Kurt Raab

Kurt Raab

Birth : 1941-07-20, Bergreichenstein, Sudetenland [now Kasperské Hory, Czech Republic]

Death : 1988-06-28

History

Kurt Raab (20 July 1941 – 28 June 1988) was a West German stage and film actor, as well as a screenwriter and playwright. Raab is best remembered for his work with German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with whom he collaborated on 31 film projects.

Profile

Kurt Raab

Movies

My Name Is Not Ali
Self (archive footage)
Travelling between Germany, France and Morocco, Viola Shafik reconstructs and deconstructs the unknown life story of El Hedi Ben Salem through interviews with his companions and family members as well as archive material. With openness and slight naivety the interviewees explain how “Ali” became an oriental object of projection for the Fassbinder group, while El Hedi Ben Salem, the human being, was overlooked in order to establish the foreigner as “other.” A no-frills examination of a piece of German and Munich film history.
I Don’t Just Want You to Love Me
Self (archive footage)
A documentary about the life and work of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Transitträume
Kaderleiter
Die Toten Hosen - 3 Akkorde für ein Halleluja
Pastor
Sehnsucht nach Sodom
Writer
Made during the last months of actor Kurt Raab, who died of AIDS in 1988. Raab, who had worked in both theatre and film, most notably with Fassbinder, was in the process of making a series of video sketches for a new production when he learned that he had AIDS. Despite his deteriorating health, and with the caring support of his friend Hans Hirshmuller, he carried on working. This tape is his last testimony. Awarded with the Adolf Grimme Award and Cinéma du Réel Award
Sehnsucht nach Sodom
Director
Made during the last months of actor Kurt Raab, who died of AIDS in 1988. Raab, who had worked in both theatre and film, most notably with Fassbinder, was in the process of making a series of video sketches for a new production when he learned that he had AIDS. Despite his deteriorating health, and with the caring support of his friend Hans Hirshmuller, he carried on working. This tape is his last testimony. Awarded with the Adolf Grimme Award and Cinéma du Réel Award
Sehnsucht nach Sodom
Himself
Made during the last months of actor Kurt Raab, who died of AIDS in 1988. Raab, who had worked in both theatre and film, most notably with Fassbinder, was in the process of making a series of video sketches for a new production when he learned that he had AIDS. Despite his deteriorating health, and with the caring support of his friend Hans Hirshmuller, he carried on working. This tape is his last testimony. Awarded with the Adolf Grimme Award and Cinéma du Réel Award
Motten im Licht
Wohin?
Gast
Several comedy situations are strung together for this offbeat satire. An unassuming businesswoman is discovered to be the mastermind behind a terrorist organization, and a disgruntled waitress has looks that can kill, literally and not figuratively speaking. In another tacky passage, played as a reoccurring gag, an official is infected with the AIDS virus after suffering a bite from the businesswoman.
Escape from Sobibor
Oberscharführer Karl Frenzel
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
Miko: From the Gutter to the Stars
Walter Hahn
Together with her bisexual friend and manager Stefan, singer Miko is working on a great career that has so far failed to materialize.
Das Totenreich
John Hagen
Denmark, by the end of the 19th century. Gov. Dihmer gives his resignation because of his illness. Two friends, a pastor and a physician, try to awaken his willpower and transcend a journey to Italy. Meanwhile, in the homeland, there are political breakthroughs that make little hope for new times.
Bolero
Rado
Pete is no stranger to success, delivering hit series as a musician in a rock group. When he parts ways with his band and produces his first solo LP, he learns for the first time what a flop means. He did not expect this. He is insecure and desperate, while Lena, his wife, accepts this low blow as a challenge. Jealously, Pete observes that Lena is becoming more and more independent and self-confident in her surroundings. At home there are arguments until everyone packs his bags. Alone with his longing and tenderness for Lena, Pete composes the "Bolero" on his white grand piano that calls her back.
Feel the Motion
Mephisto
Die Komplizen
Marcel Lambert
Parker
Haag
An Aussie businessman is trying to find out why and by whom he was kidnapped and then later released with no explanation.
