Young Prince Nechljudov is summoned as a judge in a murder trial. A rich merchant was found dead in the room of the inn where he was staying and the prostitute Maslova was accused of the crime. Nechljudov recognizes in the woman the maid of the aunts he had seduced and abandoned years before and tries to convince the authorities of her of his innocence but to no avail. Convinced that he is responsible for her moral fall, he follows her to Siberia where she must serve her sentence.
Based on an actual murder case in Frankfurt after the war, the film tells the story of the murder of Rosemarie, a prostitute, and how she ended up strangled in her apartment.
The quiet life of an extended family is shaken up when a circus comes into town.
Kurt Hoffmann′s satire concerning Germany′s development during the first half of the 20th century tells the story of two schoolmates - Hans and Bruno. They could not be more different. While Hans is ambitious and must always work hard for his career, it seems that the happy go lucky Bruno is carefree.
10-year-old Rosmarin von Stetten lives with his widowed father Robert in the big city. During the holidays one day in the morning Rosmarin goes to the lake near the castle and meets Thymian, the poorest boy of the village, whose mother did not come back from the war and who has to do several jobs in the village for his living. The boys enter a boat, but both fall into the lake. Thymian crawls out of the water first and is found by a servant from the castle, who thinks he is Rosmarin and bring him to the castle and to bed. The boy doesn't know what happens and thinks he's spellbound...
The film is a continuation of the story of Tom Sawyer and his friends, the second part of the Romanian screenplay after the famous novel by Mark Twain. The three friends Tom, Huck and Becky continue their adventures full of puzzles and suspense.
Father Brown starts solving crimes, much to the annoyance of his housekeeper, the police and especially his bishop, who is not amused by a priest playing detective.
The robber Hotzenplotz shows no mercy and steals Grandma's music-making coffee grinder. Naturally, Kasperl and Seppel have something against this and set off in pursuit. But Hotzenplotz overpowers them. Trapped in the robbers' den, one of them is even to be sold to the mysterious magician Petrosilius Zwackelmann...
After the death of the owner of the house Lina Braake is living in, the house is accrued to the bank. During the complete refurbishment of the building, the 81-year old woman is thrown out of her flat and is put in an old people′s home. There she meets 84-year old Gustaf. Together, the lively seniors come up with a plan to trick the bank with a smart credit fraud and take their revenge. They need the money to buy a country house on Sardinia and leave Germany for good. Although their coup proves to be successful, the bank soon finds Lina. But due to her old age she cannot be tried anymore.
Mr. Buchsbaum, third class taxes employee, lives a peaceful life until the new chief immediately criticizes his work. His only confort is his stamps collection. Sadly, even this consolation and his peace are threatened by a new, charming, neighbour who teaches piano. Increasingly infuriated, he discovers accidentally one evening that he has the ability to go through walls. With this power, he decides to settle the scores, firstly with his boss who downgraded him.
Today is a fateful day for village judge Adam. Who broke Widow Kull’s jug fleeing head over heels after his nightly visit to her daughter? As the trial unfolds, it becomes clear to everyone that the judge himself is the culprit. Judge Adam twists and turns, invents countless explanations, and piles up the most absurd lies. But he is conducting a trial against himself—one he cannot win.
Anna is a factory worker in East Germany, but her five-year-old son Jochen lives with his grandparents in the West. Anna wants him to live with her, so she abducts him. Along the way she meets Carl, who helps her cross the border, and they fall in love.
Gustl Leubelfing, daughter of the mayor of Nuremberg adores the king of the Swedes. So she happily substitutes her brother as Gustav Adolf's page instead of marrying her fiancée Roland. Of course she has to hide that she's a woman, especially when they go into war against Wallenstein.
A fictional, non-chronological account of the life of the scientist, adventurer and industrialist Lukas Berlinger. The key dates and central events include Berlinger's birth in 1914, his friendship with Johannes Roeder, who was the same age, his marriage to Marlit in the early 1930s and Roeder's joining the NSDAP in 1936. As a chemist and "scientist important to the war effort", Berlinger was not required to go to the front during the Second World War, but it was slowly discovered that he was helping persecuted people to escape to Switzerland. Pressure from the Gestapo cost Marlit her life, and Berlinger fled to South America. It was not until 1968 that he returned to the western part of Germany. He meets Roeder again, who is now a senator and has become rich as a "building tycoon", and meets Maria, a teacher almost 30 years his junior, who looks strikingly similar to Marlit.
