1. Despair/Eine Reise ins Licht
1978
It is the 1930s and Hermann, a Russian emigrant, owns a small chocolate
factory in Berlin. He is married to Lydia, a plump and rather stupid
woman,
who has a relationship with her cousin, Ardalion, a painter who is
usually
drunk and never has any money. Hermann believes that he is being observed
and followed by a double, especially when he goes to bed with his wife.
One
day he meets the unemployed artist Felix Weber, whom he considers to
be his
double. He tries to win over Felix for a plan: the two of them are
to trade
clothes and identities. It is important for him (Hermann) to be seen
at two
different places at the same time. Felix agrees to do it.
2. Effie Briest
1974, 135 min. B/W
Fassbinder's masterpiece is the German Madame Bovary. Hanna
Schygulla
plays the inexperienced, beautiful and naive woman who marries a much
older
Prussian diplomat, falls prey to a charming, shrewd womanizer, and
suffers
the consequences of an unforgiving society. Beautifully shot
in black and
white with elegant framing, the film is both a very accurate adaptation
of
the novel by Theodor Fontane, and a critical re-analysis. With
Wolfgang
Schenck and Ulli Lommel. German with English subtitles.
3. The Marriage of Maria Braun
1979, 120 min.
Hanna Schygulla stars in Fassbinder's spectacular weaving
of soap opera,
comedy, history, politics and social satire into a lucid whole. Maria
marries Hermann Braun the night before he is called to the front in
WWII
Germany. Soon he's believed to be dead, and Maria starts working her
way up
through the bedrooms of the social elite. When her husband suddenly
returns,
a fight ensues and she ends up clobbering her lover to death. At the
American war trial, Hermann accepts blame and prison sentence, while
Maria
is left to deal with her uncertain pregnancy and promiscuous nature
in this
darkly humorous metaphor for the German post-war national spirit. German
with English subtitles.
4. The Stationmaster's Wife
1977, 111 min.
Elisabeth Trissenaar is the bored wife whose flamboyant
affairs epitomize
the fake bourgeois morality and buried social and political resentments
within German society. Her pleasant, attentive husband (Kurt Raab)
is no
match for the succession of oppressive lovers she falls prey to. Fassbinder
dramatizes this through a Sirkian deployment of bold, ironic colors,
brisk
melodrama and tight framing. With Bernard Helfrich, Karl Heinz- von
Hassel
and Udo Kier. German with English subtitles.
1. Aguirre - The Wrath of God
94 min., 1972
Peru, 1560. Spanish Conquistadors are in search of the legendary El
Dorado,
the land of Gold. Pizarro's army is hoping to reach the Amazon. A group
of
soldiers led by nobleman Ursua is sent ahead to search the terrain.
He
decides to return after losing many men in the expedition. However,
the
non-commissioned officer Lope de Aguirre, who calls
himself "God's Vengeance," continues the journey down stream with a
small
band of men in search of El Dorado. The expedition is constantly threatened
by hostile Indians and low food supplies. In the end one survivor remains,
Aguirre, who dreams of immense wealth, power and fame, although he
is
surrounded by corpses including that of his daughter
Flores.
2. Every Man for Himself and God against All
1983, 110 min.
In 1828, a young man appeared in the town square of Nuremberg,
his origins
unknown, having apparently been kept in solitary confinement all his
life;
five years later he was murdered by an unidentified assailant. Kaspar's
brief, enigmatic destiny becomes a powerful metaphor for life in Werner
Herzog's vision of the extreme edges of existence. Former mental patient
Bruno S. delivers a sympathetic and powerful performance. "Herzog
achieves a visionary, overcast style" (Pauline Kael, The New Yorker).
Also
known as Every Man for Himself and God against All. With Walter Ladengast,
Brigitte Mira, Hans Musaus and Willy Semmelrogge. German with English
subtitles.
3. Fitzcarraldo
1982, 157 min
Herzog's saga of an impressario's obsession to bring his own opera boat
up
the Amazon River and over a mountain into Peru where he will have Caruso
sing features Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, in a legendary production
made against impossible odds. English dialogue.
4. Heart of Glass
1974, 94 min.
Werner Herzog's brilliant, sensual, hypnotic film about the magical
and
desperate attempts of the people in a small village to learn the formula
for
making special glass, supplied by a wandering herdsman with extraordinary
powers. An apocalyptic movie with stunning imagery (cinematography
by Jorg
Schmidt-Reitwin) that achieves a mystical, surreal power. With Josef
Bierbichler, Stefan Guttler, Clemens Scheitz, and Sepp Muller. Music
by
Popol Vuh. German with English subtitles.
