Maximilian Schell Movies
Maximilian Schell may not be a household name, but he is internationally respected, particularly in Europe, as an award-winning actor/director of stage and screen. He was born in Vienna, Austria, on December 8, 1930, but raised in Switzerland after his parents, Swiss author/poet Hermann Ferdinand Schell and Austrian actress Margarethe Noe von Nordberg, fled there to escape the effects of Nazi Germany's forcible annexation of Austria in 1938. As a young man, Schell studied at three universities -- Zurich, Basel, and Munich -- before making his professional stage debut in 1952. In 1955, he appeared in his first film, Kinder, Mütter und ein General. He next debuted on Broadway and then in Hollywood, playing a German officer who befriends fellow soldier Marlon Brando in The Young Lions (1958).Schell earned an Oscar in 1961 for his intriguing performance as a defense attorney in Judgment at Nuremberg, and would subsequently be nominated for Oscars for his work in The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) and Julia (1977). In 1968, he produced Das Schloss (The Castle) and made his feature film directorial/screenwriting debut with Erste Liebe (First Love) in 1970. The latter film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, as did his 1973 effort Der Fussgänger. The latter also won him a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. As a director and producer, Schell distinguished himself on the international stage with productions such as the remarkable Tales From the Vienna Woods and the modern opera Coronet. In addition to film and stage work, he has occasionally worked on television, winning a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Lenin in the HBO miniseries Stalin (1992) and additional acclaim for his work in Peter the Great (1986) and Joan of Arc (1999).
Since the late '80s, Schell's screen appearances became sporadic, and he rarely branched out from acting. Notable films from the '90s included a rare comic role opposite Marlon Brando in The Freshman (1990), a dramatic turn as a stern patriarch in screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' autobiographical Telling Lies in America (1997), Tea Leoni's father in Deep Impact (1998), and a cardinal in John Carpenter's Vampires (1998). When not busying himself on stage, screen, and television, he has distinguished himself as a concert pianist and conductor. He has performed with Claudio Abado, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, and Leonard Bernstein. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into Germany. Paratroops led by British major general Robert Urquhart (Sean Connery) and American brigadier general James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) will seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with paratroops led by Lieutenant Col. John Frost (Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall pass combined forces led by British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) and British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (Michael Caine). The plan requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells Lieutenant Gen. Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster ensues. Based on a book by historian Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far is reminiscent of another movie based on a Ryan book, The Longest Day. Like that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Hardy Krueger, Gene Hackman, Maximilian Schell, and Liv Ullman. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, (more)
The directorial debut of Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Mikael Salomon (The Abyss), A Far Off Place is based on a pair of books by novelist Laurens Van der Post. Reese Witherspoon stars as Nonnie Parker, a young girl living on an African game preserve with her parents. Ethan Embry is Harry Winslow, the snooty son of a visiting dignitary. When Nonnie and Harry witness the murder of their parents at the hands of ruthless poachers, they suddenly find themselves braving the harsh Kalahari Desert in an attempt to escape the gang. Along the way, the pair encounters a bushman called Xhabbo (Sarel Bok) who shows them how to survive in the barren desert. Forced to work together to survive, Nonnie and Harry learn to overcome their differences and become friends. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reese Witherspoon, Jack Thompson, (more)
This entry into TNT's lavish and acclaimed Bible Series follows the tale of humble shepherd Abraham (Richard Harris) as he leads his flock to the Promised Land despite great danger. When the voice of God himself tells Abraham that he must lead his family and a group of like-minded believers on a harrowing journey to the Promised Land, the travelers' faith is tested as they face famine, death, and war at every turn. Through all of their hardships, Abraham's flock is determined to make the journey no matter what the cost. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Harris
- 1979
- R
In a resort town near Rome, Louise (Jacqueline Bisset) attempts to cope with her divorce, a new career, and John (Maximilian Schell), a boyfriend who is not much of an improvement on the husband she left behind. She has a demanding son, a demanding career, a demanding lover, and makes some impossible demands on herself. She gets together with a couple of girlfriends, including one who has just had a liaison with her boyfriend John, and decides that women haven't made nearly as much progress as they might have thought. Louise has also been having an affair with Henry (Terence Stamp), but isn't getting much joy from that relationship either. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Bisset, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1975
