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Subway in the Sky (1959)
British Crime Movie with Hildegarde NEFF and Van JOHNSON
A cold-blooded murder takes place on an American military base in the western German region of Palatinate. At the same time, nightclub singer Lilli Hoffmann (Hildegard KNEF) moves into a furnished penthouse in West Berlin, which she rents for a few months from the hastily departing Anna Grant (Katherine KATH). The two events actually have nothing to do with each other. Or so it seems, until the beautiful Lilli discovers the US Major Baxter Grant (Van JOHNSON) on her roof terrace one night.
Directed by British director Muriel BOX, this is a crime story that could only take place in post-war Germany occupied by the Allies. It becomes clear that the story is based on a play. Almost everything takes place in the penthouse apartment. KNEF appears here under her international star name Hildegarde NEFF. And of course NEFF also gets to sing a song, "Love Is Not Love".
Other roles include Albert LIEVEN as Lilli's lawyer and the young Vivian MATALON as the major's stepson.
The British crime drama was filmed in London's Shepperton Studios. All you can see of West Germany are the signs along the motorway. It is a pure studio production that seems almost forgotten in German-speaking countries despite the participation of Hildegard KNEF. That's a shame. SUBWAY IN THE SKY is not a masterpiece, but it does offer a solid crime story. Hildegard KNEF is a little under-challenged in this black-and-white production, but she wears charming costumes and also surprises with a turbulent action sequence.
Die Todesstrahlen des Dr. Mabuse (1964)
Sixth Film of the West German Doktor Mabuse Series
Four years had passed since the Mabuse series was revived with the film THE 1000 EYES OF DOCTOR MABUSE (1960) by Fritz LANG. The concept had slowly run its course. It didn't help that producer Artur BRAUNER made filming in Italy possible. The desired flair of the very successful James Bond film DOCTOR NO (1962) could not even be achieved in the slightest.
In his third Mabuse mission, Peter van EYCK chases mysterious death rays invented by a professor played by O. E. HASSE (known from I CONFESS (1951) by Alfred HITCHCOCK). All of this is combined with a spy plot with timid science fiction elements. The "West German James Bond" Peter von EYCK receives female support in this film from Rika DIALINA and Yvonne FURNEAUX, who remain very colorless. There are also interesting supporting roles from two well-known faces from various CINECITTA films: Yoko TANI shines as a seductive secretary, and Feodor CHALIAPIN Jr. Can be seen as a pharmacist.
In West German cinemas, just over 1.2 million visitors wanted to see the sixth film in the Mabuse series, but the final farewell to Doctor Mabuse was inevitable after this contribution.
Las herederas (2018)
BERLINALE Silver Bear 2018 for Ana BRUN from Paraguay
Even a homosexual relationship between women can be affected by toxic dominance behavior.
Chela (Ana BRUN) and Chiquita (Margarita IRUN) live together in a stately home in Asuncion, which has seen much better days. Chiquita lives so lavishly that one day she ends up in prison for fraudulent debt. For Chela, a time now begins in which she must take responsibility for herself. In her old Mercedes, she literally drives into a new life, in which the dashing and much younger Angy (Ana IVANOVA) also plays a certain role.
A middle-aged woman overcomes her fears, learns to drive a car again and is thus able to fight for a broader perspective on life. With this simple but intensely observed film, director Marcelo MARTINESSI achieved something very special. For the first time in the history of the Berlinale, a film from Paraguay made it into the competition in 2018. Paraguayan actress Ana BRUN was awarded a Silver Bear for her role as Chela, who is fighting her way out of depression.
Die Trapp-Familie (1956)
West German Box Office Hit with Ruth LEUWERIK
The year 1956 was the most successful cinema year in the history of the West German film industry between 1946 and 1969. More than 817 million cinema tickets were sold in West German cinemas in 1956, about half of which were for purely German/German-language films. A huge number that was never to be reached again!
And the most successful film of 1956 was THE TRAPP FAMILY by Wolfgang LIEBENEINER, with more than 26 million cinema tickets sold. With this success behind her, the Essen-born actress Ruth LEUWERIK, who sang and played the main role of Maria von Trapp, finally became the most successful box office magnet in the West German film industry.
The film tells the well-known story of Maria von Trapp, who came to the family of the widowed Baron von Trapp (very pale: Hans HOLT) as a novice at a monastery, captured the hearts of his seven children, married the somewhat boring Baron, fled from Salzburg to America with the whole family to escape the Nazis and began a legendary career there as a member of the family choir. With this material, the busy German film producer and distributor Ilse KUBASCHEWSKI had discovered a real goldmine. The film, with LEUWERIK in the lead role, was even very successful in cinemas in North America (box office: 800,000 USD).
Great pictures from Salzburg and the surrounding area, cute children (including Michael ANDE, who later became very popular in the TV miniseries DIE SCHATZINSEL and the crime series DER ALTE with Siegfried LOWITZ, and stars like Josef MEINRAD and Agnes WINDECK! The biggest box office success (box office equivalent to more than 16 million EURO) in German film history was complete. It was not until WIR CHILDREN FOM BAHNHOF ZOO 25 years later that the earnings of DIE TRAPP-FAMILIE were surpassed.
It is also interesting that the Memoirs of Baroness von Trapp became a major musical success on Broadway in New York in 1959. Mary MARTIN, the mother of DALLAS star Larry HAGMAN, played Maria von Trapp there. The film musical with Julie ANDREWS, which was made six years later, became an enormous box office success in America and worldwide. Only in German-speaking countries was THE SOUND OF MUSIC less well received. Here The version with Ruth LEUWERIK continues to be more popular.
Königin Luise (1957)
Ruth LEUWERIK as Queen of Prussia
After her sensational success in the film THE TRAPP FAMILY (1956), Ruth LEUWERIK (1924 - 2016) had finally become the female superstar of the West German film industry. When she recovered from makeup poisoning in Berlin, which she had contracted during the filming of TRAPP, she decided to play the Prussian Queen Louise in her next film.
