Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”
A player on a soccer team, where everyone matches together just perfectly, has fallen out of a championship tournament due to illness; which leads to a big problem: who would be the perfect man to replace him? Werner Fehling appears to be the perfect replacement for the sick man. The problem is, he's a bitter rival of the goalkeeper, Jupp Jaeger. Both men love the same girl, Grete Gabler. Grete is the daughter of a senior member of the sports club, which is why she feels doubly under pressure not to do anything to jeopardize the success of the team.
Using the example of three generations of a Hamburg working class family, the rise of the working class from the founding of the Wilhelmin Empire to the First World War, over the time of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism to the destruction of the Third Reich.
The popular trapeze artist Cora is married to the respected doctor Frank Crippen. After a party at the Crippens' house, Cora suddenly disappears. Apparently, she traveled to Brazil alone overnight. However, a friend of the couple is skeptical and calls the police. While excavating the garden, Inspector Düwell makes a gruesome discovery: body parts. Meanwhile, the prime suspect, Dr. Crippen, has already gone into hiding...
The niece of a wealthy manufacturing aunt has secretly married. Her husband has lost his way during the night in his pajamas at a spa and ended up on the balcony of an attractive singer.
Gunther and Elizabeth have felt bonded to each other since their childhood. When Gunther finishes up his engineer studies, he finds a position at a large concern, which is, however, located in another city. Elizabeth lets him withdraw, although she is pregnant; she trusts him. With the passing of time, his love for her recedes ever further into the background; especially as he’s getting closer and closer to Gina, the daughter of the boss.
Across German screens at the outbreak of WWII streaks "DIII88: The New German Air Force Attacks", an aeronautic and maritime spectacle glorifying Hermann Goring's Luftwaffe and the spirit of the newly arisen Germany. Once war became imminent, Joseph Goebbels instructed the German film industry to initiate production of numerous militaristic projects, but DIII88 was initiated by the Propaganda Minister's rival, Goring, who commissioned several aviation pictures. DIII88 is not a war picture per se, because it takes place in peacetime, but the young, fresh-faced air aces enthusiastically look forward to the coming war. The propaganda is blatant: The only thing that matters is dedication to duty and unconditional commitment to the Fatherland.
This is part one of a two-part biopic about Karl Liebknecht. In 1914, Germany is arming itself for war. Karl Liebknecht, left-wing revolutionary Social Democrat, workers’ leader and a virulent antimilitarist, is one among 110 SPD members of Parliament who vote against approving war loans. From then on, he is considered un-German and a traitor to the fatherland, and his own party’s leadership turns against him. Despite threats, Liebknecht speaks up against the war and writes the manifesto “The Main Enemy Is at Home.” Even when he is arrested and charged with treason, he does not surrender.
October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of Kiel’s sailors against war and militarism sets off a call for revolution led by Liebknecht. On November 9, Liebknecht declares the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. But pro-Kaiser military and right wing Social Democrats oppose him.
By coincidence Magdalena gets hired for two jobs in the same company (one day, one night shift) and "invents" a sister to "explain" the situation to an engineer who falls for one of the "sisters" while hating the other.
At a mine on the shared edge of France and Germany, an underground explosion leads to the entrapment of a group of French miners. In an effort to save the trapped Frenchmen, German miners Wittkopp and Kasper take it upon themselves to traverse a crumbling war tunnel leading down into the mines. Yet, though the workers harbor no political biases against one another, their callous, less tolerant bosses hope to halt this cross-cultural rescue mission.
German colonial soldiers fight against the British during World War I.
Returning after three years at sea, a young sailor finds his boyhood sweetheart is now engaged to his old friend::a challenge to their comradeship.
Dance star Maria Arni is in love with Achim, the ballet répétiteur at the Municipal Opera. He, however, only has eyes for shy Else, a new girl at Maria's dance school. The girls are to accompany Maria on her new tour. The day before it begins, Else meets the English diplomat Bentley at a party. He courts her and nicknames her Daphne. Daphne believes she has found the man of her dreams. But then Bentley stops contacting her and eventually leaves. When Maria falls and injures herself during a performance in Geneva, Daphne steps in for her. In the audience, she sees Bentley and Achim sitting together. She then realizes that only Achim, who truly loves her, deserves her love.
Before the First World War, Dr. Hans Stockmann had a practice in a small town. His powerhungry brother is the mayor of Bad Trimburg, which has developed into a respectable resort. Dr. Stockmann is called in to become the town’s chief physician. He considers the sanitary conditions to be intolerable and insists on a clean-up. His ambitious brother and all those who, till now, have profited well from the corner cutting, are, of course, against that for financial reasons. The doctor is condemned from all sides and the conflict escalates.
Literary adaptation about the need for the new Germany to have more children.
Whenever Pastor Piepenbrink gets his “deputatsrabbit”, there’s a frenzy in Pumpelshausen. For every time the rabbit is hung on the gable of the parsonage, every man in the village has the ambition to kidnap it. For that reason, the field watch Fuchtel is going to guard it with his pistol. Gustav Rabbit is to be kidnapped once again this year; but Marianne, the beautiful daughter of the town elder, is determined to save it from this fate and convinces a holiday guest, the singer Kasimir Haase, to pull down the rabbit. And it just so happens that the pastor’s house is attacked from several sides. The next morening, the rabbit is still on the gable … but stuffed. The storm begins; who has the real rabbit?!?
Sabine Heitmann, the young boss for the shipping company Heitmann, has become friends with Michael, the First Officer and Helmsman of the ship, the "Sabine Heitmann". He only knows Sabine by her first name and doesn't know that she's the boss. When he discovers the fact, however, he gets pissed and refuses to accept his promotion to Captain. Then the shipping company gets a lucrative offer: In a competition with another shipping company, they need to reach Baltimore in 18 days and pick up some freight. Whoever can move their rear ends faster, gets the very profitable contract from an American firm (correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't this sort of thing sink the Titanic?). Together with Michael, Sabine comes up with a plan, which should have them win the contest. The upshot? She wins back his heart and he becomes Captain.
A retired rail official and his wife Amalie purchase a disused railroad wagon to convert it into a villa in the countryside. One day, Amalie discovers 25,000 Marks hidden behind a picture in the rail car. The money was put there by a Dutch couple, who tried to smuggle the money across the border during the train’s last journey. Sorely tempted to keep the money, Amalie turns it over to the authorities. The smugglers, who finally find the rail car after a long search, will be turned over to the cops, too.
Music student Verena finds herself torn between two stepbrothers: the carefree Alexander, with whom she is pregnant, and the serious Clemens, who, continuing his father's work, is developing a new drug. Alexander has fallen into deep debt through a dubious business deal and is forced to rely on his brother's help, who sends him to America. Meanwhile, Clemens offers Verena his country house, where she gives birth. Clemens and Verena slowly grow closer. But then Alexander returns, having found honest work and wanting to be a good father to his child. However, when he realizes that Verena has fallen in love with his brother, he angrily drives off and is seriously injured in a car accident. He is saved by Clemens' new drug. The brothers reconcile, and Verena stays with Clemens.
The two stars of an upcoming operetta performance quarrel constantly. but they also fall in love with each other.
It can hardly be said that things are peaceful in the Berlin apartment building where the film's story takes place. There are constant clashes between the residents – and sometimes that's quite literal: for example, when the widow Bock hid some explosives among the bricks, which detonated when the building's thieving doorman lit them in his stove.
A circus film made as a deliberately escapist release at a time when the Second World War was starting to turn against Germany and its allies.