THE BRIDGE – DIE BRÜCKE1x98’ – Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe winning Anti-War Classic

The famous and shocking anti-war movie from the fifties: eight boys, who are still under-age, are drafted into the Wehrmacht (German army) during the last days of the war in April 1945. Entirely unreasonable, they receive the order to defend a bridge against advancing American troops. Filled with fervour and patriotic enthusiasms, they believe that they must carry out their orders. But one by one they are killed while defending the bridge. When a group of German demolition troops is about to prepare the blasting of the bridge, the futility of the order becomes obvious. Only little Mutz survives and apathetically returns home.

Cast: Folker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht

Story and Screenplay: Michael Mansfeld, Karl Wilhelm VivierDirected by: Bernhard Wicki

1959

DER ARZT VON STALINGRAD1x110’

The situation in the Russian P.O.W. camp would be even worse, if it weren’t for staff-surgeon Dr. Fritz Boehler. His self-sacrifice, his personal courage and medical knowledge ease the sometimes incredible physical and psychological strain under which his fellow prisoners suffer. Under the most difficult circumstances he saves the life of the young Cadet Shultheiss during an emergency operation. When he cures the son of the Russian camp commander, he is also able to win the respect and admiration of all the guards. He does not join the first group to be returned home, as his care and devotion to duty are too strong.

Cast: O.E. Hasse, Eva Bartok, Hannes Messmer, Mario Adorf, Walter Reyer, Vera Tschechowa, Paul Bösiger, Leonard Steckel, Siegfried Lowitz

Story and Screenplay: Heinz G. Konsalik, Werner P. Zibaso

Directed by: Géza von Radványi1958

CANARIS1x90’ – International Awards winning espionage thriller based on true events

In 1938, Germany is on the verge of an officer's revolt against Hitler and his government. However, this is hindered by the Munich treaties. Thanks to his international connections, admiral Canaris realizes that war is imminent, but all his warnings are in vain. His greatest enemy is Heydrich, the chief SS squad leader, who has Canaris followed so that he can also control the intelligence. But before he succeeds, he is called to Prague. Canaris does his best to help those persecuted by the regime and takes part in the preparations for the attack on Hitler. After the unsuccessful assassination attempt, he is jailed and hanged shortly before the end of the war.

Cast: O.E Hasse, Adrian Hoven, Barbara Rütting,

Story and Screenplay: Erich EbermayerDirected by: Alfred Weidenmann

1954

AUS EINEM DEUTSCHEN LEBEN –DEATH IS MY TRADE1x145’ – German Film Award in Silver

Franz Lang, alias Rudolf Höss, was the first commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp. According to his own confession, he was responsible for the gassing of millions of people between 1941 and 1944. Even when confronted with the murders carried out on his orders, he continued to see them in the light of serving his people and his fatherland. Lang's biography illustrates his development leading up to Auschwitz commander – from WWI disappointments as a youth, unemployment, imprisonmentand hard labor in the 1920s to the camaraderie of the Nazis, the rise of Hitler and the acceptance of his “historical mission“. Lang was arrested after the war and executed in 1947.

Cast: Götz George, Elisabeth Schwarz, Kurt Hübner, Hans Korte, Matthias Fuchs, Kai Taschner

Story and Screenplay: Theodor Kotulla, Robert Merle

Directed by: Theodor Kotulla

1977

NACHTS, WENN DER TEUFEL KAM –THE DEVIL STRIKES AT NIGHT1x100’ – Vintage serial killer thriller –Best direction award at Karlovy Vary and Oscar nomination 1958

During World War II, Inspector Kersten one day comes across an old file about a series of unsolved murders. Although a suspect has already been arrested, Kersten starts an investigation of his own and comes up with the real killer, who turns out to be insane. An SS Officer, keen on gathering arguments for an action against the mentally ill, takes an interest in the case but the Nazi leadership decides it would be unwise to admit that a psychopatic obsessed killer, Aryan to Boot, was able to go about his murderous business for years without being apprehended. While the innocent man is made to pay for the last murder, the mentally ill man is executed without a trial, and the inspector is sent to the front.

Cast: Mario Adorf, Claus Holm, Hannes MessemerStory and Screenplay: Werner Joerg LueddeckeDirected by: Robert Siodmak

1957

DES TEUFELS GENERAL – THE DEVIL’S GENERAL1x117’ – German Film Award in Silver – Marianne Koch

Harry Harras is a renowned general in the Luftwaffe during World War II. His expertise in turning out top-notch planes has made him a legend in Germany. However, he finds himself caught between two extremes: on the one hand he has earned the enmity of fanatic SS officials because he isby no means a Nazi, and on the other hand he finds himself being used, albeit unwillingly, as a symbol for those Germans resisting the Nazi regime.

Cast: Kurd Jürgens, Marianne Koch, Victor de Kowa, Karl John, Eva Ingeorg Scholz, Harry Meyen, Bum Krüger, Paul Westermeier

Story and Screenplay: George Hurdalek, Helmut Käutner

Directed by: Helmut Käutner

1955

HUNDE, WOLLT IHR EWIG LEBEN –DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER1x90’ –Critically acclaimed gripping epic about the turning point of WWII in Stalingrad

The winter of 1942/43, during the war, despite heavy losses, Hitler’s Wehrmacht troops have conquered Stalingrad, encircled by the Red Army. While many of the ordinary soldiers already realize that the war is senseless and that there will never be a final victory, the officers still try to encourage their men to carry on. Still there is a young lieutenant, who increasingly distrusts Nazi ideology. Over and above all the battle scenes, this is the story of a young man and his increasing scepticism…

Cast: Joachim Hansen, Wilhelm Borchert, Peter Carsten, Armin Dahlen

Story and Screenplay: Frank Dimen, Heinz SchroeterDirected by: Frank Wisbar

1958

LILI MARLEEN1x90’ – One of Fassbinder's greatest commercial successes

Lili Marleen is the story of a song and its singer, a tale about an impossible love. The German singer Wilkie loves the young Jewish musician Robert. After the outbreak of World War II, Wilkie achieves stardom with the song "Lili Marleen" - and with the help of a high-ranking Nazi official. Robert is arrested when he foolishly visits Wilkie in Berlin in the midst of the war. Wilkie then risks her life to save her lover, with disastrous consequences... Left without a career or a lover, Wilkie remains alone and forgotten - unlike "Lili Marleen", the song that will be remembered forever.