Based on the best-selling novel by Nobel-laureate Heinrich Böll, this drama is a passionate indictment of Catholicism. Hans Schnier (Helmut Griem) has earned his living as a clown, though he is in fact a very covert sort of social critic. After enduring a difficult childhood in Bonn during the Second World War, including his mother's fanatic Nazism, he is appalled to discover many of the people he knows and loves swept deeply into involvement in the Catholic Church. His complete estrangement from his family and friends, who are now either bourgeois or passionately Catholic (or both), is demonstrated to him, after he makes a series of efforts to make contact. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helmut Griem, Hanna Schygulla, (more)
- 1975
When the only surviving heir to the Emperor of Austro-Hungary, Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand (Christopher Plummer) was killed by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, on June 28th, 1914, his death set in motion a chain of events which resulted in the First World War. This movie chronicles the events surrounding that death and it aftermath. The assassination gave the Germans and Austrians reason to fear that Russia was actively fomenting unrest in the Balkans, for Serbia was a bone of contention throughout the region. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Plummer, Florinda Bolkan, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Lee Marvin plays a CIA agent who lures a Soviet biological warfare expert aboard a European train in the hopes of murdering the expert, thus eliminating a world threat. Things go awry when the train is caught in an avalanche. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Lee Marvin, (more)
- 1969
The life of the great Venezuelan liberator Simon Bolivar is given class-A treatment in this international produced historical epic. The film is set between 1817 and 1823, a time when Venezuelan rebels were waging a war of independence against the Spanish colonial government. Bolivar works tirelessly to unite the separate racial and religious Venezuelan factions to form a strong united front against the Spanish. But his personal vision goes beyond his homeland: Bolivar hopes to eventually liberate all of the Americas from the Spanish yoke. Francisco Rabal stars as Bolivar, while other roles are filled by the likes of Maximillian Schell and Rosanna Schiaffano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
As originally screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, at the Cannes Film Festival, and on Turner Classic Movies, the mammoth, epic-length documentary Brando chronicles in encyclopedic detail (and with a consistently reverent overtone) the life and career of the man widely regarded as the most formidable American actor of the 20th century - famous for not only reshaping, but reinventing the craft of film acting and teaching audiences how to view a motion picture performance. Divided into chronological, thematically-unified segments, the film first treats Marlon Brando's dysfunctional upbringing - his alcoholic mother, his abusive father, his stint at a military academy - before charting his acting tutelage at the behest of Stella Adler and his early cinematic and theatrical roles, including work for Elia Kazan, who famously made many aggressive (and unsuccessful) attempts to discipline the headstrong actor onscreen. Throughout this segment, many Hollywood A-list actors appear - among them, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Robert Duvall - expostulating at length on Brando's influence over their approaches to performance, and attempting with great effort to define the elusive style known as "method acting" that Brando helped to create. The second half of the documentary moves into Brando's career during the '70s, '80s and '90s, covering the production of The Godfather, the actor's noteworthy political activism, and his tumultuous personal life. Francis Ford Coppola, who of course teamed with Brando for the first Godfather installment and for Apocalypse Now, is noticeably absent from the proceedings. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, (more)
Paul Mazursky's Coast to Coast features a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. Barnaby (Richard Dreyfuss) and Maxine (Judy Davis) are attempting to salvage what might be left of their broken marriage by taking a road trip together. As they stop at various places and interact with a variety of people, they begin to bridge the wide gap that had taken its toll on their relationship. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Judy Davis, (more)
- 1967
The beauty of classical music confronts the ugliness and treachery of war in this unusual drama. Lionel Evans (Charlton Heston) is the director of a well-respected symphony orchestra touring European concert halls in 1944. In the midst of one concert, the city where they are playing is attacked by German troops, and as Evans and his musicians try to escape, they are captured by Nazi soldiers led by Col. Arndt (Anton Diffring). Evans and the orchestra are taken to a castle where they are to bide their time before being executed; but it turns out that Arndt's superior, Gen. Schiller (Maximilian Schell), is a classical music buff. Schiller commands Evans and his symphony to prepare a special concert for the Nazis, but Evans realizes that the moment the concert is over, he and his musicians will be killed. The orchestra's performances, which include works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, and Schubert, were performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Maximilian Schell, (more)