1. Europa Europa
1991, 115 min.
The film which took America by storm: Agnieszka Holland's powerful,
moving
story of a courageous German-Jewish teenager who survived World War
II by
concealing his identity and living as a Nazi during seven harrowing
years
through three countries. Based on a true story; a film which changes
almost
everyone who sees it. "A pure, absurd miracle of history" (New Yorker
Magazine). Polish, German with English subtitles.
2. Angry Harvest
1986, 102 min.
Agnieszka Holland's Academy-Award nominated film is a powerful
emotional
drama set during the German occupation of Poland. The raid on the ghetto,
in
which a Christian farmer saves a young Jewish woman on the run, and
their
resulting relationship becomes one of inter-dependent love and ultimate
terror that ends in tragedy. A tour-de-force of acting and directing,
the
film stars Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Wojciech
Pszoniak.
German with English subtitles.
Lang's first critical success, also known as Between Two Worlds or Beyond
the Wall, an allegory about a confrontation between Death and a girl's
love
and devotion. Lang here reveals his mastery of the medium, particularly
in
the architectural design in the film. Silent.
2. Kriemhilde's Revenge
1924, 95 min.
The second part of Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen focuses on the hero's
widow
and her attraction to Attila the Hun. Kriemhilde (Margarete Schon)
conspires
with Attila to invite Gunther (Theodor Loos) and Hagen (Hans Adalbert
Schlettow)--her husband's killers
--to a banquet that ends up in a bloodbath. Film critic and director
Luc
Moulett wrote, "The climax is a long battle lasting three-quarters
of an
hour with encirclements and identical attacks, defenses against the
encirclements, and renewed attacks. Lang creates shots with different
details and builds a rhythm of variations. It is [at] the same time
vehement, dynamic and the opposite." Remastered from a 35mm archive
print;
organ score.
A series of schoolgirls are murdered by a psychopath who terrorizes
a large
city and is hunted by the police through a network of beggars. Inspired
by
the real-life "vampire of Düsseldorf," Fritz Lang's great
film is one of the key
films of German Expressionism. Peter Lorre's performance as the
murderer is
one of the great screen performances of all time. German with English
subtitles.
4. Metropolis
1926, 90 min.
A newly mastered version of Fritz Lang's great masterpiece, the first
classic of the science fiction genre. His depiction of a giant city
controlled by an authoritarian industrialist who lives in a paradise-like
garden while the workers live and struggle in subterranean sections
of the
city was as important for its vision of man in the service of those
who
control technology as for its implicit and moving social message. "A
brilliant piece of expressionist design...with moments of almost
incredible
beauty and power" (Pauline Kael). Silent with music score.
The first part of Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen. Siegfried concerns one
man's
heroic efforts to slay an imposing dragon in order to capture the hand
of
the King's beautiful sister. "Siegfried is dominated by architectural
structures that often reduce the characters to decorative elements
against
landscapes or vast buildings. Lang's decorative compositions seem often
like
frozen bits of life, as if any movement would disturb the geometry"
(Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Films). Organ score. Nine of the ten
reels of
this version were transferred in color from an original tinted print.
English inter-titles.
Considered by many to be the real beginning of the golden age of German
silent film, Fritz Lang's adventure story is about an organized band
of
criminals who scheme to dominate the world. Combining a labyrinth
of plots
with actual exotic locations, Lang succeeded in creating a highly
entertaining film, which was reconstructed over a three year period
by film
historians David and Kimberly Shepard, using original German censorship
records and Lang's own instructions for color tinting. Silent with
music
tracks.
1. The Blue Light
1932, 70 min.
A painter falls in love with a young girl whom the villagers fear as
a witch
because only she can reach the dangerous mountain peak. When
the painter
discovers her secret route, she jumps off a cliff. Riefenstahl's
first film
as director was shot on location and emphasizes the romantic
mysticism of
the mountains and the transmuting power of nature. The film so impressed
Hitler he asked her to make films for the Nazis. Co-scripted by Bela
Balasz.
German with English subtitles.
2. Triumph of the Will
1935, 80 min.
Enormously controversial film record of a Nazi party solidarity rally
at
Nuremberg in 1934, crafted by Riefenstahl in her second directorial
assignment. A fascinating lesson in the methods used by the Nazis to
inspire
national support. German with English subtitles.
This drama explores destructive human behavior - in politics that lead
to
war, and in personal affairs that corrode male-female relationships.
In
1919, the Bolsheviks have toppled the Czar from the Russian throne.
