair together. Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond adapted their screenplay from an obscure play by Ferenc Molnár. Watch for Red Buttons in an unbilled cameo as a military policeman, and listen for the voice of Sig Rumann, emanating from the mouth of actor Hubert Von Meyerinck (the Count von Droste-Schattenburg). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A movie - the story of a young man who wants to be a millionaire until he meets one and realizes that money does not make life easier. ~ All Movie Guide