A quote from Bertolt Brecht ends this bitter and angry war film by Sam Peckinpah: "Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again." Peckinpah's intense and belligerently non-commercial work, (based on the book by Willi Heinrich), is a World War II tale told from the German perspective, following a platoon of German soldiers in the Russia of 1943, when the German Wehrmacht forces had been decimated and the Germans were retreating along the Russian front. James Coburn is Steiner, a German corporal and recipient of the Iron Cross who feels that he owes his loyalty to his family and fellow soldiers and not to Hitler and the German war machine. But when a new commander, Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), takes over the platoon, Steiner and Stransky come into immediate conflict. Stransky is a career soldier, the complete opposite of Steiner, and a man who pledges himself heart and soul to Hitler and the war. But he envies Steiner for having been awarded an Iron Cross and deeply desires one himself. The problem is Stransky is a complete coward and recognizes that the only way he can be awarded an Iron Cross would be to get the bitter Steiner on his side. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1968
The Castle (Das Schloss) is as good an adaptation of the inscrutable Franz Kafka as any. Maximillian Schell plays Kafka's ubiquitous protagonist "K", a surveyor who is hired by the residents of a remote castle. Once he arrives within the domain of the castle's owners, K finds there is no work for him. His efforts to contact those inside the castle are thwarted by the mysteriously obstructive villagers. In keeping with the fact that the novel was unfinished, the film has been released with two different endings: non-adherents of Kafka might argue that it could use two different beginnings and middles as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maximilian Schell, Cordula Trantow, (more)
Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker) directed this science-fiction disaster drama about the possible extinction of human life after a comet is discovered headed toward Earth with the collision only one year away. Ambitious MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) stumbles onto the story, prompting a White House press conference. United States President Beck (Morgan Freeman) announces the government's solution: a team of astronauts will travel to the comet and destroy it. The team leader aboard the spaceship Messiah is Spurgeon Tanner (Robert Duvall), who was once the last man to walk on the moon. However, the mission fails, splitting off a chunk of the comet, now due to land in the Atlantic with the impact sending a 350-foot tidal wave flooding 650 miles inland, destroying New York and other cities. The larger part of the comet, hitting in Canada, will trigger an E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event), not unlike a "nuclear winter" as dust clouds block out the sun and bring life to an end. President Beck reveals Plan B: a cavernous underground retreat constructed to hold one million Americans, with most to be selected through a national lottery. Since teenage amateur astronomer Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood) discovered the comet, his family gets a pass to enter the cave, but his girlfriend Sarah (Leelee Sobieski) and her parents will be left behind. Meanwhile, still in space, Spurgeon Tanner devises a plan for a kamikaze-styled operation that could possibly save the Earth. Special visual effects by Scott Farrar and Industrial Light & Magic. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, (more)
- 1955
Released one day before G. W. Pabst's Es Gescham am 20 Juli, Der 20 Juli was one of two concurrently produced German films dealing with a 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler. As in the Pabst film, the protagonist is Oberst Graf von Staufenberg, here played by Wolfgang Priess. In semi-documentary fashion, director Falk Harnack recounts the growing disaffection between Hitler and his military staff, culminating in Von Staufenberg's decision to assassinate Der Fuhrer and stage a coup. Curiously, Harnack's Von Staufenberg wears his trademarked eyepatch over his left eye, while Pabst's version of the character wears the patch over the right eye. It hardly matters, since history records that Von Staufenberg failed in his attempt, sparking a series of sham trials and thousands of brutal executions. Of the two "July 20" films, Pabst's is the better all-around production, while Harnack's is the more thorough so far as explaining Von Staufenberg's motives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wolfgang Preiss, Fritz Tillmann, (more)
- 1974
The Pedestrian (Der Fussganger) was the second filmed directorial effort of German actor Maximillian Schell. Billed third under Gustav Rudolf Sellner and Ruth Hausmeister, Schell plays Andreas Giese, a Krupp-like industrialist whose past suddenly returns to haunt him. A newspaper article reveals that Giese was responsible for the wartime destruction of a Greek village and the wholesale slaughter of the villagers. Whether or not Giese feels remorse for his actions is ultimately beside the point: his family is torn apart and his son kills himself as a result of the accusation. Here as in other films, Schell exhibits his fondness for female European film stars of days gone by: Elizabeth Bergner, Lil (Metropolis) Dagover, Francoise Rosay and Peggy Ashcroft appear in key minor roles. The winner of several international awards and a "best foreign picture" Oscar nominee, The Pedestrian was also produced and written by Schell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Actor Maximillian Schell functioned as coproducer and director of End of the Game. Conversely, director Martin Ritt is the leading actor in this existentialist crime story. Ritt plays Hans Barlach, a Swiss police inspector who has spent 30 years trying to pin the murder of the woman he loved on Richard Gastmann, an "untouchable" industrialist (Robert Shaw). When Barlach's assistant Donald Sutherland is killed while trying to get the goods on Gastmann, the inspector puts idealistic detective Walter Tschantz (Jon Voight) on the case. Jacqueline Bisset costars as Anna Crawley Sutherland's girl friend, who attempts to solve the case on her own. Author Friedrich Durrenmatt, long fascinated with the intangible aspects of Guilt and Innocence, wrote the novel (The Judge and His Hangman) upon which End of the Game is based. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