To the
country estate of Sophie come her brother and their childhood friend
Erich,
a German aristocrat. Sophie falls madly in love with Erich, only
to be
cruelly spurned. B/W
2. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
1975, 90 min.
The divorced housemaid, Katharina Blum, meets a young man at a carnival
ball
and takes him home with her. The next morning, the police appear and
search
the flat in a major martial campaign. Katharina suffers various lengthy
and
humiliating cross-examinations; according to the police, her untraceable
nocturnal guest was a dangerous terrorist. The affair develops into
a
catastrophe when a sensationalist newspaper -- "Die Zeitung" -- intervenes
and manipulates "the case" to the point where Katharina's mother is
brutally
beaten up in her sickbed. Katharina undergoes a thorough transformation.
The
incomprehension with which she responded to the first police action
gradually gives way to a feeling of indignation, until she finally
responds
with despairing violence and shoots the unscrupulous sensation-mongering
journalist from "Die Zeitung."
3. The Tin Drum
1978, 145 min.
The 1979 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film. 1924. Oskar
Matzerath,
a precocious child, is born in the "Free City" of Danzig. On the boy's
third
birthday, he stops growing in protest to the nature of the world
around
him. Oskar looks at adults from the optical perspective of a child
and finds
them nothing but a huge monstrosity reaching their political climax
in
national socialism and the Second World War. He is given a small metal
drum
for his birthday and drums out his protest against the world. He upsets
his
family and even upsets Nazi marches with his drumming. Finally, he
becomes
an artist in the Front Theater on the Western Front. He is one of the
only
of his family to survive the war. Oskar ends his boycott on growth
when the
Germans are defeated. VHS letterboxed. German with English subtitles.
1. Colonel Redl
1984, 114 min.
Istvan Szabo's brilliant historic epic of intrigue, continuing
his concern
with responsibility and guilt established with his Mephisto. Klaus
Maria
Brandauer stars in the epic story of intrigue, love and lust, set in
Austria
during the years leading up to World War I. Winner of the Jury Prize
at the
Cannes Film Festival. German with English subtitles.
Istvan Szabo's powerful, Academy-Award winning film stars Klaus
Maria
Brandauer as an actor in pre-war Germany whose quest for success leads
him
to subordinate everything--political conviction, human relationships,
artistic ambition. He is ultimately drawn into a poisonous circle of
evil
from which he can no longer escape.
1. Alice in the Cities
1974, 110 min.
A 31-year-old journalist on the road from the United States to Europe
suddenly finds himself with a new travelling companion: a precocious
nine-year-old girl who has been abandoned by her mother, in Wim Wenders'
eccentric tragi-comedy. A "complexly funny comedy of the problems
of
communication." German with English subtitles.
2. Kings of the Road
1976, 176 min.
Classic tale of wanderlust in Deutschland centering on a traveling
projectionist (Rudiger Vogler) and the hitchhiker he picks up. Robby
Muller
provided the photography. Script by Wim Wenders. B&W. German with
English
subtitles.
3. Lightning over Water
1980, 91 min.
Wim Wenders' film record of the last months in the life of master
American
filmmaker Nicholas Ray. A thought provoking tribute to the maker of
Rebel
without a Cause, Johnny Guitar, The Lusty Men and In a Lonely Place.
Filmed
in Ray's New York loft as he lay dying of cancer.
4. The American Friend
1977, 127 min.
Using Patricia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game, Wenders has made a
spellbinding existential thriller which moves from the docks of Hamburg
to
the streets of New York. Dennis Hopper plays the gambler who lures
Bruno
Ganz deeper and deeper into international intrigue and murder. With
cameo
appearances by Sam Fuller, Nicholas Ray, Gerard Blain and Daniel Schmid.
English and German dialogue.
5. The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
1971, 101 min.
Adapted from the novel by the important contemporary playwright/novelist
Peter Handke, a story of alienation and casual murder--on one level,
an
exemplary comedy-thriller, the film is also a carefully composed chronicle
of a man who is isolated by the end of his professional effectiveness.
German with English subtitles.
6. The Scarlett Letter
1972, 90 min.
Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel, and following the plot
about
the social sanctions imposed upon a woman suspected of adultery in
17th
century Salem, Massachusetts, but with brilliant modern touches by
Wenders,
who presents a remarkably detailed psychological portrait of bigotry
and isolation.
German with English subtitles.
7. The State of Things
1982, 120 min.
Winner of the Venice Film Festival, Wim Wenders' complex film about
filmmaking and the nuclear holocaust is an introspective work, an attempt
to
come to terms with the effect of American cultural and economic interests
on
the European mind. Shot brilliantly by Henri Alekan (Beauty and the
Beast),
State of Things is a "film about filmmaking, about the very conditions
of
filmmaking" (Wenders). In English. B&W.