This Queen Louise had become famous because her husband King Friedrich Wilhelm (Dieter BORSCHE) and his military power Prussia had become hopelessly involved in the conflict between the Russian Tsarist Empire and Napoleonic France at the beginning of the 19th century. In the film, the politically inexperienced Luise advises her husband to get closer to Tsar Alexander (Bernhard WICKI, ACADEMY AWARD Nominee 1960 for DIE BRÜCKE), but then has to undertake a humiliating supplication to Napoleon (Rene DELTGEN, GERMAN FILM AWARD Winner 1954 for WEG OHNE UMKEHR) after the devastating defeat of Jena and Auerstedt. Already terminally ill, Luise can only advise her subjects to increase their efforts in terms of education.
Director Wolfgang LIEBENEINER offers a sentimentally exaggerated history lesson. The star-studded spectacle was produced by the legendary Ilse KUBASCHEWSKI's DIVINA Film, who also had the film marketed by her GLORIA film distributor. After all, more than 4 million cinemagoers wanted to see LEUWERIK (GERMAN FILM AWARD Winner 1954 for GELIEBTES LEBEN) as the queen. Other roles included Hans NIELSEN as Count Hardenberg, Charles REGNIER as Talleyrand and Margarete HAAGEN, who was very popular through DIE MÄDELS VOM IMMENHOF (1955), as Queen Luise's confidante.
A little too kitschy and glorifying authority, but with excellent production design, for which the upcoming ACADEMY AWARD Winner Rolf ZEHETBAUER (awarded in 1973 for CABARET) from the BAVARIA Studios in Geiselgasteig near Munich was responsible.
Ezrah Mudag (2022)
Queer Cinema from Israel
A homosexual couple moves into the Tel Aviv depressed district of Florentin, which is increasingly becoming a gentrified hipster district. Ben (Shlomi BERTONOV) and Raz (Ariel WOLF) want a bigger apartment because they want to become parents with the help of a Filipino surrogate mother. One day, Ben plants a small tree on the side of the road. When two migrants from Eritrea lean against the delicate tree, he calls the police on the citizens' hotline for help, setting fateful events in motion...
What actually happens when two completely different worlds collide in a very small space? This question arises not only in Israel, of course, but everywhere where local residents meet newly arrived refugees. As if under a magnifying glass, Israeli director Idan HAGUEL deals with current issues such as migration, individualization, surrogacy, police violence and gentrification and creates an illuminating story that shows how people can deceive themselves. And at the expense of others...
Presented at the BERLINALE 2022 (outside of competition), the interesting film can be seen in the original Hebrew version with German subtitles.
It's worth it!
Sterben (2024)
Portrait of a German Family with Corinna HARFOUCH and Lars EIDINGER
Even Leo TOLSTOY knew that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This is also clear to the German film director Matthias GLASNER, who was awarded the Silver Bear at the BERLINALE 2024 for his new film DYING. But he can add the North German Protestant variant to the theme, which further intensifies the familial melancholy.
Lissy Lunies (Corinna HARFOUCH) and her husband Gerd (Hans Uwe BAUER) live in a small North German town and are already severely affected by old age. Accepting help is difficult for both of them. Their two children live far away and are badly hit by their own problems. Son Tom (Lars EIDINGER) lives in Berlin and is somewhat successful as a conductor, but is hopelessly entangled in private quarrels. Daughter Ellen (Lilith STANGENBERG) lives in Hamburg and is so committed to an alcohol-soaked lifestyle that she wakes up in Latvia after a night of drinking. It's true! Both are confronted in different ways with their parents' infirmity and their own inadequacies.
The fact that the film doesn't get boring over its three-hour running time is thanks to the fantastic cast, which also includes Anna BEDERKE, Robert GWISDEK, Saerom PARK, Saskia ROSENDAHL and Ronald ZEHRFELD. The German actors Corinna HARFOUCH (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD Nominee 1989 for TREFFEN IN TRAVERS) and Hans Uwe BAUER have been awarded the GERMAN FILM AWARD of the year 2024 for their splendid performances. The showdown at the coffee table between HARFOUCH and EIDINGER is one of the most impressive things to have been seen in German cinema in recent years. The Lunies family is unhappy in their own way.
A melancholy film from the German-speaking world! Haven't we seen enough of that already? Yes and no. Of course, as a cinema-goer you ask yourself whether this is typically German (or at least northern German) or whether it would be possible in other cultures. But Matthias GLASNER aims very high and takes his cues from cinema greats such as Ingmar BERGMAN and Federico FELLINI. After all, it's not for nothing that Tom Lunies prefers to watch the four-hour TV version of FANNY OCH ALEXANDER (1983) on Christmas Eve. And the character played by Robert GWISDEK (in real life, HARFOUCH's son) reminds me, at least, of Steiner played by Alain CUNY in LA DOLCE VITA (1959).
Of course, depressing German cinema is not everyone's cup of tea. But the way the story is so close to reality has a very special impact that you should definitely expose yourself to.
Clearly recommended!
Caprice (1967)
Doris DAY and Her Answer to the EuroSpy Wave
After the great success of the first James Bond films, spy films were made in many countries, which were grouped together under the term EuroSPY. In West Germany, the series of Inspector X films was created at this time, in which the American actor Brad Harris, as a muscle-bound but well-behaved police chief, often reluctantly works together with a charming and sly private detective played by the Italian actor Tony Kendall, who takes no risks, to put a stop to dangerous criminals in exotic locations.
So it makes sense to parody this genre, which was so successful at the time, with a diehard comedian from Hollywood. The famous Doris Day (ACADEMY AWARD nomination 1960 for PILLOW TALK) shines in this sixties classic as an industrial spy on the hunt for a groundbreaking cosmetic product that prevents hair from getting wet. But it's actually about something much more mysterious, which also has to do with the blonde heroine's past...
At her side, British actor Richard Harris acts as a James Bond imitation, but this isn't particularly disturbing. The phenomenal Doris Day wears unusual sixties costumes, jets from one dream location to the next and has one funny scene after another. It's unforgettable to watch Miss Day eat crispy potato chips for lunch to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on her. Or when she climbs around in the hills of Los Angeles below a super-stylish villa to cut off a lock of hair from a model that has been sprayed with the mysterious hairspray. To solve the really big mystery, we go to Switzerland, where our Doris can once again romp around in the snow. She has now transformed her poor man's James Bond from a womanizer to a henpecked husband.