Mussolini and I
Adolf Hitler
A compelling drama/documentary chronicling the life and death of Il Duce himself, from his days as a terrorist to his alliance with Hitler to the betrayal of his son-in-law and untimely demise.
Angry Harvest
Maslanko
In the winter of 1942-43, a Jewish family leaps from a train going through Silesia. They are separated in the woods, and Leon, a local peasant who's now a farmer of some wealth, discovers the woman, Rosa, and hides her in his cellar. Leon's a middle-aged Catholic bachelor, tormented by his sexual drive. He doesn't tell Rosa he's seen signs her husband is alive, and he begs her to love him. Rosa offers herself to Leon if he'll help a local Jew in hiding who needs money. Leon pays, and love between Rosa and him does develop, but then Leon's peasant subservience and his limited empathy lead to tragedy. At the war's end, a ray of sunshine comes from an unexpected place.
Im Himmel ist die Hölle los
Intendant
Teenage girl idolises television game show host, and gets a chance to be his assistant
Der Rekord
P.K. Wütrich
Out of Order
Fahrstuhlmonteur
It's Friday evening. The lift repairman leaves the building and wants to finish his work on Monday. But he doesn't know there are four men in the building. They use the lift but stay in it about 100 meters from the floor. They have little oxygen and must survive…
Rambo Zambo
Humus
Horst
A German short starring Kurt Raab.
Cheaters
Jörg
Swaying between pleasure and despair, Elric throws himself into his pathological passion for the casino. Meeting Suzie could have saved him, but the young woman also sinks into gambling hell. The couple then start getting involved in the fearsome world of professional cheaters.
Hauptsache: Leben..
Consistency Is Key
Die Olympiasiegerin
Die Matrosen von Kronstadt
Solomka
Der Zappler
Nachbar
Bella Donna
This film of a glitzy showbiz world by director Peter Keglevic in his first feature-length effort recounts the saga of a married torch singer whose numerous lovers are meant to steady her nerves and a saxophone player who loves her but cannot get his own act together. Singing and cinematography are pluses.
The Island of the Bloody Plantation
Writer
A women's prison on a tropical island is a hellhole where the inmates are raped, tortured and otherwise abused by the evil commandant and brutal guards. However, one of the guards falls in love with a beautiful inmate, and decides to help her and all the other prisoners escape.
The Island of the Bloody Plantation
Director
A women's prison on a tropical island is a hellhole where the inmates are raped, tortured and otherwise abused by the evil commandant and brutal guards. However, one of the guards falls in love with a beautiful inmate, and decides to help her and all the other prisoners escape.
The Island of the Bloody Plantation
Bevney
A women's prison on a tropical island is a hellhole where the inmates are raped, tortured and otherwise abused by the evil commandant and brutal guards. However, one of the guards falls in love with a beautiful inmate, and decides to help her and all the other prisoners escape.
Traumlage
Fellner
The Ghost
Poli
Jesus (played by the director) returns to present-day Bavaria, walks around Munich in a somewhat dazed manner and strikes up an affair with a nun, arguing that they are married anyway. Therefore, he refers to himself as "Ober" (waiter), obviously the male form of "Oberin" (Mother Superior). He occasionally transforms into a snake when being afraid and is finally carried up into the sky by the nun, who transforms into a bird of prey. (IMDB review)
Ich werde warten
Herr Dankert
Liebeskonzil
Gerichtspräsident
Oskar Panizza’s The Council of Love (1895) is a blasphemous play set in 1495, during the first recorded outbreak of syphilis, which Panizza satirically presents as the punishment from Satan for sexually active humans. As a result, Panizza was imprisoned for obscenity. Schroeter alternates scenes from the Panizza’s work with a dramatization of his trial, presenting the play as an expressionist spectacle performed by actors wearing exaggerated makeup who gesture and grimace grotesquely. The film thus forms a bridge between Schroeter’s use of tableaux in his early experiments with the political urgency of his 1980s films. On the eve of the AIDS crisis, Schroeter is presciently worried about disease as an excuse for governmental repression and the oppression of sexuality. - Harvard Film Archive
The Magic Mountain
Dr. Krokowski
Hans Castorp, fresh from university and about to become a civil engineer, comes to the Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin Joachim, an army officer, who is recovering there from tuberculosis. Intending to remain at the Berghof for three weeks, Hans is gradually contaminated by the morbid atmosphere pervading the place. Wishing very much to be considered a patient like the others, he achieves his ends and stays in the sanatorium for ...seven years. During this time, he has enough time to take part in the furious philosophical debates pitting against each other Settembrini, a secular humanist, and Naphta, a totalitarian Jesuit. And to fall in love with the beautiful but enigmatic Clawdia Chauchat. When he is finally discharged in 1914 - along with all the other patients - it is only to plunge into the horrors of World War I.