German filmmaker Wim Wenders presents a film diary of his visit to Japan.
He
has come to see for himself a culture and a city he knows only through
the
work of Yasujiro Ozo, the director of Tokyo Story. Vincent Canby called
it
"a moving, perceptive critique of Ozo's career." With Chishu Ryu, Yuharu
Atsuta and Werner Herzog. Japanese with English subtitles.
9. Wings of Desire
1988, 110 min.
"The first time I saw the film I thought it was a knockout; on second
viewing it already seemed a classic," wrote J. Hoberman of Wim Wenders'
re-examination of the divided city of Berlin. Damiel, played by Bruno
Ganz,
is the angel who has grown tired and frustrated at his inability to
affect
people's lives. When he falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist,
he
decides to leave the heavens and enter the mortal world. With incredible
cinematography by Henri Alekan, Wings of Desire is one of the rare
movies of
the past decade that actually stretch, break and re-form the boundaries
of
the medium" (David Denby, New York Magazine). German with yellow
English
subtitles.
Nastassia Kinski's movie debut at the age of thirteen as a deaf mute
acrobat
in love with an older would-be writer wandering around Germany in search
of
the proper stimulation. Peter Handke's script is based on Goethe's
Sorrows
of Young Werther. With Hanna Schygulla, Rudiger Vogler. German
with English
subtitles.
Movies by other directors:
1. A Love in Germany
by Andrzej Wajda, 1984,
107 min.
A powerfully moving film by Polish director Andrzej Wajda, starring
Hanna
Schygulla. A Love in Germany tells the story of a love affair between
a
German shopkeeper's wife and a Polish POW during World War II. When
the
small town becomes consumed by hatred, the private love affair becomes
a
public crisis, and the villagers must face the questions of individual
guilt
and responsibility. German with English subtitles.
2. A Man Like Eva
by Radu Gabrea, 1988,
92 min.
A film based on the life of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the enfant terrible
of
the new German cinema. Eva Mattes, one of Fassbinder's own stars, is
Fassbinder (in drag) in this film in what Vincent Canby in The
New York
Times called "A stunning performance...a blood-curdling homage...a
hypnotic,
unorthodox, appropriately paean to Fassbinder, the great German filmmaker
who died in 1982." German with English subtitles.
3. David
by Peter Lilienthal,
1979, 106 min.
Awarded the Best Film prize at the Berlin Film Festival, the moving
story of
a Jewish boy and his family trying to survive in and escape Nazi Germany.
German with English subtitles.
4. Germany Year Zero
by Roberto Rosselini,
1947, 75 min.
The original edition of Roberto Rossellini's great film--in its German
language subtitled version. "The actors were all nonprofessionals.
Made in
the neo-realist style...his lyrical view of Germany in the immediate
postwar
period has some magnificent scenes.... Among the memorable...are the
voice
of Hitler on a phonograph among the ruins of the Chancellery, and the
death
of the hero in a gutted building" (Georges Sadoul).
5. Mozart: A Childhood Chronicle
by Klaus Kirschner,
1974, 224 min.
A profound and witty account of Mozart's life from child prodigy to
mature
composer. "Should not be missed by anyone who has even a passing interest
in
Mozart," wrote The New York Times. German with English subtitles.
6. Nosferatu
by F. Murnau, 1922, 84 min.
One of Murnau's best known films, Nosferatu's eerie telling of the Dracula
story was filmed on location in the mountains, towns, and castles of
Bavaria. This German Expressionist symphony of horror is brilliantly
infused
with the subtle tones of nature: both pure and
fresh, as well as twisted and sinister. Newly restored and color tinted,
this version was remastered from a 35mm negative and includes recently
discovered scenes and inter-titles freshly translated from the original
German script. At 84 minutes, it is the most complete version available
on
home video.
7. The Last Laugh
by F. Murnau, 1924, 91 min.
One of the major works of German silent cinema, Murnau's class drama
depicts
the fall of the respected, aging, hotel doorman (Emil Jannings) of
a posh
Berlin hotel, who is cruelly stripped of his position and reduced to
a
bathroom attendant. The film was ground- breaking for its expressive,
mobile
camera work, which imparts information visually, without subtitles.
"The
camera on a trolley glides, rises, zooms, or weaves
where the story takes
it. The camera takes part in the action and becomes a character in
the
drama" (Marcel Carne). With Max Hiller, Maly Delschaft and Hans
Unterkirchen.