It's all very entertaining and not particularly profound. Well-made entertainment, in other words. In beautiful pictures! With funky clothes that only Doris Day could wear in the sixties. This Doris Day classic is often underestimated, but is definitely worth rediscovering.
La battaglia di Maratona (1959)
Italian Peplum Movie with Steve REEVES and Mylene DEMONGEOT
Steve Reeves classic by master director Jacques Tourneur
The director Jacques Tourneur, who was successful in Hollywood in the 1940s with black and white horror films such as "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie", made this Italian sword and sandal film in 1959. Tourneur's films were characterized by a mysterious darkness in which the horror was usually only hinted at as a shadow play and thus unfolded further in the viewer's imagination. The later very famous Italian director Mario Bava is also said to have been involved in the film, without being mentioned in the opening credits. A year later, Bava would release his first work "La maschera del demonio", which was very successful worldwide and would become the birth of the Italian horror film.
American actor Steve Reeves, who became known through the first two Hercules films from 1957 and 1958 (Mario Bava was also involved in these films in the background), plays Philip in the Battle of Marathon, in which the Greeks have to assert themselves against the Persian king Darius. Philip also has to use his enormous strength to prevail against rivals from his own ranks who are in cahoots with the Persian king. The peplum, which is peppered with impressive fight scenes (including underwater), also features as Andromeda French actress Mylene Demongeot, who also appeared a few years later in the West German film classic "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (one of the few German-language films shot using a process comparable to CinemaScope). Andromeda has to assert herself against Karis, played by Daniela Rocca, who tries to win the muscular hero's favor with all her might - first with scheming intentions, later out of love.
There are plenty of conflicts and complications. The first marathon in world history, from Marathon to Athens, is also completed, of course. The whole story is told with great naivety, but also with nostalgic charm. The splendid colors and the many sights make for entertaining, but occasionally thoughtless entertainment. The requirements of the genre are met in an appealing way: plenty of fighting and love banter!
Definitely worth seeing even for non-diehard Peplum fans!
Voulez-vous danser avec moi? (1959)
French Crime Comedy with Brigitte BARDOT and Henri VIDAL
The French film actress Brigitte Bardot was already a phenomenon. Since she played leading roles, French films with BB have become real export hits. Even this film, which for the first time made a little less than expected, was shown in cinemas in all countries of the western world. West German cinemagoers were able to see it just four days after the premiere in Paris. With her blonde mane, her famous pout and her voluptuous figure, BB was also a feast for the eyes! And her natural sensuality. It's enough to make you melt!
In this French-Italian film by Michel Boisrond (screenplay: also Gerard Oury, based on a novel by Kelley Roos (The Blonde Died Dancing)) everything happens very quickly at the beginning. The beautiful Virginie (BB) falls in love with an attractive dentist (Henri Vidal), marries him and soon has her first marital dispute. Of course, a husband in the 1950s cannot survive this inconsolable. In a nightclub, the overwhelmed man meets a stunning redhead (Dawn Addams), who invites him to her home and almost seduces him in the process. It is no coincidence that the enterprising lady's lover (Serge Gainsbourg) is there with a camera. The next morning, Anita, who also works as a dance teacher, begins her blackmail attempt, which Herve, who has reconciled with his wife, is hardly up to. Virginie becomes suspicious and follows her husband to the blackmailer's dance school, where a real surprise awaits. A murder has been committed and Herve seems to be the main suspect. Convinced of his innocence, Virginie takes a vacant position as a dance teacher and sets out to find the murderer with lots of charm and full physical effort...
This charming fun naturally lives from its attractive actors. BB can carry any film, even if she only had to read out the phone book. Watching this actress dance the mambo is a worthwhile way to pass the time for almost 90 minutes.
Henri Vidal (1919-1959), who also appeared in the must-see war classic "Das Boot der Verdammten / Boat of the Damned", is convincing as the handsome husband of the blonde film goddess. A week before the film's premiere, Henri Vidal died of a heart attack at the age of just 40.
The British actress Dawn Addams (1930-1985) had already been seen at Charlie Chaplin's side in "A King in New York". A year after the film with BB, she was to feel "Die 1000 Augen des Doktor Mabuse / The 1000 Eyes of Doctor Mabuse" directed at her in Berlin. Dario Moreno, Paul Frankeur, Noel Roquevert, Philippe Nicaud, Maria Pacome and Georges Descrieres can be seen in other roles.
But what makes this film, distributed by UFA-Sofradis, stand out are the wonderfully frivolous ingredients that you would never have expected from a film from the late 1950s. You can admire Dawan Addams's voluptuous and, above all, uncovered breasts in close-up. BB and Henri Vidal are there with some astonishingly naughty pillow talk. BB watches three strapping guys showering through an attic window in the dance school. BB struts into a gay bar wearing a very low-cut cocktail dress. You could probably only see something like that in a French film at the time. Of course, it's also in keeping with the times if things get a little homophobic. The Germans also get their fair share of criticism. One of the suspects' last name is Lalemand, of all things. It had to be!
No problem! Tout le monde loves the charmingly provocative BB. And that's what makes this film so special, which gives its superstar a few wonderful performances that are timelessly worth seeing. It is perhaps also interesting to note that BB was pregnant with her only child during filming in Nice. The title song, which certainly makes you think of more than just dancing with the sensual BB, is sung by Serge Gainsbourg, whose song "Poupee de cire, poupee de son" sung by France Gall won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. Gainsbourg also played Brad Harris's opponent in the sword and sandal films "Sansone" and "La furia di Ercole". In addition, although the film was shot in color, it was not in widescreen format.
Force (2011)
John ABRAHAM vs. Vidyut JAMMWAL: Bollywood Action
Action blockbuster from India with John Abraham and Vidyut Jammwal
This action thriller by Nishikant Kamat (a few years later he directed and starred in "Rocky Handsome", also starring John Abraham) was released in 2011 and is the Hindi remake of the 2003 Tamil film "Kaakha Kaakha".
