Johannes Meyer Movies
- 1968
The mountain slopes of Iceland are shown to excellent advantage in the Scandinavian epic Hagbard and Signe. The story, based on an ancient legend, concerns Hagbard (Oleg Vidov), the son of a slain Norse king. Seeking revenge against the rival clan responsible for the killing, Hagbard calms down long enough to establish a truce. He also falls in love with Signe (Gitte Haenning), daughter of his onetime enemy. Signe's former beau, sizzling with jealousy, breaks the truce and makes it appear that Hagbard was responsible. The young prince escapes, but returns disguised as a woman to his beloved Signe. Thanks to a treacherous handmaiden, both lovers are imprisoned and sentenced to be hanged. Rather than undergo this final ignominy, Hagbard and Signe enter into a suicide pact. A Danish/ Swedish/ Icelandic coproduction, Hagbard and Signe was released throughout Scandinavia as Den Rode Kappe, Den Rodda Kappan and Rautha Skikkjan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gitte Haenning, Oleg Vidov, (more)
- 1965
Danish novelist Herman Bang's epic re-telling of the country's defeat to Bismarck's Prussia in 1864 is given a melodramatic treatment by Knud Leif Thomsen. Lone Hertz plays the church warden's naive daughter, Tine, whose tragic love affair with a married woodsman (Jørgen Reenberg) parallels the rise and fall in Danish military fortune. The eventual Danish defeat and the disastrous loss of the dutchies of Schleswig-Holstein (a national tragedy felt into the 20th century) is given second place to the all-too-familiar star-crossed lovers. The only memorable performance is given by the veteran Johannes Meyer as Tine's increasingly insane father. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lone Hertz, Johannes Meyer, (more)
- 1938
The zany German "chase" comedy Diskretion-Ehrensache (Discretion-Word of Honor) was adapted from a novel by Von Hannes Peter Stolp. Heli Finkenzeller plays American heiress Mary Hopkins, who at the beginning of the film is forced into an engagement with a titled nobleman. Hoping to extricate herself from this unwanted union, Mary deliberately gets herself mixed up in a romantic scandal, hoping that the shame she brings upon her name will scotch the wedding plans. Swept up in Mary's scheme is eccentric inventor Peter Parker (Hans Holt), who agrees to elope with the girl provided that there aren't any strings attached. By the time the film reaches its riotous conclusion, of course, Mary and Peter have fallen genuinely in love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
The Seven Years' War against Austria produced the many escapades of King Friedrich the Great as related in this epic drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Gebuhr, Hilde Körber, (more)
- 1936
The titular "fugitive from Chicago" is Michael Nissen (Gustav Froelich), who arrives in Germany to take charge of an automobile-manufacturing plant. Nissen, however, is operating under false pretenses: he's posing as the genuine auto heir, who's been detained in the Windy City on a murder charge. Despite his utter lack of knowledge of the motorcar business, Nissen manages to carry the day with several moneymaking schemes, proving as worthy of his position as the man he's impersonating. Popular German leading lady Lil Dagover is surprisingly wasted in a minor role. Der Fluehctling Aus Chicago is pure escapism, with no reference whatever to the current Nazi regime in Germany (but with plenty of barbed comments about Chicago gangsterism!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gustav Froehlich, Hubert Von Meyerinck, (more)
- 1934
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
- Starring:
- Paul Hartmann, Charlotte Susa, (more)
- 1933
The title of this effervescent musical comedy translates as There is Only One Love. Louis Gravuerre and Heinz Ruhmann star respectively as an opera singer and ballet master, bosom buddies who embark upon a vacation in the Balkans. Thanks to a cluster of coincidences, our heroes are mistaken for escaped criminals and forced to take refuge in the remote mountain cabin of a taciturn hunter. Only when heroine Jenny Jugo identifies the boys are they permitted to go free -- only now, they can't get rid of Jugo, who has fallen madly in love with Gravuerre. The girl's well-meaning interference nearly causes an irreparable rift between the two pals and almost scuttles Gravuerre's singing career, but love triumphs over silliness in the finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jenny Jugo, Heinz Rühmann, (more)
- 1933
In this Austrian musical, a princess finds herself being forced to marry a prince she does not love. She finds herself falling in love with another man who turns out to the prince in disguise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marta Eggerth, Hermann Thimig, (more)
- 1933
Andre Beucler directed this German romantic comedy, filmed in two languages and released overseas in French. Brigitte Helm stars as a sophisticated jewel thief who escapes to Spain with an expensive stolen necklace then gets involved with a naive advertising executive (Jean Gabin) who becomes her unsuspecting dupe. The film is nothing special, but is worth seeing for the cast alone. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Brigitte Helm, (more)
- 1931