8. Pandora's Box
by G.W. Pabst, 1928,
110 min.
G.W. Pabst's baroque interpretation of Wedekind's Lulu plays is an eerie
depiction of erotic obsession and sexual abandon. The action moves
between
Berlin and London, as Lulu (Louise Brooks), a beautiful, charismatic
chorus
girl, orchestrates a succession of casual affairs until her fateful
encounter with Jack the Ripper. With Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer and
Carl
Goetz. Silent with music track. English titles.
9. Sugar Baby
by Percy Adlon, 1983,
86 min.
Percy Adlon's mischievous comedy. An average, overweight mortuary assistant
(Marianne Sagebrecht) falls passionately in love with a sweet, good-natured
subway station driver (Eisi Gulp). Exploiting his loneliness
from his
wife's absence, she orchestrates a brief though memorable relationship.
With
Manuela Denz and Toni Berger. German with English subtitles.
10. The Blue Angel
by Josef von Sternberg,
1930, 109 min.
Professor Rath, a teacher at a high school in a small German town, always
arrives punctually for class and rules his students with a dictatorial
hand.
One morning his students are looking at photographs of Lola, the night
club
singer at the "Blue Angel," and he decides to approach the singer that
evening about "misleading" his students. He finds the singer's panties
in
his coat pocket, smuggled there as a student's prank and visits Lola
again.
This time he spends the night with her and comes late to class the
next
morning, to find his students in an uproar. Spontaneously, he decides
to
resign as a teacher and marry Lola. After the couple spends all of
his
money, they return to the town. The film ends in scandal and Rath drops
dead
in his old classroom.
11. The Golem
Paul Wegner,
1920, 72 min.
The Habsburg emperor orders that the Jews be driven out of the Prague
Ghetto. Rabbi Loew, who wants to help the Jews, is granted an audience
by
the emperor and tries to impress the latter with magic. He creates
Golem, an
artificial person with exceptional strength, as the instrument and
expression of his supernatural power. No one is allowed to speak during
the
performance. When someone does speak, nevertheless, the palace threatens
to
collapse. The emperor promises to withdraw his expulsion order if the
Rabbi
saves the situation. Thereupon Golem rests the ceiling of the hall
on his
shoulders at his master's bidding, thus averting the danger. The subplot
shows how the subordinate
creature Golem threatens to become an omnipotent being. It is the age-old
motif of wizardry gone out of control. Misused as a tool by the
Rabbi's
apprentice, Golem murders, sets a house ablaze and flees with a young
woman
in his arms. A child eventually gives the monster an apple and grabs
the
shining star on its breast. However, it is precisely
this star which gave Golem power. Without it, he collapses.
12. The Trial
by Orson Welles,
1963, 118 min. IN ENGLISH
A newly mastered version of Orson Welles' brilliant film (the one he
considered his best), a masterful adaptation of Franz Kafka's novel.
With
Jeanne Moreau, Anthony Perkins, Romy Schneider, Orson Welles. Original
English-language version.
Documentaries in English:
1. Einstein revealed
NOVA Series
by Peter Jones, 1996, 120 min.
New revelations from his archives paint a surprising portrait of the
physicist as a passionate young man in this NOVA journey into the life
and
thoughts of a genius through interviews with "Einstein" (Andrew Sachs,
Fawlty Towers), insight from experts and whimsical computer animation.
2. Hitler. The Whole Story
DISCOVERY CHANNEL
by Joachim Fest and Christian Herrendoerfer,
1989, 3 vol., 50 min. each
3. Shoah
by Claude Lanzmann
1985, 5 vol. 9.5 hours
Claude Lanzmann's landmark, monumental epic of the Holocaust, a 9* hour
assemblage of witnesses--death camp survivors and Nazi functionaries--whose
combined testimony amounts to one of the most shattering human documents
ever recorded. French with English subtitles.
4. The World of Joseph Campbell.
Transformation of Myth through Time.
Vol 3 Tape 1&2: Tristan & Isolde -
Parzival
5. Victory at Sea
by Clay Adams, 1952, 6 vol., 103 min. each
The best-known documentary on the sea battles of World War II, Victory
at
Sea is filled with stunning footage of both the Pacific and Atlantic
fronts,
including Pearl Harbor, the U-boats in the North Atlantic, Normandy,
Guadalcanal, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This version
is a
comprehensive look at all the action around the world. B&W
6. War Chronicles
by Dan Horan, 1983, 8 vol., 35 min. each
Presents a breathtaking overview of World War II, from 1939 to 1945.