Fire and Sword
Ganelon
The young knight Tristan is injured in a fight in Ireland and cared for by the beautiful Isolde. He falls in love with her, unaware that she is the daughter of the Irish king.
Dr. Margarete Johnson
Herr Körber
The divorced and emancipated Margarete Johnson falls in love with her young and extremely medical bandaged nephew.
Today We're Playing Boss
Writer
Film extras take possession of a bogus film production company and acting as ideal world of film to persuade one associates mother-in-law of marriage.
Today We're Playing Boss
Reichenstein
Film extras take possession of a bogus film production company and acting as ideal world of film to persuade one associates mother-in-law of marriage.
Frankfurt Kaiserstraße
Ossi
Bored with their stuffy village life, teenagers Rolf and Susanne decide to run away and spend their future together in Frankfurt. But since Rolf has to do his military service first, Susanne travels alone to the metropolis, where she finds shelter with her uncle Ossi. He gets her a job and Susanne quickly takes a liking to the pulsating nightlife. Then she meets the handsome Johnny, who promises her a rosy future, but has completely different plans and wants to make her the whore of the city. Caught in the swamp of drugs, prostitution, violence and human trafficking, Susanne experiences the dark side of the big city and it gets worse when Rolf suddenly appears in town.
Wie die Weltmeister
Oberamtmann
A man moves to Berlin after relationship trouble.
Angels of Iron
Chauffeur
The subject of this historical drama is a splintering Berlin in the years of 1948 and 1949. Played against the backdrop of social upheaval, the characters in the drama come to epitomize the best and worst of each pole of the political sphere. A 17-year-old hoodlum by the name of Gladow works hand-in-glove with a local white-collar criminal to rob and pillage every day and night, defying capture. While he and his gang of thugs are terrorizing the people of Berlin, the Soviets are trying to make the blockade of their region of control impermeable. The future casts long shadows over the drama, as Berlin's problems take the shape of times to come.
Total vereist
Herr Münch
Die Fahrt nach Schlangenbad
Alfred Wittkowsky
Slow Attack
Maria Franz Beekenbrandt
Nik, a released prisoner who started writing in prison, wants to leave his past behind him, but refuses to contact his former girlfriend and her family. Under the name of his jail buddy Henry, he moves in with his pen pal - who has never seen him - and is always watched suspiciously by their roommate. Nik began writing in prison and now seeks contact with the literary culture, even though he feels disgusted by the pompous fuss of this society. He is not without talent and works on a novel in which he minutely describes the abduction of an industrialist. Henry gets shot at the prison breakout and visits Nik to get help from him. He likes his novel plot and wants to put it into action.
Warum die UFOs unseren Salat klauen
Hitler
A biologist has succeeded in growing a particularly energy-rich lettuce and now the whole world wants to get hold of the product.
Ticket of No Return
Chef
A sartorially resplendent woman of few words arrives in Berlin with plans to live out the rest of her days as a drunkard.
Der Durchdreher
Mann von Glorias Freundin
The Fall
Theopont Dirlewanger
Victor
Zirkusansager
Boarding School
Set Designer
This film tells the story about a group of girls at an exclusive German girls boarding school. Across the lake is an exclusive boys boarding school...
Boarding School
Fletcher
This film tells the story about a group of girls at an exclusive German girls boarding school. Across the lake is an exclusive boys boarding school...
Missile X - Geheimauftrag Neutronenbombe
Art Direction
An American intelligence agent travels to pre-Islamic Revolution Iran to try to thwart a power-mad European baron from using a stolen cruise missile to destroy an unspecific target in that country.