Jenny Jugo stars as innocent young Mary, whose titular "start into matrimony" occurs when her father selects her husband-to-be. She rebels at this, running off to the railway station with all her money and valuables packed in a single valise. When the bag is stolen, Mary assumes that the man sitting in front of her on the train is the thief, since he's carrying a similar bag. She "retrieves" the valise while the man sleeps, whereupon he wakes up and assumes that Mary herself is a crook. On and on it goes until Mary and her railway acquaintance finally march down the altar. The co-scripter of Mary's Start in Die Ehe was Hermann Kosterlitz, who as Henry Koster was to pilot several of the best Deanna Durbin vehicles at Universal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hermann Vallentin, Jenny Jugo, (more)
- 1931
The title character in this German backstage musical is Grete Schubert (Else Elster), a pretty blonde who indeed has the voice of a nightingale. While squandering her talents in a cheap cabaret, Grete is discovered by a pair of ambitious theatrical agents. Try as they might, they can't secure a decent booking for the girl, but there's still one chance left in the form of Ziegfeld-like impresario Hirschfield (Paul Kemp). Alas, the Great Man is too busy to see either the agents or their client. Tired of being treated like a commodity rather than a human being, Grete tries to escape her mentors, only to accidentally run into Hirschfield on her own. Sure enough, the celebrated showman makes her a star, and even plays Cupid between Grete and her stagehand boyfriend Walter (Arthur Hell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernst Behmer, Else Elster, (more)
- 1931
Blue-eyed heroine Lore (Grete Berndt) is "Das Rheinlandmaedel" ("The Rhine Maiden") in this frothy German operetta. A girl of modest means and background, Lore falls in love with Hans Waldorf (Werner Fuetterer), a wealthy college student. When Hans' father finds out, he tries to bribe Lore to drop the boy. She refuses, whereupon daddy is so impressed by Lore's sincerity that he gives his blessing to the marriage. That's about all there is to Das Rheinlandmaedel, except for lots and lots of singing, dancing, and quaffing of spirits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trude Berliner, Lucie Englisch, (more)
- 1930
Der Tiger is a neat and precise German murder mystery with a not-so-surprising twist. Throughout most of the film, the audience is led to believe that the investigating detective is actually the murderer. It would have been quite a novelty had this actually been the case, but that's not how a "formula" film works. Sure enough, at the very last moment the detective is exonerated and the guilty party revealed. At least the true identity of the killer is reasonably well hidden (though veteran mystery buffs will have no trouble fingering the culprit the moment the actor in question appears). Greeted with hoots and catcalls upon its first release, Der Tiger fared rather better after the studio did a little post-premiere tinkering. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Susa, Harry Frank, (more)
- 1925
Originally titled Du Skal Aere Din Hustru, Master of the House was also released as Thou Shalt Honor Thy Wife. By any title, the film was arguably the most successful Scandinavian film of the silent era, playing to turn-away business throughout Europe. Based on a play by Sven Rindon, the film centers upon Johannes Meyer, an insensitive bully who browbeats his wife and children beyond all reason. The big jerk is taught a lesson by his own nanny, now an aging crone, who begins giving him a dose of his own medicine. This humiliating experience enables Meyer to stage a warm reunion with his wife, who had previously walked out on him. It may seem like basic sitcom material, but Master of the House apparently struck a nerve in the chauvinistically inclined Europe and Denmark of 1925. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1922
This German production directed by Carl Dreyer takes a powerful stand against anti-Semitism. Living in the Jewish ghetto of a Russian village, young Hanna-Liebe (Polina Pickowska) must abandon her friendship with the Gentile boy Fedja (Richard Boleslawski). When she falls in love with Sascha (Torleif Reiss), another Gentile, she follows him to St. Petersburg. There she joins her brother Segal (Vladimir Gajdarov) and learns that Sascha has become a member of a revolutionary group. Fedja informs on them and she and Sascha are arrested, but Segal liberates her. The two are sent back to their village where Fedja incites a pogrom against the Jews. Segal is killed but Sascha is able to rescue Hanna-Liebe from Fedja. Note who plays the villainous Fedja: Richard Boleslawski, future Hollywood director of such memorable 1930s films as Rasputin and the Empress, Les Miserables, and Theodora Goes Wild. 22/105 ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Polina Pickowska, Torleif Reiss, (more)
The Danish Leaves From Satan's Book (Blad af Satans Bog) was the "breakthrough" picture for filmmaker Carl Thedor Dreyer, who was elevated from a local talent to a director of international renown. The content of the film is implicit in the title: we are witness to the power of Evil through the ages, linked together by images of turning pages. In its multi-storied construction, the film is obviously beholden to D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). Some of the vignettes, especially the Spanish Inquisition scenes, are both beautiful and repulsive; we marvel at Dreyer's brilliant visual sense, even as we have the impulse to avert our eyes. Though a worldwide success, Leaves From Satan's Book cost too much to suit the tastes of the parsimonious Danish film industry, compelling Dreyer to work in other countries throughout most of the silent era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