A doctor marries his seemingly incurable patient to fulfill her last wish. A serum he develops saves her, and the union born of compassion develops into a loving marriage.
This film adaptation of Erich Kästner's book is about a millionaire who wants to travel to a hotel under a false name and test how "normal people" are treated. The hotel staff receive a warning, but mistake another man for the fake millionaire and treat him like God in France, while he doesn't feel the slightest bit of even luxurious treatment
Businessman and shameless social climber, Julius Lampe, is subjected to a cruel April Fools’ Day prank when he is led to believe a noble prince intends to personally inspect his pasta factory.
Achim and Vera are friends and live an uncomplicated and happy life .... that is, until they get into their first serious argument on how they should spend New Year's Eve. Vera wants to celebrate with friends, while Achim wants to go off to a lonely mountain hut. And so, he goes off alone into the mountains. In the hut, he meets the student Susanne, with whom he spends New Years' Eve; gets to know well; and falls in love with. Unfortunately, through misfortune, they lose sight of each other afterwards...
Father Brown is only too happy to interfere with the work of the police in solving tricky criminal cases, usually with resounding success. That's why the clergyman is transferred to a sleepy island called Abbott's Rock. At first, nothing happens there, but somehow Father Brown seems to be attracted to crime: Soon a gang of thieves is up to no good on the island. So Brown makes the headlines again, and is punitively transferred once more. This time he finds himself in a quiet Irish millionaire community.
In 1885, famous New York Metropolitan Opera singer Maddalena dall' Orto is scheduled to perform at a festival in the German residence of Ilmingen. It soon becomes obvious that she is non other than Magda von Schwartze, who left the town eight years ago against her father's wishes to become a singer.
A man, in need of money and too lazy to work for a living, marries a plain but rich girl in the knowledge that she is ill and has not long to live.
The talkative dentist Dr. Agartz lets the drill whir and tries to entertain his patient Thesi Petersen with the latest society gossip: the famous Hamburg architect Robert Petersen is about to remarry. The new girl's name is Karin Nielsen and she comes "from the best family".
Lothar von Pütz and Roswitha von Krakow fall in love and only then discover that their fathers are bitter enemies. When Lothar's father dies, a close friend of his father's, Baron Maximilian von Hanckel, takes the boy under his wing and tries to make peace between the families. He visits Roswitha's father, who begins to hope that he can marry his daughter to the older, but wealthy, baron, who is still a bachelor. When an argument breaks out between Lothar and Roswitha, she agrees to marry Maximilian. It is only at the pre-wedding party that Roswitha and Lothar have a real conversation. Maximilian overhears everything, releases Roswitha from her vows, and brings the two young people together.
Winnie is desperate and doesn't know what to do next. She is about to marry her lover Paul, who has returned from war captivity. Both want to emigrate to America short after marriage. But the young woman has an illegitimate one-and-a-half-year-old son, whom she has kept secret from her fiancé. The short-tempered Paul would never understand that. When she is on her way to the orphanage, the grumpy senior civil servant Hieronymus Spitz and his little dog Tobby get into her train compartment. After a short observation, Winnie is certain that the misantrope actually has a good heart, because he lovingly takes care of his dog. Without further ado she leaves little Niki with the tax accountant and disappears from the train. Only a note with a request remains. The overwhelmed old gentleman initially wants to get rid of the child, but then takes it home and takes care of it together with his housekeeper. Both take the bundle of joy to their hearts. But then everything turns out differently.
After the death of his father, the ambitious farmhand Hauke Haien works his way up to become the successor to the old dyke count, whose daughter Elke he marries. He develops plans for the construction of a new dyke to provide better protection against storm surges, but encounters resistance and inertia from the villagers, who superstitiously suspect him of being in league with the devil. As a heavy storm approaches, he chases towards the floods with his white horse...
Young Olga Ahrendt almost succeeded in attempting suicide. She had thrown herself in front of a tram out of desperation about her miserable life, a desperation she shared with many in the post-war period. Fortunately, Privy Councillor Sauerbruch is at the scene of the incident, ordering her to be admitted to his clinic after a brief examination. Sauerbruch works both as a university lecturer and as a surgeon, a famous doctor who not only helps his patients physically but also gives them spiritual comfort. After he has taken Olga Ahrendt to his hospital, he discovers during an examination that her suicide attempt is due to a serious physical illness. He intensively takes care of her without forgetting about his other patients, to whom he can give a new will to live, even if only through a small story. And he will also treat Olga Ahrendt successfully...