The US/German co-production The Rose Garden is based on an actual court case. Cast against type, Maximillian Schell plays a shabby old man who, without warning, attacks well-to-do Kurt Hubner at the Frankfurt airport. Hubner presses charges, and it looks like an open-and-shut case. But public-defender Liv Ullmann, who has witnessed the incident, is urged by her daughter to defend the poverty-stricken Schell in court. During her investigation, Ullman learns that Schell is a concentration-camp survivor who lost his sister to a hideous Nazi medical experiment, and that Hubner was commandant at the camp where this and other atrocities occurred. Hubner has been able to legally maneuver his way out of Germany, and was en route to parts unknown when Schell recognized him and attacked him. Even though she is armed with this information, Ullmann cannot be certain that justice will be served to the correct man. The Rose Garden is a provocative, compelling piece, deliberately and methodically raising more questions than can possibly be answered within its 112 minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1970
- R
Producer/director Maximillian Schell adapted the screenplay of First Love from a story by Ivan Turgenev. John Moulder Brown plays Alexander, a 16-year-old boy who falls in love with 21-year-old Sinaida (Dominique Sanda). Despite a great deal of emotional turmoil, exacerbated by the fact that Sinaida has been sleeping with Alexander's father, Alexander insists upon pursuing the relationship. His sexual coming-of-age is played out against the ominous backdrop of pre-World War II Europe. The film was originally released as Ein Leibe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Moulder-Brown, Dominique Sanda, (more)
The romance, intrigue, and industry politics of the world's biggest film festival -- which is also the world's biggest film marketplace -- provides the backdrop for this typically understated comedy-drama from director Henry Jaglom. Alice Palmer (Greta Scacchi) is a well-known American actress who has written a screenplay that she'd like to direct, and she arrives a the Cannes Film Festival to look for investors. Alice has her eyes on veteran star Millie Marquand (Anouk Aimee) to play the lead, but while Millie loves the script, she's been offered a better-paying supporting role in an upcoming Tom Hanks project. Meanwhile, Millie's former husband Viktor Kovner (Maximilian Schell) is a director fallen on hard times who is trying to scare up financing for his own film. Producer Rick Yorkin (Ron Silver) wouldn't mind leaving Millie in the lurch if it meant landing Alice for his next project. Kaz (Zack Norman) is a less-than-scrupulous producer hoping to put some sort of package deal together. And Blue (Jenny Gabrielle) is a young woman whose shoestring budget independent film has become an unexpected smash hit. Shot in the midst of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, Festival In Cannes features cameos from such stars as Jeff Goldblum, Holly Hunter, Faye Dunnaway, and William Shatner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jenny Gabrielle, Greta Scacchi, (more)
- 2000
An artist finds that leaving the creative life behind is more complicated than he expected in this comedy. Edward Schreiner (Tonio Arango) is a painter whose unusual ideas about art have prevented him from winning an audience for his work. Edward insists on destroying all of his work, convinced that this is the only true way to complete a canvas. While Edward's work has somehow won him a wealthy patron (Maximilian Schell), he becomes disillusioned with the world of art, and after a stint managing a gallery, he gives up and takes a job as a banker. However, just because Edward is finished with art doesn't mean that art is finished with Edward. Fisimatenten is the debut feature from Jochen Kuhn, who has a background in both fine art and animation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maximilian Schell, Edgar Selge, (more)
- 1962
A distinguished cast highlights this film adaptation of a stage drama by Peter Shaffer. Stanley Harrington (Jack Hawkins) is a self-made businessman incapable of expressing his emotions or compromising with others; his wife Louise (Rosalind Russell) imagines herself an intellectual, though her intelligence is more of an affectation than a reality. Stanley and Louise hire Walter (Maximilian Schell), a teacher from Germany, as a tutor for their two teenage children, effeminate Philip (Richard Beymer) and high-strung Pamela (Annette Gorman). Walter tries to ingratiate himself with the family, with little success; when he tries to get to know Louise better, she imagines that he's fallen in love with her, and she's deeply hurt when he confesses that he instead sees her as a motherly figure. Walter is eventually driven to the brink of suicide, which forces the family to reconsider their attitudes toward Walter and each other. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins, (more)
- 1979
Marianne (Birgit Doll) is driven from her father's home when she is impregnated by Alfred (Hanno Poeschi), a vagabond loafer who abandons her after he has his fun. She goes to Vienna and takes a job in a strip club to provide for herself and her baby. Her father discovers his daughter's tawdry vocation when he and his buddies go to the club for a night of leering and drinking. Marianne later has no choice but to go back to the butcher to whom her father promised her in marriage before she fell for Alfred. The story is taken from a play by Oedoen Von Horath and is directed with flair by Maximilian Schell. Watch for silent movie star Lil Dagover playing the role of Helene. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Birgit Doll, Helmut Qualtinger, (more)