Bollywood superstar John Abraham plays the extremely successful and ambitious police officer Yash, who subordinates his entire life to his duties as a police officer. With no family, he is afraid of falling in love with anyone, as the potentially weakening worry about a loved one could cause him to neglect his duties as a police officer. In his job, the muscle-bound giant is unimpressed by anything. Crooks and thieves are brought to justice with hard fists. A motorbike is even thrown at a rogue!
In various situations during his various investigations, he repeatedly runs into the beautiful Maya, who at first is not at all enthusiastic about this assertive thug who actually frightens her. Maya is played by the enchanting Genelia D'Souza, who was active in Telugu cinema for a few years after her Hindi film debut. After a few trials and tribulations, Maya and Yash (Yash also takes on a few idiots who threaten young girls with acid attacks) grow closer and even decide to marry each other.
In the meantime, a drug gang led by two brothers manages to gain a foothold in Mumbai. Of course, Yash and his team also investigate. And so they manage to arrest the older brother (played by Mukesh Rishi). Due to a moment of carelessness, however, he is shot by all members of the team, so that the extremely evil younger brother swears bloody revenge.
And thus we come to the real discovery of this film. Vidyut Jammwal makes his debut in the role of the younger gangster Vishnu. And what a debut! Young, fit, eager to fight... and extremely evil, he completes one action sequence after the other. He does it so well that from then on he was able to play leading roles (Commando I to III) in his own films. Amazing! What an action talent! The highlight is of course the final confrontation with the lead actor John Abraham, in which the two mega-men with bare torsos give each other no quarter. Allan Amin, who already worked with John Abraham in "Dhoom" (2004), is responsible for the stunt choreography.
This film, distributed by Fox Star Studios, which belongs to the Walt Disney Company, combines a sweet love story with a powerful action blockbuster in a great and probably typically Indian way, in which both male actors are more than convincing. For western viewers, the actors may sometimes act too clearly. John Abraham is deliberately wooden in the role of the policeman who suppresses his feelings too much. Genelia D'Souza plays the communicative Maya in a way that is occasionally too chatty. But on the whole it works. One of the inevitable songs that express the protagonists' feelings is also very beautiful. "Khwabon Khwabon" impresses with burning trees and thus brings the dramatic emotional life of the protagonists to the point. Vidyut Jammwal has played his way into the top row of Indian action stars with an impressive performance.
Highly recommended!
Wunderland - Vom Kindheitstraum zum Welterfolg (2023)
German Documentary about MINIATUR WUNDERLAND in Hamburg
In the 1990s, twin brothers Gerrit and Frederik BRAUN earned their money with the techno disco "Voila" in Hamburg's Conventstrasse. But even then they were pursuing their dream of a miniature version of the world with corresponding figures and trains. After the turn of the millennium, the time had come. The MINIATUR WUNDERLAND / MINIATURE WONDERLAND was opened in the Speicherstadt, and has since developed into one of the biggest public attractions in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. Even demonstratively disinterested teenage students can be thrilled by this attraction.
In her documentary, director Sabine HOWE tells the story of how this tourist attraction, which has attracted worldwide attention, came about and introduces the creators of this amazing miniature world. Of course, this would not have been possible without the passionate model makers who have worked for the MINIATURE WONDERLAND over the last two decades. But of course, such tinkerers are not only found in Germany. The Argentinian model-making family Martinez also contributed a lot to the success of the attraction in the Speicherstadt with their version of the Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro.
Gerrit and Frederik BRAUN, the main creators, appear in the lovingly designed documentary as small figures who lead the audience through the magical world of Wonderland. There are a lot of things to discover that you wouldn't have seen otherwise.
Well worth seeing!
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Back to LV 426: ALIENs For A New Generation
It all began on the moon LV 426 in the year 2122, when the crew of the Nostromo, with a certain Ellen Ripley (multiple ACADEMY AWARD nominee Sigourney WEAVER) on board, brought a Xenomorph into the spaceship. Twenty years later, the moon without sunlight is populated by miners who have to toil for the Weyland-Yutani company with no prospect of ever seeing sunlight. How do young people grow up in such a hopeless environment? How are they shaped by such catastrophic circumstances? The original director Fede ALVAREZ from Uruguay explores this question in his film ALIEN: ROMULUS, which is set between the two classics ALIEN (1979) and ALIENS (1986). Ellen Ripley will spend another 37 years in cryogenic sleep flying through space when a group of young people (David JONSSON, Isabela MERCED, Archie RENAUX and Cailee SPAENY, who won the Coppa Volpi in Venice in 2023 for her role as Priscilla BEAULIEU PRESLEY) set out to hijack an abandoned spaceship. But we remember: At the end of ALIEN, Ellen Ripley managed to throw an unwelcome passenger overboard...
Fede ALVAREZ (born 1978) from Montevideo goes back to the horror film roots of the ALIEN series and at the same time brings young people (suitable for the blockbuster target group) into play as space characters who cannot yet fully see through the dark machinations of the space-spanning corporation Weyland-Yutani. What is delivered is an acid-soaked body horror spectacle that clearly breathes new life into the Alien series. Of course, it can't be as exciting and full of never-before-seen images as in 1979 or 1986, but this film is still extremely worthwhile!
C'è ancora domani (2023)
A Director is Born: Paola CORTELLESI and her Italian Masterpiece
Delia Santucci (Paola CORTELLESI) lives with her husband Ivano (Valerio MASTANDREA) and their three children in a Roman basement apartment. It is 1946. The war is lost and the situation is poor. A nagging father-in-law (Giorgio COLANGELI) also has to be looked after. Delia supports her family with hard work and great practical intelligence. But there is a dark secret that is not so secret: Delia is regularly beaten and humiliated by her husband Ivano.
All in black and white and full of sadness from the 1940s, this remarkable stroke of genius by the famous filmmaker Paola CORTELLESI could be really devastating. And yet CORTELLESI, who should definitely win a EUROPEAN FILM AWARD, manages to tell this sad subject of domestic violence with phenomenal ease, which does not trivialize anything, but on the contrary reveals the drama of such situations with all its might.