Master butcher Külz from Hanover meets the young and beautiful Irene Trübner, private secretary to the wealthy art collector Steinhövel, in Copenhagen. She asks him to help her transport a miniature recently acquired by her employer at an auction in Copenhagen to Hanover. The newspaper has just reported on the theft of some of the art objects sold at the same auction and she is afraid of being robbed as well. The two agree that Külz should discreetly give her the miniature at the station the next morning in order to deceive any robbers. However, Miss Irene does not give Mr. Külz the original, but a copy. During the train journey, the miniature is stolen from Mr. Külz...
Professor Mauthner, after many years of exile (having emigrated in 1933 to the USA), returns to Germany in 1948. He can in fact return to his teaching post, but the rejection and petty intrigues of his reactionary colleagues and students make his work almost unbearable.
The newspaper delivery driver Paul falls in love with Lotte, who works in her mother’s kiosk. One day, Paul helps a man in a black Mercedes, who’s been in an accident. While helping him, a notebook has fallen out of the man’s pocket, which Paul thinks is his own and pockets. In fact, the notebook belongs to a band of auto thieves, who’ll now do anything and everything possible to get the book back.
A renowned physician falls under scrutiny when it's discovered his assistant is a former Nazi.
For the old privy Frau Butow, the green salon in her comfortable Berlin apartment is both an untouchable relic from the past as well as a refuge from the cares of everyday life. Enthroned in her salon, she wishes to neither hear not see the changes the world is going through and the problems these changes are bringing about. Frau Butow lives in an illusory world, in which problems aren't allowed. Thus, she knows nothing of the problems of her children and grandchildren; nor her son's business problems; nor even the health problems of her daughter. Only granddaughter Sabine doesn't want to come to terms with the unworldly attitude of her grandmother. So she tells her about her love for the architectural student Wolf, who has to earn his money as a bricklayer. The old woman is horrifeid and doesn't want to hear anymore! But Sabine won't shut her mouth.
It's been said, that Dr. Kugler is always ready with some gossip about the missteps and bad habits of young girls. His daughter Lisa, however, is no saint either -- only he knows nothing about it and his wife is at wits' end about it. Finally, Aunt Edith has to stick her nose in everyone's affairs and in the end, she even finds a match for Lisa.
A farm boy betrothed to a socialite falls in love with his maid - an impoverished girl from the marsh.
Dietz' relatives are horrified to discover that Dietz, the son of a wealthy merchant, is planning to marry an actress, who is known to appear in rather daring roles. Dietz finds a way to escape from a gathering over coffee, during which he's supposed to be introduced to "decent ladies". After all, his great love is waiting for him somewhere else.
When Arlette, born out of wedlock, moves from the countryside to the big city of Paris, she is drawn to the bohemian circles, where she can be herself. She quickly feels at home and befriends the painter Luc Lamballe and the student Marc Tissier. After some time, it becomes clear to both of them that they have fallen in love with Arlette. But unexpectedly, she has her eyes set on someone else: the serious civil servant Gérard Laurent.
One day, an exceptionally beautiful girl shows up at Josua Webmann’s pawnshop to pawn a golden harp. Josua’s apprentice, Klaas, immediately sees her as an angel. That evening, she meets him again and dances with him, causing even the previously indifferent Lissy to take notice of Klaas. Meanwhile, Josua worries about his money and negotiates with an instrument dealer who makes him a generous offer for the harp. The next day, the girl and the harp have disappeared again—but she has left behind unexpected wealth.
After the death of her wealthy but lonely husband, wealthy but lonely hotel owner Maria Alsbacher falls in love with a charming bandleader and singer without realizing that he is only after her money. When she decides to marry him, her son enlists the help of his tragically ill fiancée, Lydia, to unmask this man for the villain he really is.
The wife of the English consul in British-occupied Egypt at the turn of the century falls in love with a French foreign legionnaire, and her husband takes advantage of this to spy on secret plans for an uprising instigated by the French. An action by the French in the desert is then bloodily suppressed by the English. The legionnaire survives, but he cannot forgive the woman who loves him for the fact that many of his comrades have died as a result of her betrayal.
The rich and respected London doctor Roger Mills has invited six of his best friends onto his boat on the Thames - he won't survive the trip.
