In 1957 Gustaf Gründgens staged a new production of Goethe's Faust in which he once again played Mephisto, a part he had played since 1932. The brilliant production was a huge success and ran for a couple of years. In 1959 Peter Gorski captured the performance on film in his directorial film debut. Basically it is a registration of the production, but Gorksi did manage to accentuate the details of the acting by using enough medium and close-up shots which give a view on the acting you normally would not able to see in a theater.
An unusual family story about two father and son generations, beginning on a German country side and ending in the students' revolt in Berlin.
Short film about the ninth circle of hell as described in Dante's Inferno
Short film about the eighth circle of hell as described in Dante's Inferno
An attempt to bring texts from Dante's "Divine Comedy" to life. Nine episodes from the Inferno with a concluding episode from the Purgatorio.
A woman between two men. Horror melodrama.
Celebrated conservatory graduates Anna and Joachim marry, but since Joachim doesn't seem able to compose anything of value he grows so jealous of pianist Anna's successful cooperation with conductor Westberg that he leaves her.
Violin virtuoso Fedor Varany meets on the train from Nice to Vienna Helene Samboni, the lover of the Chamber of Commerce President Alexander Grabner and still-wife of the artist Samboni. Fedor falls in love with her without betraying his identity.
When Bartos, the director of the Odeon variety theater, cancels an artist at short notice, he hires the Terrys out of necessity, whose parents were successful variety artists, but who had not yet received an engagement themselves. Both are supported by Tobs, a friend of their parents. While blonde Mara Terry arrives punctually for the first rehearsal, her dark-haired sister Kora is late like a diva and acts aloof and snippy. At their first performance together the next day, Kora is overtired from partying the night before. During a dangerous act in which she has to balance her upside-down sister on her head, she becomes careless...
Christl, the forester’s daughter, apprehends a young hunter in the forest and only lets him go after he pays a small fine. But when Christl goes to the emperor shortly afterward to plead on behalf of her beloved—a Hungarian officer who has fallen out of favor—she can hardly believe her eyes: the young hunter was the emperor.
Lola Montes, previously a great adventuress, is reduced to being the attraction of a circus after having been the lover of various important men.
During a performance of Calderón's "The Judge of Zalamea," a young actor encounters his famous older colleague, whose daughter committed suicide years ago after he seduced and abandoned her. The older man finds the strength to reconcile when he is convinced of his adversary's remorse and inner transformation.
As the title "The Queen's Heart" suggests, this early German black and white version of Mary Queen of Scott's eventful reign and death focuses on her emotional perception rather lyrically, with some songs, mainly by her.
Thomas offers Dorette a trip to Moselle that she rejects saying it's short notice, but when Thomas shows at her apartment the next day he finds she's not slept on her bed. He leaves for Dorette alone, and there he meets Angela.
Alexander Schonath is an exceptionally gifted musician who plays first violin in a philharmonic orchestra. But when the orchestra runs into financial difficulties, Alexander is the first to leave and join a dance band – the other musicians, especially his father, see him as a "deserter." In Alexander's absence, his younger, perpetually sickly brother Hans makes a career in the philharmonic and becomes engaged to Maria, the daughter of the orchestra's chairman, Herbert Hartwig.
Strange things begin to happen to a student when he rents a room once belonging to the poet ETA Hoffmann.
A tenor sparks new hope into the life of a wife,a former piano player whose husband has not been paying enough attention to her.
Around 1850, a young violin virtuoso steals a Stradivarius from the museum of a southern German royal residence in order to play for a famous master. By chance, he is able to demonstrate his skills to the sovereign at a court concert.
Three men are planning a balloon ascent into the stratosphere. During the balloon flight, complications arise, the balloon is driven out to sea and the men face death.
A documentary about the 75th birhday of the UFA film studios directed by Hans-Christoph Blumenberg.
A Nazi propaganda movie from 1941 directed by Max W. Kimmich, covering a story of Irish heroism and martyrdom over two generations under the occupation of the British.
Drama based on Hugo von Hofmannsthal‘s work.
Olga, a Russian refugee from Bolshevik terror, has joined the Soviet secret police to find the man responsible for killing her parents. Meanwhile, a young Baltic couple are caught up in the schemes of the communists.