Karl Plintzner

Movies

The Golden Goose
Director of Photography
For Eyes Only
Director of Photography
The "Concordia" trading company in Würzburg is a secret headquarters of the MID, a secret service agency of the US Army. For years, espionage, sabotage, and diversion operations originated from here in order to undermine the Socialist Republic of Germany. A favorable moment for a military attack approaches and plans are developed. These plans are placed in the hands of Major Collins, who keeps them in a safe. Hansen has worked for him for many years, but also for the Stasi as a double agent. Security Chief Colonel Rock knows there is a leak, but Hansen has passed every test thrown at him. He is trying to deal with his current assignment: acquiring the plans so they can be made public. His mission is to get them out of the safe and into the GDR without getting caught.
Minna von Barnhelm oder Das Soldatenglück
Cinematography
This film takes place during the Seven Years' War. The Prussian Major von Tellheim has become engaged to the Saxon noblewoman Minna von Barnhelm. After the war, the King - in an unwarranted move - deprives the major of his honor. Von Tellheim becomes impoverished and, filled with shame, breaks off his relationship to Minna. An innkeeper in Berlin, who is a police informer, makes the Major move to a shabby little attic because he cannot pay his debt. In the meantime, Minna has also arrived at the inn. She and her lady's maid Franziska are questioned and spied on by the nosy innkeeper. Minna has followed her beloved Tellheim and she now cunningly manages to elicit a new declaration of love from him...
Die schwarze Galeere
Cinematography
Reiseziel Erfurt
Cinematography
Erfurt is host to a large pioneer meeting. From all over the country, thousands of boys and girls travel to the Saxon city to be part of the happening. The schoolboy Tim, however, misses his train - a catastrophe for both himself and his team, since Tim is a sports ace and desperately needed in the competition. Without further ado, the boy decides to hitchhike to Erfurt. The journey turns out to be full of adventures and it ends with a triumph for Tim and his team.
The Dream of Captain Loy
Cinematography
An American military plane takes six people, who have taken part in a NATO maneuver, from Tripoli to Oslo. Among them are the British Captain Loy and the United States Air Force Corporal Doris Graves. During the flight, the two become closer, and they regret that the trip will end that evening. But everything turns out differently. The flight captain has received orders to pick up an agent at a German NATO airport, who is to be dropped off again on a Soviet island …
The Magic Castle
Cinematography
"Das Märchenschloss" is a children’s film based on a picture book by Fred Rodian. It tells the story of three brothers - Klaus, Günter, and Peter - who head out into the world to meet their dreams. While Klaus dreams of a combine harvester, Günther dreams of a tractor. Little Peter, however, yearns for something completely different: a fairytale castle.
New Year’s Eve Punch
Cinematography
After their successful May party, now the Lehmann family want to throw a New Year's Eve part with punch. Wilhelm's sons Franz and Paul are brigade leaders at a chemical factory. One of their brigades consists largely of fanatics of high culture, while the other consists of sports fanatics. But the rival brigades must work together in order to throw a successful New Year's Eve party for the factory, since the occasion requires both elements: sports and culture.
Sommerwege
Cinematography
Intrigue and Love
Cinematography
Ferdinand is an army major and son of President von Walter, while Luise Miller is the daughter of a middle-class musician. They fall in love with each other, but both their fathers urge them to end the affair.
Erich Kubak
Cinematography
Film by Johannes Arpe.
Senta auf Abwegen
Director of Photography
Geschwader Fledermaus
Cinematography
The Singing Ringing Tree
Director of Photography
A brave prince must seek the fabled singing, ringing tree in order to win the heart of a beautiful princess.
Mazurka der Liebe
Director of Photography
Early 18th-century Krakow: The poor student Simon works as a travelling musician in order to finance his studies, and the Polish freedom fighter Jan is on the run from Saxon troops. They meet in the carriage of Count Kovalska, where they fall in love with the Count’s daughters Laura and Bronislava.
Ernst Thälmann – Leader of the Working Class
Cinematography
This film is the second of a two-part historical and biographical portrait of the communist politician and anti-fascist Ernst Thälmann. Autumn, 1918: Somewhere on Germany’s western front, Ernst Thälmann, age twenty-four, is calling on his fellow soldiers to put down their guns and join him in the communist struggle at home. When Hamburg’s Police Commissioner blocks a much-needed food shipment to the workers of Petrograd, Ernst battles to see it allowed through. Until his murder on August 18, 1944, Ernst remained true to his political convictions in the face of many setbacks.
Stronger Than the Night
Cinematography
The story of a resistance fighter in the Nazi era: Communist Hans Löning was arrested in 1933, imprisoned in a concentration camp and tortured. The Gestapo plans to smash the resistance group around Löning. Despite the imminent threat to his life, Löning, together with his wife, organized the passive resistance of the Hamburg workers against the Hitler regime. In 1944, Löning was again taken and killed.
Ernst Thälmann – Son of the Working Class
Director of Photography
This film is the first of a two-part historical and biographical portrait of the communist politician and anti-fascist Ernst Thälmann. In early November 1918, Ernst Thälmann is an unwilling soldier serving on the western front. As the revolutionary movement at home is threatened by the betrayal of the Social Democrats and fissures in the working class, Thälmann calls on his fellow soldiers to put down their weapons and unite with the workers in the communist struggle at home. Thälmann’s qualms about which side he is fighting on continue, but when the local police attempt to prevent a shipment of provisions and supplies from reaching the people in Petrograd, he intervenes and the ship is unloaded. With this moment of clarity, Thälmann continues to follow his political convictions and joins the workers at the Hamburg uprising in October 1923.
Das verurteilte Dorf
Cinematography
East German propaganda film about an american army base trying to take away land from a west german village.
Story of a Young Couple
Cinematography
A young married couple - both of them actors - work in the divided city of Berlin. Agnes, the young woman, is on location in East Berlin, and Jochen, her husband, works at the Westend Theater in West Berlin. This young marriage is in danger of breaking up as they vehemently defend their diametrically opposed views. The way they see politics, art and the world differs extremely.
Die letzte Heuer
Cinematography
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Director of Photography
For the corpulent nobleman Sir John Falstaff, the inn in the small English town of Windsor is the best of all places. Here he can indulge in excessive dining and intemperate drinking, as well as swagger and boast about his adventures, particularly those of an amorous nature. At present, he has designs on the two young women, Mistress Reich and Fluth, who, in turn, lead the paunchy protagonist mightily by the nose.
The Benthin Family
Director of Photography
The brothers Theo and Gustav Benthin pull profits through smuggling in divided Germany: Theo in the West and Gustav in the East. The East German police catch on quickly, however, and Gustav is arrested. The small band of smugglers disperses, with Gustav’s chauffer Peter Naumann fleeing to the West and his sister choosing the East after struggling to find work and lodging in the West.
Figaros Hochzeit
Director of Photography
Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.
Girls in Gingham
Director of Photography
A moving saga focusing on the women in a family that spans three generations and almost 70 years of German history, from the Wilhelmine period through the end of WWII. This film shows that it takes a combination of hard work, political consciousness and family work in tandem to face the tragedies of war, economic hardship and death.
The Blum Affair
Director of Photography
Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer, is falsely accused of a murder. Even when the real killer’s identity becomes evident, the state prosecutor refuses to accept Blum’s innocence.
Die seltsamen Abenteuer des Herrn Fridolin B.
Director of Photography
The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes
Director of Photography
Two out-of-work private detectives disguise themselves as Holmes and Watson to gain attention and end up chasing counterfeiters and stolen stamps.