Who is the funniest Berliner? Helga Hahnemann or Edith Hancke, Brigitte Mira or Cindy from Marzahn? rbb television is looking for the Berliner with the biggest mouth and the even bigger heart. Who will be number 1? To this day, they inspire TV audiences with their big mouths and big hearts - genuine Berliners such as Ingrid Steeger, the nation's "funny girl", Helga Hahnemann, the unforgettable "Henne", or Cindy from Marzahn, the cult figure in pink and jogging pants. From a selection of 15 ladies, rbb Fernsehen is looking for the funniest Berliner of all time. Highlights from 60 years of German television entertainment will be presented: legendary appearances and sketches, curious finds and lots of music and artistry. There will be a reunion with the master cake thrower and fast-talker Gisela Schlüter, the funky rock star Nina Hagen, the "Drei Damen vom Grill" and many, many more.
The pretty young seamstress Annie works in the home of the famous Viennese fashion czar Charles Fürst. Hoping to one day win Her Majesty, as Fürst is known, Annie rejects all advances from jazz trumpeter Axel. Her efforts are vindicated when she mistakenly receives an invitation to a royal dinner and is allowed to accompany Charles on a business trip to Paris. But in the city of love, her hopes are abruptly dashed.
A dance and music film tailored completely for Marika Rokk: After her divorce, the wife of a composer uses her wit and charm to engage Marika as a singer and dancer on the stage. This manages to give life once again to the extinguished love between her and her former husband.
Aspiring singer Susanne takes over for ham actor Viktor at a small cabaret in Berlin where he works a woman impersonator and per chance she's discovered by an agent, who thinks, that she really is a man. She becomes famous, but her situation becomes troublesome, when she falls in love with Robert.
The story of Lanze who is in love with the princess. One day the princess is kidnapped by the Dark Knight and Lanze starts his journey to rescue her. But he is not alone because Erdal, a turk, joins him on his journey.
In the 1880s, Georges Duroy, back from the Colonies, arrives in Paris with the firm intention of conquering the capital through his power of seduction, his selfishness and cynicism. Entering into journalism through the back door he will soon rise to the top with the support of several women: Madeleine Forestier, the wife of his journalist friend Charles; Clothilde de Marelle, his first mistress; Virginie Walter, the wife of a newspaper owner; Suzanne Walter, her daughter who eventually marries Duroy.
Familial disputes surrounding a traditional business. Grandfather Sonndorfer allies himself with his grandson Otto, in order to bring his arrogant son Max on the right path. Between the fronts is Emmerich Liebling, the intriguing messenger.
The multi-millionaire John Underhower travels from New York to Bavaria, where he’s bought a castle. The reason? He wants to prove there’s ghosts in the old building. John represents himself as a poor circus performer to his unsuspecting cousin Hyronimus, who works as a tour guide at the fortress. And Hyronimus has no shame in pretending to John, that he’s the proud owner of the castle. This little game soon leads to a lot of complications.
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".
Hannes stands at the gates of heaven and has only one chance to return to Earth to his sick daughter: he must win a bet against Peterson (St. Peter). To do so, Hannes must break all ten commandments within 30 minutes in Munich's worst bar! Will he succeed?
Head waiter Leopold has been secretly in love with the hostess Josepha for a long time, but she only has eyes for Dr. Siedler, a guest in the White Horse Inn. Leopold tries to get Dr. Siedler interested in the daughter of Industrialist Giesecke, who would rather see his daughter married to Sigismund.
Prince Heinrich Dagobert has a weakness for the opposite sex, which his wife, Rosemarie, isn't exactly happy about. While the prince invites both men and women to his castle, Rosemarie tries to uncover her husband's true intentions incognito. There, she meets Herbert von Waldendorf, with whom she falls in love. Then there's the bird dealer Adam, who has his worries about his fiancée, Christel von der Post...
A documentary about the life of the 93 years old actor Johannes Heesters who doesn't want to leave the stage.
To take a revenge on countess Laura, who slapped him at his proposal, the Governor of the occupied Poland gets her fall in love with a poor student, and exposes him during wedding banquet.
