Herbert Reinecker Movies
- 1965
The crime novels of Englishman Edgar Wallace have been adapted into several dozen movies, possibly more in Germany where they were enormously popular for a very long time. Though the author died in 1935, he has been given "screenwriter" credits on a great many of these films. Der Hexer is based on one of his more popular and critically acclaimed works, The Squeaker, which also gave rise to an English film in 1930. In the story, a supposedly respectable man is forced to murder his lovely secretary when she finds out too much about his real business, which is white slavery (forcing women into prostitution). The girl's brother comes from Australia to find out what happened to her and goes on a rampage against the criminals, confounding the increasingly dismayed functionaries in Scotland Yard. Not only is he impinging on their turf, but they are unable to discover who he is. Meanwhile, he must evade not only the police, but the powerful criminals he is working against. Thanks to some fancy plotting by the filmmakers, even readers of the original novel will not be able to guess his identity. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Vohrer, Herbert Reinecker, (more)
- 1965
Barbara (Ghita Norby) is a pretty young secretary who at age 25 decides to find a man to marry in this light romantic comedy. She has many male admirers, but all seem to want to fool around and entertain no thoughts of marriage. Barbara brings her problem to a matrimonial agency that provides her with another slew of suitors. Little does she know that her co-worker and shy superior at work Dr. Pleskau (Walter Giller) carries a torch for her and wants her to be his flame. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Giller, Monika Dahlberg, (more)
- 1964
There's something positively monolithic about the title Massacre at Marble City. The film's status as a western is, however, given away by its alternate title, Conquerors of Arkansas. And its country of origin is revealed by its original title, Die Golsucher von Arkansas. Brad Harris and Horst Frank star in this German actioner, wherein all heroes and villains converge upon Marble City for a cathartic shoot-out. Until we saw production stills of Massacre at Marble City, we didn't know that the Alps were in Arkansas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
A man insists that he was framed for a hit-and-run driving accident. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1963
This overdone German film relies on a repetitive plot centered around bedroom antics worthy of daytime dramas. A call girl (Hildegard Knef) teaches the "ways of love" to a boy (Thomas Fritsch). The boy uses the knowledge to seduce the young wife (Alexandra Stewart) of his professor (Martin Held). Meanwhile, the professor carries on with his secretary (Daliah Lavi). The story continues in like fashion, with little else to give it strength. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lilli Palmer, Nadja Tiller, (more)
- 1959
This standard spy-suspense yarn of political intrigue is based on the East-West division in Germany at this time. On the West German side of the political dividing line, a spy ring of East Germans has been prying state secrets out of workers in the West German government. Their technique is straightforward. They promise to release relatives of the workers to West Germany in exchange for the information. When a prisoner in East Germany is released and returns to the West, he discovers that his wife has been murdered. Immediately suspecting an East German connection, he starts to hunt down and locate the members of the spy ring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hansjörg Felmy, Johanna von Koczian, (more)
- 1959
This musical drama is not quite up to the level of its 1956 prequel, Die Trapp Familie -- the inspiration for the immensely popular The Sound of Music. Now the famous singing family, having survived World War II by escaping Austria, are in the U.S. and trying to make a go of it. Their voices are excellent and their talent is obvious, yet the Baroness Maria von Trapp (Ruth Leuwerik) and the Baron (Hans Holt) cannot figure out why they are not more popular. They can barely get an audience together. After much trial and tribulation, it hits them that maybe the fault lies in the songs they choose to perform, so a rehaul of their program is in order. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Leuwerik, Hans Holt, (more)
- 1959
In a routine, unexceptional drama by Alfred Weidenmann, Robert (Hardy Krueger), Georg (Mario Adorf), and Willy (Horst Frank) are a trio of would-be safecrackers out to pull off a heist. The trio do not live in perfect equanimity, and eventually one of them lets jealousy get the best of him and he turns tail, betrays his cohorts, and talks to the police. The resultant round-up has its moments, with the leader Robert involved in a long chase by the cops. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Adorf, Horst Frank, (more)
- 1958
Ruth Leuwerik plays a courageous female doctor in the German POW drama Taiga. Interred in a Siberan prison camp during WWII, Leuwerik lifts the spirits of her fellow prisoners with her dedication to her job and her indomitable spirit. The doctor's humanitarianism even extends to an oaf (Gunter Pfitzmann) who tries to rape her; he wins his undying respect when she protects him from retaliation by the other prisoners. The film's romantic angle is handled by Hanns Messmer as an inmate who vows to marry Leuwerik if and when they are released. Hardly a slice of life-the POW camp is nowhere near as brutal as the real thing -- Taiga nonetheless scores on the strength of its leading players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Leuwerik, Hannes Messemer, (more)
- 1955
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
- 1955
Laslo Benedek interrupted his thriving Hollywood career to return to Europe as director of the German Kinder, Mutter und ein General (Children, Mother and the General). The film is set in Berlin during the last days of WW II. Desperate for manpower, Hitler has ordered that all able-bodied teenaged boys --some as young as 15 -- be drafted into the army. Frau Asmussen (Hilde Krahl) is one of five mothers who learn to their horror that their boys have been slated to be cannon fodder on behalf of the Third Reich. Asmussen and the other mothers head directly to the front to plead with the German generals for the lives of their sons. Not directly an indictment of Germany's involvement in (or incitement of) the recent war, Kinder, Mutter und ein General stresses the futility and heartbreak of all wars everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
O.E. Hasse stars in this "retro" German historical biography as Admiral Canaris, who during WW2 was the man in charge of Germany's home defenses. The film takes great pains to point out the Admiral's essential dislike of Nazism, suggesting that he was sympathetic to the aims of the German underground, even though he himself could not participate. In 1944, Canaris joins the plot to overthrow Hitler, ending up in a concentration camp when the military coup fails. The villain of the piece is Obergruppenfuehrer Heydrich (Martin Held), whose assassination in Czechoslovakia prompted the German high command to order the liquidation of the town of Lidice--thereby thoroughly souring Admiral Canaris on the Hitler regime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.E. Hasse, Adrian Hoven, (more)
