Cinema - German films

German cinema: All genres (Page 1 of 4)

Abwege (1928)

Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Neglected by her workaholic husband Thomas, Irene Beck plans to elope with her secret admirer, the artist Walter Frank. When Thomas, a respected lawyer, manages to thwart this scheme, Irene takes her revenge by slipping away one evening to a debauched Berlin nightclub. Influenced by drugs and drink, she succumbs to the earthy charms of a young boxer... [More...]

Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972)

Werner Herzog

In 1560, a party of conquistadors led by Gonzalo Pizarro cross the Andes and undertake a hazardous journey through the Amazon rain forest in search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. When the terrain becomes too difficult to cross on foot, a smaller group of about fifty men is sent on ahead on rafts, led by Don Pedro de Ursúa... [More...]

Der Amerikanische Soldat (1970)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

After serving in the American army in Vietnam, a former professional killer named Ricky returns to his hometown of Munich in Germany. The town is in the grip of a serious crime wave, which the police seem incapable of containing. Three renegade cops hire Ricky to kill the gangsters who are behind the crime wave, which he does with his usual professional detachment... [More...]

Angst essen Seele auf (1974)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

One rainy evening, Emmi Kurowski, a 60-year-old cleaning lady, ducks into an Arab bar to avoid being soaked. She immediately notices a Moroccan worker, twenty years her junior, and invites him to dance with her. The Moroccan introduces himself as Ali and an unlikely friendship develops between the two... [More...]

Anna Boleyn (1920)

Ernst Lubitsch

Once she has completed her education in France, Anne Boleyn returns to England to take up the position of lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine, the wife of the English monarch, King Henry VIII. By the time of Anne’s arrival, the King has grown tired of Katherine and intends to divorce her on the grounds that she has failed to supply him with a male heir... [More...]

Die Austernprinzessin (1919)

Ernst Lubitsch

Mr Quaker is America’s Oyster King, a millionaire businessman whose seafood empire is unsurpassed. But his daughter Ossi is unimpressed by his status and spends most of her time wrecking his house in her frequent temper tantrums. The cause of Ossi’s latest upset is news that a shoe cream magnate has married his daughter off to a count... [More...]

Les Aventures de Till L’Espiègle (1956)

Gérard Philipe

In the 15th Century, Flanders is governed by Spain, although the inhabitants of the village of Damme appear to be happily unconcerned by this fact. When one patrol of Spanish soldiers is swallowed up by sinking sands, the villagers are punished by another patrol. With the village set alight and several villagers, including his father, dead, the young troublemaker Till swears he will have his revenge... [More...]

Die Bergkatze (1921)

Ernst Lubitsch

In the mountain town of Piffkaneiro, hundreds of desolate women gather to bid a sad farewell to Lieutenant Alexis, the popular military man who has touched all their hearts and left each one of them with a permanent reminder of their liaison, in the form of a child. Alexis may be a first-class lover but he is a lousy soldier, so to punish him for neglecting his duties he is sent to a fortress in the icy wasteland outside Piffkaneiro... [More...]

Der Blaue Engel (1930)

Josef von Sternberg

Immanuel Rath, professor of a provincial German school, is incensed when he learns that his pupils are frequenting a cabaret venue known as The Blue Angel. Determined to put an end to this, he storms into the nightclub and verbally assaults the manager. Whilst doing so, his attention is caught by the star of the cabaret, a seductively beautiful young woman named Lola... [More...]

Die Blechtrommel (1979)

Volker Schlöndorff

Born into a German family in Danzig of the early 1920s, Oskar Matzerath becomes aware of the world around him at an early age. Unimpressed by the childish and hypocritical behaviour of the adults who surround him, he makes the decision on his third birthday never to grow up. By throwing himself down a flight of stairs, he manages to arrest his growth, but whilst he retains the stature of a child, his mind is more lucid than that of any adult... [More...]

Brennendes Geheimnis (1933)

Robert Siodmak

One autumn, Edgar, a 12 year old boy, spends a holiday with his mother at a plush hotel in Switzerland. His father, a busy lawyer, remains at the family home in Vienna. When he sees a stylish motorcar pull up at the hotel, Edgar wastes no time befriending its owner, an amiable dandy. The latter pays more attention to the boy’s mother than to the boy himself, and decides to use Edgar to wheedle his way into her affections... [More...]

Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari (1920)

Robert Wiene

Seated on a park bench, a young man, Francis, tells an older man the tragic story of his fiancée. It began some years ago, when he and his friend, Alan, were in love with the same young woman, Jane... One day, Francis and Alain decide to visit a travelling fair at which one of the exhibits is Dr Caligari’s cabinet... [More...]

Carlos (2010)

Olivier Assayas

A legend in his own lifetime, Carlos the Jackal (né Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) was at the epicentre of international terrorism in the 1970s and ’80s. He was both an extreme leftwing activist and opportunistic mercenary, selling his services to political organisations in the Middle East, whilst building up his own terrorist network behind the Iron Curtain... [More...]

Cross of Iron (1977)

Sam Peckinpah

It is 1943 and Germany is losing the war on the Eastern Front. After a humiliating defeat at Stalingrad, German troops are in retreat, repelled by a determined Soviet fighting machine. Corporal Steiner is a battle-hardened soldier in the Germany army, contemptuous of officers but fiercely loyal to the men who fight alongside him... [More...]

Dorothea Angermann (1959)

Robert Siodmak

Late one evening, a young woman walks out of a bar and confesses to the murder of her husband. At her trial, Dorothea Angermann looks back on the events that have brought her to this tragic outcome. It all began when her father, a prim country priest, sent her away from home to start her own life. At the restaurant where she worked, she attracted the attentions of a womanising chef named Mario... [More...]

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922)

Fritz Lang

Who is the stranger who contrives a stock exchange crash to his own advantage? Who is behind a major counterfeiting operation? Who controls the criminal gangs that are sowing mayhem and terror throughout the city? And who takes such delight in despoiling the rich in their secret gambling dens? This is what State Prosecutor Von Wenck intends to discover – the identity of the criminal mastermind who has somehow taken control of the country’s criminal fraternity and is intent on crime for its own sake... [More...]

Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930)

Wilhelm Thiele

Returning home from a holiday, three friends – Willy, Kurt and Hans – learn they are bankrupt. Their fortune has evaporated and their possessions are being seized by the bailiffs. Undeterred, the three friends sell their car and open a petrol station, taking turns to man the petrol pump. Each has, as his first customer, Lilian, a beautiful young woman who easily wins his heart... [More...]

Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

In 1943, a young German woman named Maria marries Hermann Braun, just before he goes off to fight on the Russian front. Shortly after the end of the war, Maria’s brother-in-law returns with the news that Hermann has been killed in action. To support herself and her mother, Maria finds work in a bar frequented by American servicemen... [More...]

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

Werner Herzog

In 1828, a young man dressed in ragged clothes is found standing in the town square at Nuremberg. No one recognises him and he can only speak one phrase, "I want to be a cavalryman, like my father." The townsfolk adopt him as one of their own and attempt to civilise him, although when he becomes a financial burden he ends up as an exhibit in a sideshow... [More...]

Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)

Werner Herzog

In the midst of dead, barren landscape there sits a secluded institution, which might be a prison or a lunatic asylum. All of the people in the institution – the director, the guards, the inmates - are dwarfs. Everyone in this world is a dwarf. One day, the inmates of the institution rise up against the director, who reacts by taking one of the prisoners hostage and locking himself in his office... [More...]

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