In this intricately plotted crime comedy, Johannes Heesters plays the worldly insurance detective Peter Holm, who is determined to apprehend jewel thief Robert Makaroff. To this end, Holm travels to Copenhagen, where the Hungarian actress Lilly Hegedüsch is staying at a luxury hotel with her rare jewelry. While Holm is searching for Makaroff, Jenny, the sleuthing daughter of Holm's boss, arrives in Copenhagen. Since Jenny doesn't know her secret admirer Holm, numerous mix-ups and suspicions ensue before the rival detectives become lovers.
Tenor Peter Hansen is about to marry for the second time. Just minutes before his wedding to dancer and singer Kitty, he's still busy rehearsing for a new revue directed by Melchior Oberländer. Kitty's uncle Meierhofer, a prompter at the theater, is urging him to leave. However, Melchior is informed that his newly hired female star, Marina Garden, has arrived. She is to sing duets with Peter during an upcoming engagement in Cologne. Marina Garden turns out to be Peter's ex-wife, who has adopted a stage name.
A romantic skirmish between an intrusive operetta tenor from the Berlin Theater and a revue diva in Barcelona, who later encounters him, initially unrecognized, as a ballet dancer and, after they marry, plays the role of a housewife to cure him of his arrogance and flightiness. He himself is no stranger to deception, but their joint stage finale is not far off.
Theater director Falke, dressed as a bat, ends up in prison after a merry carnival night. Director Frank only releases him after some time. Falke decides to take revenge on his friend Gabriel von Eisenstein, to whom he owes the whole affair. The annual masked ball at Prince Orlofsky's provides the opportunity. Falke stages a game of mistaken identity in which Eisenstein does not recognize his own wife and courts her, while maid Adele appears as the countess. Eisenstein is duped, Falke has taken his revenge.
Penniless Peter Schild looks for work when arrived in Germany. Working as a private eye he has to observe a young lady who is willing to marry an unemployed actor against the will of her parents.
In the fantasy state of Olivia, the robber chief Gasparone is up to all sorts of mischief. But Prefect Nasoni is not only worried about him, his son Sindulfo is also causing him headaches. He is supposed to marry Countess Ambrat, but loves Ita, the niece of Massaccio, a somewhat obscure existence. Then the elegant Erminio appears, and the countess makes eyes at him. Confusion after confusion until Massaccio is unmasked as Gasparone. Erminio turns out to be a civil servant who was set on Gasparone and now gets his beautiful countess. Sindulfo is the last to embrace his Ita.
A young woman moves to Berlin to work as a press photographer.
The French ballet girl Janine, a gifted tap-dancer, dreams of a musical career in Paris. But first she wants to take revenge on Count René who stood up her best friend Charlotte. Janine wants him to fall in love with her and disappoint him afterwards. At a masked ball at which Janine pretends to be a Marquise they have their first meeting. Janine is very disappointed in the "good gentleman", but she does not suspect that this gentleman also makes a pretence. The man whom she holds to be count René is Pierre, a composer and pianist.
An operetta directed by Herbert Maisch.
Before he became cult director Douglas Sirk, Detlef Sierck cut his teeth on such lavish European star vehicles as Das Hofkonzert (The Court Concert). Marta Eggerth is cast as Christine, a young singer who aspires to find out who her father was. Her odyssey brings her to the court of a mythical kingdom, where she is romanced by handsome lieutenant Walter (Johannes Heesters). He is warned not to lose his heart to a "commoner," but all turns out all right when King Serenissimus (Otto Tressler) turns out to be Christine's long-lost daddy. Hofkonzert was designed as a comeback for Marta Eggerth, whose star had eclipsed by the mid-1930s.
Melodrama about an actress falling in love with a man who wants her to give up her job.
East Friesian Otto moves to the big city Hamburg. There he gets into trouble with a loan shark and needs to find a way to impress his love interest Silvia.
Operetta concerning the love affair of Niccolò Paganini, the violinist, and Élisa Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon.
Four contemplative stories about problems with love: "Profitability" is about money, "The Smile" is about coping with a difficult situation, an "Experiment with Alf" is supposed to save a marriage, and in "Paternity" a lawyer and her husband are committed to a little girl who is the subject of a lawsuit.
Because his future wife abandoned him shortly before the wedding, an old baron has decided that he doesn't want any women near him anymore. The daughter of the flaky woman decides to take it upon herself to get the baron and her mother back together again and dresses up as a gypsy boy to use music from "his" violin to soften the baron's heart ...
The two stars of an upcoming operetta performance quarrel constantly. but they also fall in love with each other.
Divorce lawyer Dr. Winifred Lert tries to convince her daughter Susi of the futility of marriage. But Susi has long since married herself. Susi also wants to use trickery to bring her parents back together.
A young woman works for two different men, both of whom fall in love with her. In the mornings she is secretary for a popular author and in the afternoons for a singer. Which of them will she settle for?
TV version of Curth Flatow's stage play starring Johannes Heesters and his wife Simone Rethel.
Clemens and Bobi, two legation secretaries, are sent on a delicate mission by their minister: it concerns a red portfolio with secret papers, which the minister stuck under a bed mattress and forgot about when he met someone on a rendezvous. And to make things more difficult, the horny minister can't remember which room he left it in. After several incidents in different hotel rooms, neither secretary has found a thing. There's not a trace of the portfolio; but Clemens is more interested in Annette, the young lady in one of the hotel beds, than in the portfolio. He forgets his mission and can think only of her. Boni, in the meantime, has found his way into a room, where Olivia is staying and sees a red, leather folder there. But the woman throws him out in short order.
On account of a bet, the painter Menzinger and his friend Schratt decide to travel the country as unemployed bums (no doubt, because there were so few unemployed and homeless people in Germany just a few years earlier). For two weeks, they wander around Germany; then they're confused with some robbers and they land in jail. How does it feel to imitate the homeless now, guys?
A popular stage tenor can't stay away from his female admirers until his wife threatens to divorce him.
Curt serenades his wife Charlott from the garden without her recognizing him. When she later doesn't refer to the incident he assumes that she is falling for the 'unknown' suitor and deliberately puts a notorious womanizer on her trail.
A comedy of manners, the film centers on virtuous actress Patty O'Neill, who meets playboy architect Donald Gresham on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and accepts his invitation to join him for drinks and dinner in his apartment. There she meets Donald's upstairs neighbors, his ex-fiancée Cynthia and her father, roguish David Slader. Both men are determined to bed the young woman, but they quickly discover Patty is more interested in engaging in spirited discussions about the pressing moral and sexual issues of the day than surrendering her virginity to either one of them. After resisting their amorous advances throughout the night, Patty leaves and returns to the Empire State Building, where Donald finds her and proposes marriage.
A remake of the 1940 film of the same title. It was shot on location in Brazil with separate German and Italian versions.
A movie with three episodes starring Johannes Heesters.
After years of touring abroad with his "Cirque Hollandais", Hendrik van Dalen returns to Holland, hoping that his brother will lend him financial support. Since the death of his wife, things have gone from bad to worse with Hendrik, who drowns his sorrow in drink. Moreover, he has set his heart on the circus-equestrienne, who pretends to love him but is having an affair with the company's wrestler. By encouraging Hendrik to drink, they hope to get their hands on his possessions. Hendrik's daughter sees through their designs and, with the aid of the clown Louisot, tries to foil their plans.
Two aging playboys are both after the same attractive young woman, but she fends them off by claiming that she plans to remain a virgin until her wedding night. Both men determine to find a way around her objections.
In 1930s Amsterdam, greengrocer Bet is involved in illicit affairs with businessman Van Santen. To tighten bonds even further, Bet arranges a marriage between her handsome daughter Jans and the businessman's wacky son Hannes. Jans, however, is in love with tough sailor Ko. Based on the succesful Dutch stage musical by Herman Bouber.
The film tells the cultural story of Berlin during the Weimar Republic through interviews with a number of persons who were involved in literature, film, art, and music during the period. It includes interviews with Christopher Isherwood, Louise Brooks, Lotte Eisner, Elisabeth Bergner, Francis Lederer, Carl Zuckmayer, Gregor Piatigorsky, Claudio Arrau, Rudolf Kolisch, Mischa Spoliansky, Herbert Bayer, Mrs. Walter Gropius, and Arthur Koestler.
Several generations of Mullers go to war with each other over their family business, the main branch of which is about to go belly-up.