At the turn of the century in Munich, a ballerina accepts the sponsorship of an older industrialist but also spends time with his son.
A murder in a winter sports hotel jolts Inspector Eyck out of his cozy, relaxed holiday mood. He rushes to the scene, where he encounters crime writer Gorgas, who, as he says, conducts "crime scene studies." But this case isn't fiction, because a dead man lies on the ground. Eyck immediately begins his investigation, which initially yields little insight. And the prime suspect, Gorgas, also has a watertight alibi.
A famous composer has to prove his innocence when his wife, who has mysteriously disappeared, is shot dead in the street one day.
Willy Loman is an over-the-hill salesman who faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family: Willy's long-suffering wife Linda, and Biff and Happy, his troubled sons and his life.
A domineering, reclusive and ostentatiously pious widow in a small Spanish town keeps such close watch on her daughters that they are unable to have normal social lives. However, the eldest is allowed to become engaged to an unprincipled young man, primarily for the financial advantages it will bring the mother, Bernarda. Jealousy and envy ensues among the other daughters.
Anette Klinger, a widowed and lonely factory owner, one day meets the gas station attendant Nikolei Stein. She falls in love with him, Nikolei knows how to cuddle up to her. But in reality the man is an unscrupulous fraudster who is after Anette's money.
A hitchhiker unsettles the ideologically colored lifestyle of a young architect and in doing so loses her own ideological distance from the maxim of prosperity.
Six women from three generations of one family live in an old villa on the outskirts of a provincial Polish town. All of them have lost their husbands; one is divorced, the others are widows. The women live on their memories, raving about the old days or looking back bitterly on a lost life. The doted center of this isolated women's world is the old grandmother, whose wise kindness determines the atmosphere of the house. Joanna Nielewicz returned to the family circle just a few months ago, after the death of her husband, who was respected by all for his particularly high moral standards. Since his death, Joanna has been tormented by a guilt that she finally confesses to her grandmother: once during her marriage, she was unfaithful to her husband. One day, the surprise visit of a young girl brings unrest to the villa. Despite the women's resistance, she manages to get through to Joanna and reveal that she is the illegitimate daughter of her late husband.
Verkrachte Existenzen is the title of a German drama from 1924.
The life and struggles of the German writer Heinrich von Kleist.
A dramatic reconstruction of the July 1944 attempt by German Army Officers to assassinate Hitler with a bomb and end the war before Germany was totally destroyed.
Countess Franziska "is kidnapped" by a band of robbers. However, her father is not willing to pay the ransom so Franziska changes sides.
When the innkeeper Egli hears that his daughter has set off on a boat trip with the sailor Lukas, he sets off in pursuit. He confronts the two and offers them the chance to take over the "Ochsen" inn. However, given the constant friction at home, the young couple soon change their minds...
The farmers on the Lohhof, the largest farm in the area, are well known all around and have the highest prestige amongst their peers, not the least, because they never suffer any shortage of water. When in times of drought the water everywhere else has dried into nothingness, the water on the Lohhof is abundant and fresh. But one very dry summer, the drought comes to the Lohhof, too, and this time, the source of the water has dried up. And so, with diving rod in hand, one of the farm's old peasants goes on his merry little way to find a new source of water. At one point, the diving rod bends so strongly, that it almost slips out of the old man's hands. Convinced that there must be a huge source of water nearby, all the farmers of the Lohhof bend their backs to find the new well. They dig long, but they dig in vain: no water is found, only a strange sand, which is yellowish, shiny and flickers golden in the sun.
He who loves, torments himself: This turn of phrase works for the big farmer Gerd Tapken and his landlady Katrin Geerken. For more than 30 years, the two have fought at every opportunity, although they secretly love one another. But things seem to have come to a serious breach when Tapken shoots Katrin’s cat, because it allegedly ate three of his hens. The woman is so enraged over this brutality, that she contacts her lawyer. Thus begins a court case, in which the farmer might be fined or even go to jail!
Eduard Winkelmann, the owner of an apartment building in Munich, never tires of making life difficult for his renters. One day, a young woman, Erika, shows up at his door. She is the illegitimate daughter of a long-past love affair.
"Bluebeard" (German: "Blaubart") is a 1951 black comedy film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Hans Albers, Cécile Aubry and Fritz Kortner. Based on the fairy tale "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault, it was a co-production between West Germany, France and Switzerland. It was made using the Gevacolor process. A separate French-language version, "Barbe-Bleue", was also made.