Other roles are played by Romana MAGGIORA VERGANO as daughter Marcella and Vinicio MARCHIONI as loving car mechanic Nino. The young actors Mattia BALDO and Gianmarco FILIPPINI play two Italian rascals straight out of a picture book.
In Italy, this film has struck a chord and attracted more than 5 million viewers to the cinemas. The memory of Italian women being allowed to vote for the very first time in the referendum on the future form of government on June 2, 1946 was brought back by Paola CORTELLESI's impressive film. Of course, the timeless theme also works outside of Italy. The clever use of pieces of music that are by no means only contemporary is also nice, and thus underscores the timelessness of the plot. The song APRITE LE FINESTRE, with which Franca RAIMONDI competed for Italy in the very first EUROVISION Song Contest in 1956, plays a central role in the film.
Highly recommended!
Longlegs (2024)
Nicolas CAGE with "Long Legs" from the 1970s through the 1990s to the Present Day
The 1970s (CARRIE / THE OMEN / THE EXORCIST) and the 1990s (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) were the heyday of American horror and shock cinema. The American director Osgood PERKINS (son of ACADEMY AWARD nominee Anthony PERKINS) uses these references very cleverly for his remarkable horror thriller LONGLEGS.
In the mid-1990s (during the Clinton presidency), the young and very intuitive FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika MONROE) is assigned to the unsolved case of a suspected serial killer. This perpetrator, who calls himself Longlegs (Nicolas CAGE), repeatedly succeeds in getting entire families to wipe themselves out. FBI chief Carter (Blair UNDERWOOD, known from L. A. LAW) is at a loss. The only survivor (Kiernan SHIPKA, known from MAD MEN) of an attack by longlegs lives in a mental institution. Meanwhile, Lee Harker also has problems with her mother (Alicia WITT, known from TWIN PEAKS), who suffers from litter syndrome. And then there are memories from her childhood in the 1970s that bother Lee Harker.
This horror film is so remarkable because it pays homage to classic horror films, whose themes already addressed social developments and tensions (especially in the USA, but then also in the rest of the Western world). Religious madness, loneliness, mental illness and fluctuating identities are just a few of the key points that could be mentioned. The director succeeds in creating a feeling of permanent uncertainty. As a viewer, you never know whether you are being made fun of or whether everything is meant seriously. This makes this film a perfect fit for our current times, but at the same time shows the lines of development from which these uncertainties arose.
And then there is the memorable appearance of ACADEMY AWARD winner Nicolas CAGE (awarded in 1996 for LEAVING LAS VEGAS) as Longlegs. It's been a long time since we've seen such an original and yet allusive film character on the big screen. With his "long legs" this villain reaches from the 1970s through the 1990s to the present day.
The surprising box office success of this rather small horror film is of course also due to the clever marketing, but this original and very nasty film is definitely worth seeing and thinking about.
Albino (1976)
West German Adventure Flick with Horst FRANK
The successful phase of the GERMAN ADVENTURE FLICKS (DER SCHATZ IM SILBERSEE (The Treasure of Silver Lake9 / HEISSER HAFEN Hong Kong / JAGD AUF BLAUE DIAMANTEN) was actually long over in 1976. Nevertheless, actor (UND EWIG SINGEN DIE WÄLDER / AND FOREVER SING THE FORESTS) and director (DAS MÄDCHEN UND DER STAATSANWALT / THE GIRL AND THE PROSECUTOR) Jürgen GOSLAR brought a sensational adventure film to West German cinemas.
The action takes place in present-day Zimbabwe (formerly: Rhodesia). Terick (James FAULKNER, known from GAME OF THRONES) is looking forward to the end of his police service in the British colony. In the future he wants to spend more time with his beautiful fiancée Sally (Sybil DANNING). Then a fateful attack occurs. Incited by an albino local (Horst FRANK, probably the most bizarre role in the CINECITTA divo's career), rebels against British colonial rule attack the farm of Johannes (ACADEMY AWARD Nominee (1961 for SONS AND LOVERS) Trevor HOWARD) and kill Terick's fiancée in the process. Blinded by thoughts of revenge, he and Katchemu (Sam WILLIAMS) track down the albino, whom everyone calls "Whispering Death". This sinister act of revenge goes against the grain for Terick's former boss (Christopher LEE) and the specially assigned Captain Turnbull (Erik SCHUMANN, known from HIMMEL OHNE STERNE).
From today's perspective, this excursion into the colonial past is questionable for several reasons. The exceptional German actor Horst FRANK plays his role brilliantly, but seems out of place and presumptuous as an albino local. The violence shown in the film is staged in a very inflammatory and racist way. Nevertheless, this film stands out in West German film production of the 1970s. A filmmaker like Jürgen GOSLAR dared to produce a genre film that very strictly fulfills audience expectations in terms of action-packed stories. The great German director Dominik GRAF also acknowledges this in his enlightening documentary OFFENE WUNDE DEUTSCHER FILM about the last remnants of the West German film industry of the 1970s.
Jürgen GOSLAR's film clearly takes some getting used to, but shows that West German cinema could also have moved in the direction of audience-friendly genre entertainment.
In a smaller role is the young actor Sascha HEHN (NACKT UND HEISS AUF MYKONOS), who after various appearances in West German sex films with DAS TRAUMSCHIFF (from 1981) and DIE SCHWARZWALDKLINIK (from 1985) was to become one of the biggest West German television stars in the 1980s.
Bis ans Ende der Nacht (2023)
A Gender-fluid Femme Fatale and the Beautiful Songs of Heidi BRÜHL, Hildegard KNEF and Esther OFARIM
Since the films FALSCHER BEKENNER (2005) and UNTER DIR DIE STADT (2010), both of which were shown in UN CERTAIN REGARD as part of the CANNES Film Festival, director Christoph HOCHHÄUSLER has been a fixture in German-speaking cinema. With the melodramatic thriller BIS ANS ENDE DER NACHT he was represented in the BERLINALE competition in 2023.
A new platform on the Internet simplifies drug deals between dealers and consumers in an extremely questionable way. With the help of the trans woman Leni, formerly Lennart (Thea EHRE), the undercover investigator Robert (Timocin ZIEGLER) is to be infiltrated into the environment of the platform inventor Victor (Michael SIDERIS). Contrary to expectations, this succeeds without much effort. But there is a problem: Robert was once very close to Lennart and now has problems getting involved with Leni. This not only causes trouble with his boss (Rosa ENSKAT), but also increases the dangers of the undercover investigation considerably.
HOCHHÄUSLER has set himself some ambitious goals: combining thriller and melodrama, clearly borrowing from the past world of film noir. Not everything works out. As in many German-language films, there is too much whispering, the images are lit too darkly and some characters (Timocin ZIEGLER and Michael SIDERIS) are too shallowly developed. Unfortunately, this also applies to Ioana IAKOB in the role of Victor's girlfriend. Anyone who has seen this actress alongside Vladimir BURLAKOV in Dominik GRAF's exceptional series IN THE FACE OF CRIME will know that her role is simply too trivial.
But some things also work out exceptionally well. The character of Leni Malinowski is played amazingly well by Thea EHRE. A femme fatale in the style of Jane GREER from OUT OF THE PAST / GOLDEN GIFT (1947) is impressively transported into a gender-fluid present. Very convincing and beneficial to the story being told! Thea EHRE was rightly awarded the Silver Bear at the BERLINALE 2023.
Another plus point of this unusual crime film is the great choice of music. It begins with EINE LIEBE SO WIE DU by EUROVISION star Heidi BRÜHL (in 1963 she represented Germany with MARCEL at the EUROVISION Song Contest), moves on to MELODIE EINER NACHT by Esther OFARIM (with the French version the Israeli singer represented Switzerland at the EUROVISION Song Contest 1962) and ends with the unforgettable Hildegard KNEF with her song ICH ERKENN DICH NICHT WIEDER. The song SCHÖNES MÄDCHEN, sung by Esther and Abi OFARIM, is also performed by Thea EHRE herself. This selection of old (but fantastically beautiful) hits defines the role of Leni Malinowski very cleverly, an "old soul" in the form of a gender-fluid personality.
HOCHHÄUSLER was able to shoot his next film LA MORT VIENDRA in the European cinema wonderland of France. With this film he will be competing for the Golden Leopard at the 2024 LOCARNO Film Festival. Hopefully he will achieve greater audience success there than he has so far enjoyed in German-speaking countries. It would be very desirable, because it is long overdue!
Coup de chance (2023)
An American in Paris: Woody ALLEN and all the Talents from the French Film Industry
It doesn't matter whether he's filming in New York, London or Paris: Woody ALLEN calls, and the most gifted talents in the film world say yes without hesitation. This is also the case in the French film industry, where ALLEN has now completed his 50th film.
The life of the rich and beautiful in Paris: money is plentiful, people work in a posh auction house or write novels. This is what the life of the beautiful Fanny (Lou De LAAGE, known from the excellent thriller BOITE NOIRE with Pierre NINEY) looks like. She is married to a rich businessman (Melvil POUPAUD, recently seen in FRERE ET SOEUR with ACADEMY AWARD winner Marion COTILLARD), who loves her dearly and also gets on exceptionally well with his mother-in-law (Valerie LEMERCIER, great as a Celine Dion homage in ALINE from 2021). But as fate would have it: One day Fanny meets her former classmate Alain (Niels SCHNEIDER, the blond from LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES (2010) by Xavier DOLAN) near the Eiffel Tower. The amorous entanglements soon take their course. But be careful: it is not just an entertaining love story from the world of the rich and beautiful! The action will develop in unexpected directions.
Woody ALLEN was able to draw on the almost inexhaustible pool of outstanding French film actors, even for the supporting roles. The beautiful images of Paris and the rural surroundings were provided by the camera of three-time ACADEMY AWARD winner Vittorio STORARO (APOCALYPSE NOW (1980) / REDS (1982) / THE LAST EMPEROR (1987)).
The French actress Valerie LEMERCIER is particularly worth seeing as Fanny's capable mother. This role is the most Woody ALLEN-esque character portrayal in the entire film. What this woman is capable of playing was already evident in her brilliant portrayal of a Celine Dion-esque singer in ALINE. Great!
This French film by Woody ALLEN is not to be missed. It is certainly not a masterpiece like MATCH POINT, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY or THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO. But if you, like me, can laugh out loud at MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, you will also enjoy this exquisite excursion into the Parisian upper class.
Il ladro di Bagdad (1961)
Steve REEVES in the World of 1001 Nights
Due to the economic success of the Italian Hercules films in the USA, the later films with Steve REEVES (1926 - 2000) often had a larger budget. In this case, the producer Joseph E. LEVINE helped with the financing. For IL LADRO DI BAGDAD, this meant that part of the filming could be moved to Tunisia. Unfortunately, very conspicuous cardboard sets were used in the studio scenes.
Karim is the most skilled thief in Baghdad, so that he doesn't even have to stop at the palace of the Sultan (Antonio BATTISTELLA) on his raids. The smart master thief then gets to know and love the Sultan's beautiful daughter Amina (Georgia MOLL). She is to marry Prince Osman (Arturo DOMINICI).
The first part of the film contains a surprising number of comedic elements. But that changes very noticeably in the second part. Due to a mishap, Amina is poisoned and becomes seriously ill. Only a blue rose can cure her. In competition with many other applicants, Karim and the devious prince set out on a dangerous search for the blue rose. Karim in particular experiences many battles and dangers. The muscular warrior also has to resist temptation in the form of the beautiful Kadija (Edy VESSEL).
In the second part it becomes very clear that the film has very little to do with the classic THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) with Sabu and Conrad VEIDT. The search for the blue rose is more of a story from China, which is here transferred to the world of 1001 Nights.
For Steve REEVES this was certainly not the very best film of his career, but the classic of ItaloCinema certainly provides fun and colorful entertainment.
Trap (2024)
A Concert for a Serial Killer (SHYAMALAN Movie with Josh HARTNETT and Hayley MILLS)
We all know the story: The pubescent daughter (Ariel DONOGHUE) is a fan of a mega-star such as Helene FISCHER or Taylor SWIFT. Tickets for their concerts are hard to come by. But what if such a concert were turned into a secret trap for an ultra-nasty serial killer who was proven to have bought tickets for this event? And what if the caring father (Josh HARTNETT) is actually leading a second life hidden from his family and is the serial killer they are looking for?
All of this sounds like a somewhat over-constructed thought experiment, which it is despite the echoes of real events. And yet the former teen heartthrob Josh HARTNETT (PEARL HARBOR) delivers a lucid portrait of a gifted manipulator who knows how to cleverly conceal his messed up psyche. And then there is the popular mega-star played by Saleka SHYAMALAN, the director's eldest daughter. The father M. Night looks after his offspring as the "pater familias" devotedly (as could also be seen in his second daughter's directorial debut THE WATCHERS) and lets his talented daughter Saleka, who has developed into an R&B singer, contribute more than a dozen of her songs to the impressive stage show. This looks a lot like nepotism, but Saleka SHYAMALAN is able to extract amazing nuances from her role as pop princess Lady Raven. The power of popularity is truly astonishing. And then there is the wonderful British actress Hayley MILLS (Silver Bear at the BERLINALE in 1959 for TIGER BAY with the West German world star Horst BUCHHOLZ), who makes a memorable appearance in the cinema as a clever FBI profiler. Anyone who knows her from her signature role as "Double Lottie" in the American film THE PARENT TRAP (1961) will appreciate her big-screen comeback.
Of course, not everything in this film is conclusive, but as a portrait of a completely unhappiness-ridden soul, it is certainly impressive. The mechanisms of manipulation that must be available to both a serial criminal and a mega-star (and of course a profiler) are subtly illuminated.
The action takes place in Philadelphia, but the film was shot in Toronto. The film's concept of combining a serial killer thriller with a concert film is simply original and also very entertaining.
Bon voyage (2003)
Boulevardesque War Comedy with Isabelle ADJANI and Gerard DEPARDIEU
Only the French film industry can produce such a wonderfully twisted film about a serious historical undertaking. You have to know that in reality there was actually an expert in nuclear chain reactions, the Russian-French physicist Lev Kowarski, who was able to bring the necessary and then world-unique stocks of "heavy water" to safety from the Nazis. But first things first!
A young man (Gregori DERANGERE) in Paris is hopelessly in love with a capricious film diva (Isabelle ADJANI) from the early 1940s. She promptly shoots an intrusive admirer and has the young man dispose of the body. He is caught and sentenced to prison. As the Nazis approach and even the prison inmates flee to the south of France, a series of turbulent events ensue. The young man actually just wants to prove his innocence, but he runs into a mysterious professor (Jean Marc STEHLE) and his beautiful assistant (Virginie LEDOYEN). These two have the only vats of heavy water in the trunk. Since the capricious film diva is now involved with the Minister of the Interior (Gerard DEPARDIEU), the professor is determined to use this valuable contact in politics. But the National Socialists and their malicious spy (Peter COYOTE) are of course also after the ingredients for a future atomic bomb...
The French director Jean Paul RAPPENEAU created two cinema classics of the 1990s with CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1990) and LE HYSSARD SUR LE TOIT (1995). For this turbulent mixture of war adventure and boulevard comedy, he brought the later Nobel Prize winner for literature Patrick MODIANO (awarded in Stockholm in 2014) on board as a screenwriter. The title of the film refers to the fact that in a small scene in the film a soldier, who is easily recognizable as General DeGaulle, is wished a safe journey (into exile in London).
As usual, French cinema has a wealth of talent to choose from. "Vedettes" such as Yvan ATTAL, Aurore CLEMENT and Edith SCOB (LES YEUX SANS VISAGE) are in smaller roles. In particular, the two-time ACADEMY AWARD nominee Isabelle ADJANI (1976 for ADELE H. And 1990 for CAMILLE CLAUDEL) and ACADEMY AWARD nominee Gerard DEPARDIEU (1991 nominated for CYRANO DE BERGERAC) play their over-the-top roles with heartfelt enthusiasm. But Virginie LEDOYEN (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD Winner 2002 for 8 WOMEN) and Gregori DERANGERE (EQUIPIER / THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S WIFE) can also easily keep up as young actors.
A boulevardesque war comedy with plenty of spirit and French charm! How lucky that we at least have the functioning French film industry in European cinema!
Boulevard du Rhum (1971)
French Adventure Comedy with Brigitte BARDOT and Lino VENTURA
During the prohibition period, the three-mile zone on the American coast was a busy shipping area. This was the only place where alcohol smugglers could get their forbidden goods past the coast guard and to the thirsty souls of America. The powerful but somewhat stupid Captain Cornelius von Zeelinga (Lino VENTURA) also travels along this "rum boulevard" on his various ships. On his journeys between Cuba, Jamaica and America, the film fan repeatedly sees adventure films with the popular silent film diva Linda LaRue (Brigitte BARDOT), who knows how to enthuse her audiences, especially in skimpy leopard skin costumes. One day the captain actually gets to know the blonde beauty. This is accompanied by the most hair-raising events. Because the voluptuous diva is not only followed by her film family (Guy MARCHAND as a dapper screen partner), but soon also by an English lord (Clive REVILL), who even wants to make the cheeky blonde a margravine.
This French film by Robert ENRICO was shot mainly in Mexico and Belize (formerly British Honduras). Without a stringent plot, the turbulent comedy is entertaining with its bizarre ideas and slapstick interludes. BARDOT in particular can really put on a great show and shows in various silent film scenes what enormous star power she had. BB also goes all out comedic, so that the film from the legendary French film studio GAUMONT is remembered above all for her presence.
La battaglia di El Alamein (1969)
Italian War Movie with Frederick STAFFORD and George HILTON
Between the boom phases for spaghetti westerns (until around 1968) and for poliziotteschi crime films (from around 1972), the Roman CINECITTA switched to producing war films, known under the lovely term MAKKARONI KOMBAT. Since war films per se have to be a bit more expensive and elaborate, fewer of them were produced overall than the abundance of westerns and crime films from Italian production.
LA BATTAGLIA DI EL ALAMEIN (the more appropriate Italian original title) is a very interesting representative of the genre, which is not entirely convincing, but still offers passable genre entertainment. It tells the story of the second battle for El Alamein, which determined the further course of the Second World War in North Africa in the autumn of 1942. With General Montgomery (Michael RENNIE) and Field Marshal Rommel (Robert HOSSEIN), the important figures of the historical events are also represented. Above all, the events are told from the perspective of an Italian unit led by Lieutenant Giorgio Borri (Frederick STAFFORD), who is engaged in a kind of war duel with Lieutenant Graham (George HILTON) on the British side. The film by Giorgio FERRONI (WHO BREAKS...PAYS (1975) with Brad HARRIS and Giancarlo PRETE) offers elaborate action scenes and a passable insight into the actual events surrounding the second battle of El Alamein. Ettore MANNI, Gerard HERTER, Ira von FÜRSTENBERG and Enrico Maria SALERNO also appear in roles.
The film was shown in West German cinemas from January 1970. There it reached more than 1.2 million visitors (source: InsideKino) and achieved a box office equivalent of more than 2 million EURO.
Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt (1962)
West German Crime Drama with Elke SOMMER and Götz GEORGE
This film has not been shown in German-speaking countries for a long time. I saw it on GDR television in the 1980s. Now you can rediscover the film on YOUTUBE. The law on pimping, which is the subject of the plot, was abolished soon after the film was released. Parents who allowed their underage children (under 21) to spend the night with their boyfriends or girlfriends could end up in prison for pimping.
That is exactly what happens to Mrs Hecker (Berta DREWS) when she allows her daughter Renate (Elke SOMMER) to stay overnight in her mother's apartment with her boyfriend Jochen (Götz GEORGE), who is the same age. The principled public prosecutor Soldan (Wolfgang PREISS) sends mother Hecker to prison. Daughter Renate does everything she can to get her mother out of prison. Soon the married prosecutor can no longer resist the blonde beauty's charms...
That sounds like gossip, and it's true. And yet the actor Jürgen GOSLAR (DAS ERBE DER GULDENBURGS / THE GULDENBURGS' LEGACY) has succeeded in directing an impressive film. Very sensual, full of energy and with outstanding actors, he delivers a powerful portrait that impressively exposes the Adenauer era of the young Federal Republic. GOLDEN GLOBE winner Elke SOMMER (awarded THE PRIZE in 1964) and EUROPEAN FILM AWARD nominee Götz GEORGE (nominated for NICHTS ALS DIE WAHRHEIT / NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH in 1999) were still at the very beginning of their impressive film careers. The film also features a remarkable cast of Scandinavian sex bombs (Ann SMYRNER from Denmark and Ann SAVO from Finland) and up-and-coming young German actors (Horst JANSON and Gottfried JOHN) in the supporting roles. Joachim HANSEN, one of the biggest male stars of the West German film industry at the time, even has a cameo appearance as a patient. And with Carsta LÖCK, Camilla SPIRA and Dorothea WIECK, the old guard of German-language filmmaking is also represented
A very interesting film, whose subject matter is long out of date, but nevertheless impressively shows the cinematic power that can be found in sensationalism. In the 1970s, Jürgen GOSLAR presented two more genre classics of German-language cinema with THE WHISPERING DEATH (1976) and SLAVERS (1978).
Verbrannte Erde (2024)
German Crime Movie with Misel MATICEVIC and Alexander FEHLING
During the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the audience was able to see how the professional criminal Trojan (Misel MATICEVIC) from IM SCHATTEN (2010) had to leave the capital for an indefinite period of time. Trojan still operates in a rather analogue way: old-fashioned crimes such as stealing tangible objects such as watches, cash and paintings. No connections to a mafia or clan structure, a lone fighter, only occasionally and out of necessity on the team! When a coup in the Ruhr area does not go as planned, Trojan has to return to Berlin to tap into old contacts (Marie-Lou SELLEM). And indeed: Together with three comrades (Tim SEYFI, Marie LEUENBERGER, Bilge BINGÜL), Trojan manages to steal a valuable painting by Caspar David FRIEDRICH. But then the trouble with the mysterious client Viktor (Alexander FEHLING) really starts...
At the BERLINALE 2010, IM SCHATTEN by Braunschweig-born director Thomas ARSLAN hit like a long-awaited genre bomb. An exciting genre film made in Germany was told using the cinematic means of the Berlin School. Extremely exciting, with sparse dialogue and explosive violent moments! ARSLAN follows on from this with VERBRANNTE ERDE seemingly seamlessly. Gangster films are still a rarity in German cinema. With cool precision, the images by cameraman Reinhold VORSCHNEIDER (also IM SCHATTEN) tell of people who live in a shadow version of Germany. Dark places, in the shadow of nearby sights, and yet far away from the perception of the police and the normal population. Berlin appears as a co-player and opponent of the film's protagonists. The understated music by Norwegian composer Ola FLOTTUM (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, 2021) contributes a lot to this tense atmosphere. It shows a capital that you know and yet don't. Many viewers will be able to recognize this urban sprawl with all its roads from their own surroundings. Ghostly places very close to us: scorched earth in the shadows!
Misel MATICEVIC (IN THE FACE OF CRIME / BABYLON BERLIN) is once again very convincing in the role of Trojan, of whom we will probably see more (Thomas ARSLAN is planning a kind of Trojan trilogy). GERMAN FILM AWARD nominee Marie Lou SELLEM (nominated for KNOCHEN UND NAMEN / BONES AND NAMES in 2024) is there as the ice-cold mediator. But GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Alexander FEHLING (2019 winner for DAS ENDE DER WAHRHEIT / THE END OF THE TRUTH) is frighteningly good and really doesn't have to hide from classic villains like Klaus KINSKI and Michael FASSBENDER.
Thomas ARSLAN doesn't want to take as much time with the third film in his Trojan trilogy as he did between 2010 and 2024. It remains exciting!