Hans Abich

Germany, 1928: a pupil attends a Greek lesson in which the head of his school, Oberstudiendirektor Himmler, takes over from the teacher. Himmler is in fact the father of the eponymous murderer, Heinrich Himmler. The film is based on Alfred Andersch's last story.

Scientific documentary film exposing the cencorship laws in the BRD as an instrument used for propaganda. Its the third part of the "Bundesdeutsche Filmpolitik" Trilogie.

This drama is taken from Thomas Mann's 1903 semi-autobiographical novel. Tonio (Jean Claude Brialy) is an aspiring writer and the son of a rigid aristocratic father and a music-loving mother. Wandering throughout Germany and Italy to "find himself," Tonio frequently remembers his childhood experiences in a series of flashbacks. The highlight of the film is the expert lensing by cinematographer Wolf Wirth. Erika Mann, the daughter of the late poet and author, collaborated with Ennio Flaiano on the screenplay.

Second part of two of the saga of the troubled Buddenbrook family and their business in 19th century Germany.

First part of two of the saga of the troubled Buddenbrook family and their business in mid 19th century Germany.

Meant to be a diatribe against yellow journalism and current social ills, this weakly limned drama by Josef von Baky features a reporter who works for one of the tabloid papers. The reporter digs up dirt on the past life of a local hotel owner, and wanting to take full advantage of the muck, he strings out his revelations in a series of perjorative, damning articles on the man. The result of this campaign turns out to be much worse than simply ruining the hotel owner's reputation.

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.

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.

Katja Fleming has given up her job as an actress and married the business man Robert Fleming. But the cold that surrounds her in her modern, luxurious high-rise makes her lonely. Then she meets the author John Lawrence, who wants to convince her to perform in his new play.

Thomas Mann's witty and intimate story of a irresistible scoundrel.

West Germany's entry in the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was this cinemadaptation of the Gerhardt Hauptman play Rose Bernd. The title character, played by Maria Schell, is a servant girl on a remote farm. Sexually assaulted by both her employer and a coworker, Rose later bears a child, who die soon afterward. After nearly two hours of unrelieved misery, Rose finally finds happiness in the arms of a longtime admirer (where has he been for the past 12 reels?) Rose Bernd (aka The Sins of Rose Bernd) received a smattering of American showings thanks to the drawing power of star Maria Schell.

One of the more important European avant-garde films of the post-war period, this feature-length work offered a devastating comment on the mid-century European mood. A macabre landscape of impotence and absurdity, peopled by ambiguous travellers, finally explodes into senseless violence.

An American heiress in Europe falls in love with a German prince, but he is required to marry someone else for reasons of state convenience.

A young man and woman meet on a bridge, both about to commit suicide by jumping into the river, and recount to each other their experiences.