Missile X - Geheimauftrag Neutronenbombe
Production Design
An American intelligence agent travels to pre-Islamic Revolution Iran to try to thwart a power-mad European baron from using a stolen cruise missile to destroy an unspecific target in that country.
Bel Canto, or May a Hooker Sob?
Arthur
A film by Robert van Ackeren.
The Stationmaster’s Wife
Production Design
The lackluster and plodding Bolweiser has the (mis)fortune to be married to the town’s siren; his trusting nature leads him into serious trouble when she beds nearly every available guy.
The Stationmaster’s Wife
Xaver Ferdinand Maria Bolwieser - Station Master
The lackluster and plodding Bolweiser has the (mis)fortune to be married to the town’s siren; his trusting nature leads him into serious trouble when she beds nearly every available guy.
Group Portrait with a Lady
Parteifunktionär
The story follows the life of a regular German women Leni Gruyten during the 1930s and 1940s. Through her interactions with friends, family and other people she knows, the regular folks' perception of the Nazi era is shown.
Adolf and Marlene
Production Design
When Hitler watches Marlene Dietrich in a movie, he falls in love with her. He persuades her to come back to Germany to be with him, but upon her arrival she constantly insults and provokes him until he eventually, on her command, bites the carpet to bits.
Adolf and Marlene
Adolf
When Hitler watches Marlene Dietrich in a movie, he falls in love with her. He persuades her to come back to Germany to be with him, but upon her arrival she constantly insults and provokes him until he eventually, on her command, bites the carpet to bits.
Four Against the Bank
Production Design
One evening, the once successful architect Helmut is tired of the recession giving no jobs, he gets the idea of robbing a bank. He recruits members of his golf club that are not paying their fees.
Chinese Roulette
Art Direction
A husband and wife lie to each other about their weekend travel plans, only to both show up at the family's country house with their lovers.
Satan’s Brew
Production Design
This fast-paced black comedy by wunderkind director Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows the frantic efforts of a starving and confused writer, Walter Kranz to beg, borrow or steal enough money to survive on, and at the same time make some sense of his confusing life. Unable to write enough to keep his publisher's royalty advances coming, he seeks out a woman he imagines is a prostitute and interviews her for material. He is also inspired to utter some poetry, which his brassy, outspoken wife identifies as coming from the famous homosexuality-advocating mystical German poet, Stefan George. This inspires Walter to take a closer look at the gay scene, and he quickly becomes a sort of celebrity there.
Satan’s Brew
Walter Kranz
This fast-paced black comedy by wunderkind director Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows the frantic efforts of a starving and confused writer, Walter Kranz to beg, borrow or steal enough money to survive on, and at the same time make some sense of his confusing life. Unable to write enough to keep his publisher's royalty advances coming, he seeks out a woman he imagines is a prostitute and interviews her for material. He is also inspired to utter some poetry, which his brassy, outspoken wife identifies as coming from the famous homosexuality-advocating mystical German poet, Stefan George. This inspires Walter to take a closer look at the gay scene, and he quickly becomes a sort of celebrity there.
I Only Want You to Love Me
Production Design
The story of the young man Peter, who grew up during the economic miracle, bereft of parental care and love. Learning early on that interpersonal relationships are based on the principles of exchange or purchase, he abides by these rules and gives generous presents to his family and his wife Erika. But when he is unable to keep up this life-style, his story takes a horrendous turn ...
The Atlantic Swimmers
Polizist
Munich Heinz and Herbert wants to escape the torturous confines of their home by swimming across the Atlantic.
Fear of Fear
Art Designer
After having her second child, a German housewife suffers from post-partum depression before inexplicably falling into a continually misdiagnosed mental state, befuddling her relatives.
Fear of Fear
Herr Bauer
After having her second child, a German housewife suffers from post-partum depression before inexplicably falling into a continually misdiagnosed mental state, befuddling her relatives.
Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven
Production Design
After a worker kills a superior and commits suicide, each of his family members attempts to forge a path forward in life.
Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven
Barkeeper Gustav
After a worker kills a superior and commits suicide, each of his family members attempts to forge a path forward in life.
Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven
Writer
After a worker kills a superior and commits suicide, each of his family members attempts to forge a path forward in life.
Fox and His Friends
Wodka-Peter
Fox, a former circus performer, wins the lottery of DM 500,000 and can now have the life and things that he has always wanted. While he wants to climb up the social ladder, it isn't without turmoil, and being torn between his old working class roots, and the shiny new facade of middle class consciousness.
Fox and His Friends
Production Design
Fox, a former circus performer, wins the lottery of DM 500,000 and can now have the life and things that he has always wanted. While he wants to climb up the social ladder, it isn't without turmoil, and being torn between his old working class roots, and the shiny new facade of middle class consciousness.
Like a Bird on a Wire
Production Design
A pseudo variety show about the Aufbau-Era, the time of the German 'economic miracle'. Brigitte Mira recounts her four husbands through song and joke, on an series of artificial sets.
Effi Briest
Art Direction
A German-made film based on one of the most famous German novels by Theodor Fontane. Effi Briest is a socially ambitious, 17-year-old German girl who accepts a proposal of marriage from Baron Geert Von Instetten, a much older diplomat. Unfortunately, neither the Baron's family nor anyone in the secluded town she now calls home accept Effi as an equal. Starved for companionship, Effi begins an innocent friendship with a well-known womanizer that may jeopardize her position as the Baron's wife.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Car mechanic
Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
Martha
Secretary
After the death of her abusive father, lonely librarian Martha is caught in a strange, sadomasochistic relationship with a monstrous husband whom she begins to suspect may be trying to murder her.
Martha
Production Design
After the death of her abusive father, lonely librarian Martha is caught in a strange, sadomasochistic relationship with a monstrous husband whom she begins to suspect may be trying to murder her.
The Brutalization of Franz Blum
Aufseher Wupke
Born into a well-off family, Franz Blum had led a carefree youth until, some time after graduating from high school, he was arrested by the police. For, involved by a gang of bad boys, the young man had taken part in a bank robbery. A "heroic deed" which earned him six years in prison. Once behind bars, he was treated with ruthless inhumanity by the guards. And little by little - but inexorably - Franz turned into an insurgent...
Der Verfolger
Tenderness of the Wolves
Production Design
A German serial killer preys on boys and young men during the so-called years of crisis between the wars. Based on the true story of Fritz Haarmann, aka the Butcher of Hanover and the Vampire of Hanover.
Tenderness of the Wolves
Insp. Fritz Haarmann
A German serial killer preys on boys and young men during the so-called years of crisis between the wars. Based on the true story of Fritz Haarmann, aka the Butcher of Hanover and the Vampire of Hanover.
Tenderness of the Wolves
Writer
A German serial killer preys on boys and young men during the so-called years of crisis between the wars. Based on the true story of Fritz Haarmann, aka the Butcher of Hanover and the Vampire of Hanover.
Jail Bait
Production Design
Based on Franz Xaver Kroetz's play, which is in turn based on a true story, this film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder tells the story of a very young girl who, after persuading a local boy to become her lover, induces the anger of her father, whose incestuous sexual attentions to her have grown unbearable.
Jail Bait
Fabrikleiter
Based on Franz Xaver Kroetz's play, which is in turn based on a true story, this film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder tells the story of a very young girl who, after persuading a local boy to become her lover, induces the anger of her father, whose incestuous sexual attentions to her have grown unbearable.
Bremen Freedom
Production Design
A very stylized TV version of the Fassbinder play. The set consists of a few pieces of furniture in front of a large screen on which coastal scenery is back projected. Geesche is a nineteenth century woman who wants to have a mind of her own. She defies convention and will do anything to achieve her freedom from oppression by her family and friends. (synopsis written by Will Gilbert)
Bremen Freedom
Zimmerman
A very stylized TV version of the Fassbinder play. The set consists of a few pieces of furniture in front of a large screen on which coastal scenery is back projected. Geesche is a nineteenth century woman who wants to have a mind of her own. She defies convention and will do anything to achieve her freedom from oppression by her family and friends. (synopsis written by Will Gilbert)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Production Design
Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.
The Merchant of Four Seasons
Costume Design
Hans is a street fruit peddler and born-loser. His choice of career upsets his bourgeois family, causing him to turn to drinking and violence. After recovering from a debilitating heart attack, his business finally begins to take off. However the more he becomes a credit to his family, the more depressed he becomes.
The Merchant of Four Seasons
Production Design
Hans is a street fruit peddler and born-loser. His choice of career upsets his bourgeois family, causing him to turn to drinking and violence. After recovering from a debilitating heart attack, his business finally begins to take off. However the more he becomes a credit to his family, the more depressed he becomes.
The Merchant of Four Seasons
Kurt, Hans's brother-in-law
Hans is a street fruit peddler and born-loser. His choice of career upsets his bourgeois family, causing him to turn to drinking and violence. After recovering from a debilitating heart attack, his business finally begins to take off. However the more he becomes a credit to his family, the more depressed he becomes.
Die Ahnfrau - Oratorium nach Franz Grillparzer
Pfarrer
Beware of a Holy Whore
Fred
Tensions between members of a film crew build while they wait for the arrival of the director and star to arrive on location.
Beware of a Holy Whore
Production Design
Tensions between members of a film crew build while they wait for the arrival of the director and star to arrive on location.
Whity
"Whity" is the mulatto butler of the dysfunctional Nicholson family in the American southwest in 1878. The father, Ben Nicholson, has an attractive young wife Katherine, and two sons by a previous marriage; the homosexual Frank, and the retarded Davy. Whity tries to carry out all their orders, however demeaning, until various of the family members ask him to kill some of the others.
Whity
Production Design
"Whity" is the mulatto butler of the dysfunctional Nicholson family in the American southwest in 1878. The father, Ben Nicholson, has an attractive young wife Katherine, and two sons by a previous marriage; the homosexual Frank, and the retarded Davy. Whity tries to carry out all their orders, however demeaning, until various of the family members ask him to kill some of the others.
Mathias Kneißl
Fritz Rechthaler, Jungbauer
Inspired by the real life events of Mathias Kneißl, a marginal man, son of poor farmers from Bavaria, in the late XIX Century. Mathias stole from the riches to give to the poor, becoming a hero for the rural people, and a popular social rebel. He was chased by the police until his unfortunate sentence.
Pioneers in Ingolstadt
Producer
German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder directs the made-for-TV melodrama Pioneers in Ingolstadt, based on the play by Marieluise Fleisser. The film opens as a parade of soldiers are marching through a town square singing patriotic songs. Alma (Irm Hermann) and Berta (Hanna Schygulla) are watching them and musing about their ideas on men and relationships. The soldiers (often referred to as pioneers) have been given the task of building a bridge in the town. Alma seems to understand that the soldiers only want her for short sexual encounters, so she's prepared to live her life accordingly. Meanwhile, romantic Berta falls in love with self-centered soldier Karl (Harry Baer), who all but tells her to get lost. The soldiers get drunk and beat up a random passerby. The women grow to hate Alma for her acceptance of life as a sex object. Naïve Berta is ultimately humiliated.
Pioneers in Ingolstadt
Production Design
German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder directs the made-for-TV melodrama Pioneers in Ingolstadt, based on the play by Marieluise Fleisser. The film opens as a parade of soldiers are marching through a town square singing patriotic songs. Alma (Irm Hermann) and Berta (Hanna Schygulla) are watching them and musing about their ideas on men and relationships. The soldiers (often referred to as pioneers) have been given the task of building a bridge in the town. Alma seems to understand that the soldiers only want her for short sexual encounters, so she's prepared to live her life accordingly. Meanwhile, romantic Berta falls in love with self-centered soldier Karl (Harry Baer), who all but tells her to get lost. The soldiers get drunk and beat up a random passerby. The women grow to hate Alma for her acceptance of life as a sex object. Naïve Berta is ultimately humiliated.
Pioneers in Ingolstadt
German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder directs the made-for-TV melodrama Pioneers in Ingolstadt, based on the play by Marieluise Fleisser. The film opens as a parade of soldiers are marching through a town square singing patriotic songs. Alma (Irm Hermann) and Berta (Hanna Schygulla) are watching them and musing about their ideas on men and relationships. The soldiers (often referred to as pioneers) have been given the task of building a bridge in the town. Alma seems to understand that the soldiers only want her for short sexual encounters, so she's prepared to live her life accordingly. Meanwhile, romantic Berta falls in love with self-centered soldier Karl (Harry Baer), who all but tells her to get lost. The soldiers get drunk and beat up a random passerby. The women grow to hate Alma for her acceptance of life as a sex object. Naïve Berta is ultimately humiliated.
Rio das Mortes
Costume Design
Michel and Guenther, working in dead-end jobs, are obsessed with going to Peru to find buried treasure, using a map of the Rio das Mortes. Michel's girlfriend, Hanna, humors their plan, but really just wants to get married.
Rio das Mortes
Production Design
Michel and Guenther, working in dead-end jobs, are obsessed with going to Peru to find buried treasure, using a map of the Rio das Mortes. Michel's girlfriend, Hanna, humors their plan, but really just wants to get married.
Rio das Mortes
Michel and Guenther, working in dead-end jobs, are obsessed with going to Peru to find buried treasure, using a map of the Rio das Mortes. Michel's girlfriend, Hanna, humors their plan, but really just wants to get married.
Weg vom Fenster
Erster Erzieher
The Niklashausen Journey
Production Design
Can a small group of people start a proletarian revolution, asks the "Black Monk" in a leather jacket. The medieval shepherd, Hans Boehm, claims to have been called by the Virgin Mary to create a revolt against the church and the landowners. The "Black Monk" suggests that he would have more success if he dressed up Johanna and had her appear as the Virgin Mary.
The Niklashausen Journey
Bischof
Can a small group of people start a proletarian revolution, asks the "Black Monk" in a leather jacket. The medieval shepherd, Hans Boehm, claims to have been called by the Virgin Mary to create a revolt against the church and the landowners. The "Black Monk" suggests that he would have more success if he dressed up Johanna and had her appear as the Virgin Mary.
The American Soldier
Ricky's Brother
Ricky returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer.
The American Soldier
Assistant Director
Ricky returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer.
The American Soldier
Production Design
Ricky returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer.
Gods of the Plague
Assistant Director
A man is released from prison and finds the society on the outside less than appealing. With several women as well as the police on his tail, he sets out to find an old friend.
Gods of the Plague
Production Design
A man is released from prison and finds the society on the outside less than appealing. With several women as well as the police on his tail, he sets out to find an old friend.
Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
Production Design
Herr Raab is a technical draftsman. His wife pushes him to seek a promotion, which may be a long shot after he gives a dull and tipsy toast at an office dinner. But why would Herr Raab run amok?
Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
Herr R.
Herr Raab is a technical draftsman. His wife pushes him to seek a promotion, which may be a long shot after he gives a dull and tipsy toast at an office dinner. But why would Herr Raab run amok?
End of the Commune?
Himself
"End of the Commune"/"Ende einer kommune" is a great 49 min. long movie made in 1969 about Fassbinder and the early years of the legendary Antiteater he was a member/leader of. You can here see and hear some of the actors he was going to use in his movies for the next years. The movie shows rehearsals for his play "The Coffehouse" which also became a television-movie, and you can watch unique footage from the 19th Film-Festival in Berlin (1969) where "Love is Colder Than Death" were shown. As told in this documentary, his first feature-movie were given a cold shoulder by many of the journalists and visitors at the festival. You can in "End of the Commune" watch Fassbinder and actor Ulli Lommel walk out on stage after the opening of "Love is Colder than Death", while a man in the audience is shouting "Out with the director!". In this interesting documentary Fassbinder also talks a lot about his father which was a respectable doctor.
The Coffee House
Don Marzio
Avant-garde adaptation of a Carlo Goldoni play. Well-to-do Venetians congregate in a coffee house and discuss their problems.
Love Is Colder Than Death
Aufsichtsperson im Kaufhaus
Small-time pimp Franz is torn between his mistress and Bruno, the gangster sent after him by a shady crime syndicate he's refused to join.
Die Revolte
Tankwart