Max Knaake

Filmes

Wer seine Frau lieb hat
Art Direction
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Production Design
Die göttliche Jette
Art Direction
Cheeky Jette is a typical Berlin girl. Together with her mother, she performs couplets in a Berlin suburb theatre every night. Then, a young Austrian baron, who is worshipping Jette, enables her to audition for Königstädtisches Theater. Although she at first fails with an aria from an opera, Jette wins over the hearts of the board members with her fresh style when she performs a cheeky couplet that was written by Barsch, the stage manager of the suburb theater.
Farewell
Art Direction
Hella lives in a boarding house and has various romantic adventures before settling down with vacuum cleaner salesman Winkler.
The Brandenburg Arch
Director
In the year 1914: The assistants of cobbler Lehmann compete for the affections of his daughter Frieda. Actually she’s in love with her ambitious cousin Fritz, but the cunning Franz knows how to string her along. When Fritz gets drafted, Frieda gives in and marries Franz. Soon Fritz is declared missing and the old cobbler dies of grief. Along the way Franz, who dodged the military service, earns his money with large-scale racketeering. Frieda is miserable. But then Fritz returns from Soviet captivity, prompting Frieda to divorce Franz. Finally Frieda accepts an inheritance from the USA and marries Fritz. With the money they open up a shoe store.
Spring Awakening
Art Direction
Moritz Stiefel faces expulsion due to poor marks. When he is caught with an essay titled “Shame and Lust”, he is indeed kicked out – instead of classmate Melchior Gabor, who actually penned it. Gabor was drawing on his experiences with neighbourhood girl Wendla. Then Wendla turns up pregnant. Stiefel descends into despair ... Exploitation between Eros and Thanatos in this “sexual tragedy of youth” based on Frank Wedekind’s play. Setting the film in the 1920s provided a chance to explore “modern” youth culture, complete with cigarettes, jazz music, the gramophone, and a goodly bit of alcohol. Richard Oswald, a master of films of manners and young sex beginning in the 1910s, fully explores the temptations of the youthful body, even early childhood flirtatiousness. At the same time, with his target audience in mind, the film laments the bigotry and double standards of the adult world.
Hurrah! I'm Alive!
Art Direction
Pieter Kruis runs a grocer's shop in a small Dutch town, with which he and his wife Johanne can hardly feed themselves. Nonetheless, he is satisfied with his life, although he suspects that he will probably never win the jackpot. Suddenly Pieter receives a telegram from America: his old school friend Joe, who has made a fortune in the “new world”, asks whether Pieter would like to visit him. As “compensation” for expenses incurred, Pieter will also receive $ 50,000! Of course, Pieter doesn't hesitate for long - the suitcase is quickly packed and a ship ticket reserved. But the little “world traveler” has no idea what kind of adventures await him! Fearing that his insidious brother might speculate on his life insurance and stage a small “accident” on board the ship, Pieter disembarked in Rotterdam, where his entire travel budget was by a few crooks. Then he learns that his ship has actually sunk and suspects that his brother is already worried about the sum insured...
Sex in Chains
Art Direction
A young man is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison. There he forms a close relationship with his cellmate. Upon his release his wife is concerned as to how prison has changed the man she married.
The Eleven Devils
Production Design
Die elf Teufel / The Eleven Devils was made in Berlin in the summer of 1927, in the last throes of the silent movie era. But Die elf Teufel strikes one today as a prophetic film. One of its early captions is "Football, the sport of the century ". We are shown a ball bathed in light like some sacred relic, and observe how, even in those early days, fans on the terraces wouldn't shy away from using their fists.