Adrian Hoven Movies

A French secret agent Lino Ventura gets a license to kill when he is sent to Vienna to plug a security leak in this routine spy saga. He is caught in the crossfire of international enemy agents trying to eliminate the French. He dodges bullets fired by double-crossing double agents and a mysterious spy affiliated with either the Soviet Union or China. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this German espionage film, made after WW II, the life of Admiral Canaris, the former head of Nazi counterintelligence, is profiled. Much of the focus is upon the Admiral's gradual disenchantment with Hitler's vision. As the war progresses, Canaris begins looking into anti-Hitler organizations. It is only in 1944 that he grows angry at the destruction of Germany and commits himself to overthrowing Hitler. He fails and ends up losing his rank and being sentenced to a concentration camp. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This plodding German horror production (aka Im Schloss der Bluten Begierde or In the Castle of Bloody Lust) stars Howard Vernon -- a familiar face in countless Euro-horror films such as Awful Dr. Orloff and A Virgin Among the Living Dead -- as the evil Dr. Saxon, who is compelled by a family curse to commit grisly murders in his quest for a suitable heart transplant to reanimate his dead daughter. In an appropriately tasteless twist (reminiscent of the later films of Jess Franco or Mexi-horror auteur Rene Cardona, Jr.), the mad medic's chest-cutting craft is "enhanced" by actual heart-surgery footage -- probably more as a cost-cutting venture than an effort to gross out the audience. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Even while a series of British second features based on the works of Edgar Wallace was flourishing in the 1960s, Germany was grinding out its own Wallace series. Secret of the Red Orchid top-bills British actor Christopher Lee in a story of a joint effort between the FBI and Scotland Yard. The target of these combined forces is a far-reaching crime syndicate. The stellar international cast includes Klaus Kinski (a semi-regular in the Wallace series), Marissa Mell, and silent film veteran Fritz Rasp. Secret of the Red Orchid was originally titled Puzzle of the Red Orchid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This German melodrama is set in the Paris of some hundred years ago. It is a tale of two brothers: Robert (Paul Dahlke), a gentleman thief, and Pierre (Richard Haueseler), a less gentlemanly prefect of police. It is understood that neither brother will intrude upon the province of the other. But rules are made to be broken, especially when women are involved. Kaethe Dorsch delivers the film's best performance as Robert and Pierre's mother. There are subplots aplenty during the film's 100-minute running time, but things never get too confusing, not even in the English-dubbed version. Der Bagnostraefling was written and directed by Gustav Froelich, a well-known German actor whose previous credits included Fritz Lang's Metropolis, ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having made as many films as he had years, at 31, Rainer Werner Fassbinder essayed a slightly different approach for his 32nd film, Despair. Here, he uses a witty screenplay written by the well-known playwright Tom Stoppard, based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Furthermore, the entire film, set in 1930s Germany, is in English. It received mixed reviews, if only because it is so unlike the director's other works. In the story, a Russian owner of a German chocolate-factory, whose business and marriage are both on the rocks, fantasizes about leaving his current life, and living another one. Indeed, he has delusions that he is somehow outside himself, watching himself live his life. So strong is his desire to alter his life that when he encounters a tramp while on a brief business trip, he imagines that the man looks exactly like him, decides to exchange identities with the tramp, and murders him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

One of several films helmed by internationally renowned actor-director Fritz Kortner after his return to Germany in 1947, Die Stadt ist Voller Geheimnisse was released in English-speaking countries as Secrets of the City, City of Secrets and This Town is Full of Secrets. Adapted from a stage play by Curt J. Braun, the film takes place in a mid-sized German industrial town. When the local factory closes its doors, the townsfolk are thrown into confusion and dismay. The story concentrates on a dozen laid-off workers, relating their individual life stories and detailing their hopes, aspiration and fears. Though the ensemble acting is excellent, Die Stadt ist Voller Geheimnisse might have been more effective had it dealt with fewer characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of unsuspecting small-time crooks stumble on an apparently abandoned cache of heroin. This gives them big-time ideas, and, fueled by their renewed inspiration, they take their revenge on some old enemies. In the meantime, a big-time mob boss is keeping an eye on their activities. He has set them up for a really big fall and is only waiting to spring the trap. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Faustrecht der Freiheit (Fox and His Friends) was one of the many films in the short, but prolific, career of German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder plays Franz Biberkopf, a financially poor gay man who performs in a traveling circus as Fox the Talking Head. One day, he lucks into winning half a million marks in a lottery. This attracts the attention of numerous swindlers, including Eugen (Peter Chatel), who becomes Fox's lover, gets Fox to spend the money on Eugen, and then dumps Fox mercilessly once the money is gone. Unable to come to terms with how he has been used, and miserable at being in the same place he was before he won the money, Fox commits suicide. The cast is rounded out by El Hedi ben Salem and Brigitte Mira, the stars of Fassbinder's celebrated Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

An out of work architect and a recently discharged military man meet at a critical moment in their lives. Each of them has been deprived of an occupation which gave meaning to their existence, and is left, instead, with a $15,000 severance check. Neither one handles the situation at all well. Bert, the architect, is thinking about giving up his apartment and studio, and tries his hand at an elaborate con-game. Thomas, a former military air-traffic controller, must take an elaborate series of exams before he can resume his profession as a civilian. Their girlfriends are not a steadying factor in their lives. When circumstances get in the way of their plans, they soon have only their friendship to rely on. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide