Ernst Pittschau

Germany, Year Zero

In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.

Lucrezia Borgia

Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweetheart who is a woman of the people, Lucrezia, who is virtuous and wants to marry Alfonso, and Cesare, who is wicked and lusts after Lucrezia, Juan's girlfriend, and probably others. Cesare has vowed to kill any suitor for Lucrezia's love, and he has three thugs to carry out his wishes. Bodies fall into the Tiber, into the Colosseum (with lions prowling), and onto the Vatican floors.

Different from the Others

Conrad Veidt plays a famous musician who is blackmailed for being gay. Eventually he stands trial and is convicted. At the end the film pleads for the abolition of §175 (the law that punishes homosexuality).

The Picture of Dorian Gray

A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

The Story of Dida Ibsen

Dida Ibsen, daughter of impoverished farmers, has, according to her father's will, to marry the main creditor. But she refuses and decides to live with a married man as a mistress, till he gets his divorce. In the town she opens a restaurant with the money of her wealthy lover, from whom she soon gets pregnant, but their dreams of marriage fail, his wife refuses the divorce. After a while, she decides to marry one of the regular guests at her restaurant, van Galen, who spent quite some time in the tropics and because of this is at the brink of madness. Shortly after the marriage his condition worsens and life becomes hell for Dida.

Pique Dame

Russia in the 19th century. The young Lieutenant Stanislaus Kovolski is in constant financial difficulties. One day he meets a fortune-teller, who prophesies that the great blessing is to expect.

The Roedern Affair

Prussia, at the time of Frederick the Great. In his service is Major General Dietrich Edler von Roedern, a renowned fortress builder who pursues his work with fanatical zeal and seriousness. He is not in the mood for women or festivities. Although he is married to Elisabeth, a woman who has gradually become estranged from him due to his nature, this marriage only exists on paper. When Frederick II invites him to a soiree, Roedern meets the singer Maria Raven. The two feel connected from the very beginning, a fateful, invisible bond that seems to chain the two very different people together. For the first time, Dietrich von Roedern experiences something like passionate love.

Philharmonic

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.

Die Zaubergeige

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.

Victoria and Her Hussar

Viktoria is a Hungarian countess who believes her Hussar captain husband was killed in World War I. She marries an American and resettles at the American consulate in Tokyo. Her first husband reappears, alive; and the American generously releases Viktoria from their union.

A Waltz by Strauss

Musical extravaganza, also filmed in a French language version, based on the life of Johann Strauss.

Die Degenhardts

A stuffy old civil servant is forced to retire during World War II, but when his son, a Navy submariner, is lost at sea and his city is heavily bombed by English bombers, his old patriotism is re-awakened and he determines to be of use to his country once again

Ich hatt' einen Kameraden

Helmuth von Rhaden is a second lieutenant who is bored with his time in the army. He therefore resigns from it. But when he learns that his regiment must leave for the African colonies, he requests to be reinstated, even if it is in a lower position.

Lola Montez, the King’s Dancer

Deviating from the historical facts, Lola is introduced as a young Spanish “Gypsy” who becomes involuntarily embroiled in an attempt to poison the Infante of Spain (a short but splendid cameo by Heinrich George). As a result, she has to flee the country, arriving first in Italy, where she is taught how to act like a lady. Later, in Paris, she is invited to dance at the city’s prestigious opera house, becoming a worldwide sensation. She then becomes secretly involved in a revolutionary plot by Louis Napoléon, the future emperor of France. When the plot fails, Lola is once again forced to flee, this time to Munich, where she captures the attention of Ludwig I. Their ensuing affair arouses a great deal of hatred among the people and the establishment, however. In the end, Lola has no choice but to leave again, and vanishes into the night mist.

Die fünf Frankfurter

The history of the Rothschild family – from the rise of the Frankfurt patriarch Maier Amschel (Part 1) and his five sons Maier Amschel Jr., Salomon, Karl, Nathan, and Jacob (Part 2). It describes the development of the Frankfurt banking house and the commercial establishments in Vienna, Paris, Rome, and London, as well as the elevation of the House of Rothschild to the nobility.

Der ewige Zweifel

Woman doesn't let the man know whether he is the father of the child.

Es werde Licht! 2. Teil

A doctor who believes that only the immoral catch syphilis reconsiders his stance.

The Black Ball; or, The Mysterious Sisters

Two sisters get a letter from their third sister just after coming from the third sister's funeral. It informs them that a nobleman has ruined her life and is responsible for her death...

His Highness is Having a Good Time

Princess Melani wants to find out more about her husband-to-be and impersonates a maid. Her fiancé pretends to be a secretary. An addlebrained servant is ordered to play the count. His first official act is to pass a pay rise for himself. In the meantime his highness / the secretary is flirting with the maid.

The Way Out

Such a soul torments young composer Georg von Wergenthin, around whom the author creates a precise picture of the fin de siècle, its neuroses and its politics. Georg starts a relationship with a young singer, but does not confess to her in front of his friends, even when she becomes pregnant by him.

The Double Murder of Sarajevo

A dramatization of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.