Cast: Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini,, Mel Ferrer, Karl-Heinz von Hassel

Story and Screenplay: Rainer Werner Fassbinder Directed by: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

1980

NACHT FIEL ÜBER GOTENHAFEN1x99’

The Film is based on a true event. In January 1945, the refugee ship ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’ was hit by Russian torpedoes and sank with over 6000 passengers, mainly women and children. The destiny of the ship is closely linked to that of Maria Reiser, a wife of an officer on the eastern front. Maria is separated from her husband and falls in love with Hans, an officer on the ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’. Maria has a reunion with her husband during the German retreat from East Russia. The danger they find themselves in leads her husband to forgive her for having had an affair and all three are able to get to the relative safety of the refugee ship. When the ship sinks, Maria and the child are among the few survivors.

Cast: Sonja Ziemann, Gunnar Möller, Erik Schumann, Brigitte Horney, Mady Rahl, Erich Dunskus, Willy Maertens, Edith Schultze-Westrum, Wolfgang Preiss, Tatjana Iwanow

Story and Screenplay: Viktor Schüller, Frank WisbarDirected by: Frank Wisbar

1959

ROMMEL RUFT KAIRO –ROMMEL CALLS CAIRO1x90’ – War thriller set against Rommel’s Africa campaign

Two agents, a half-Egyptian and a wireless operator, are instructed by German headquarters of the Africa corps to find out about the enemy’s strategic plans. From the upper valley of the nile they fight their way through to Cairo all by themselves, where they contact the Egyptian Freedom Movement. Using its channels they worm their way into the British headquarters. An enamoured female secret-service lieutenant leads them up to the secret map-room, where among other things the maps of fortress tobruk can be skrutinised – which then enables Rommel to launch his bold surprise attack. When the radio station fails and an Egyptian dancer becomes jealous, the two agents are finally uncovered.

Cast: Peter van Eyck, Herbert Tiede, Ernst Reinhold, Laila Iman

Story and Screenplay: Heinz Oskar Wuttig, K.H. TurnerDirected by: Wolfgang Schleif

1958

HAIE UND KLEINE FISCHE –SHARKS AND LITTLE FISH1x120’

Young aviation cadet Marseille is only interested in flying; the troubles simmering in Europe in the late 1930s mean little to him. When the war breaks out, he is sent to Africa, where his reckless flying on the front wins him the admiration of his superiors. He soon gets a special leave to return to Germany, where he is paraded as a hero. There he meets the young teacher Brigitte and falls in love with her. Troubled by her critical views, he starts thinking about the absurdity of the war but returns to the front when his leave is over. On his next mission, he is forced to eject himself from his damaged plane, but his parachute does not open, and the 22-year-old pilot plunges to his death.

Cast: Hansjörg Felmy, Sabine Bethmann, Wolfgang Preiss, Heinz Engelmann, Horst Frank, Siegfried Lowitz

Story and Screenplay: Wolfgang OttDirected by: Frank Wisbar

1957

SPION FÜR DEUTSCHLAND1x102’

The Nazi agent Erich Gimpels is put ashore, in 1944, on the coast of the USA by a submarine of the German Navy. He is to scout out the possible use in the war of an atomic bomb against Germany. From his New York hotel room he picks up conspirative contacts. The FBI is soon on his trail. Gimpel discovers that the bomb is almost ready. He is just about to break off his mission and emigrate to South America with his girlfriend when he is arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was pardoned in 1955 by the USA.

Cast: Martin Held, Nadja Tiller, Walter Giller, Viktor Staal, Claude Farell, Gustav Knuth

Story and Screenplay: Will Berthold, Werner ReineckerDirected by: Werner Klingler

1956

DER STERN VON AFRIKA1x100’

Born into a well situated family, Hans-Joachim Marseille quickly gains a reputation for being a fearless flyer, thanks to his daredevil tricks while at the Luftwaffe’s flight school. He is fearless and uncompromising, something which repeatedly brings him into conflict with the authorities’iron code of discipline. After WWII breaks out, he gains glory and recognition as being an attack-loving ‘flying-devil’. A ravishing woman, Brigitte, falls in love with him, gives herself to him and tries, in a moment of openness, to convince him through carefully veiled words to desert. Marseille hesitates to do it – and perishes shortly thereafter when his parachute doesn’t open.

Cast: Joachim Hansen, Marianne Koch, HansjörgFelmy, Horst Frank, Peer Schmidt, Carl Lange, Werner Bruhns

Story and Screenplay: Herbert Reinecker, Bruno Wolter

Directed by: Alfred Weidenmann

1957

IN JENEN TAGEN – THOSE DAYS1x100’ – 7 episodes

1.:On the day of Hitler’s seizure of power a young girl, who could have lived a sheltered life, goes abroad, accompanied by the man who loves her. 2.: A thirteen-year-old girl despairs of her mother because she thinks that her beloved father has been betrayed by her. 3.: A shop-owner and his Jewish wife see their only escape in joint suicide. 4.: The member of a resistance group disappears without trace. 5.: In Russia a lieutenant recognizes the truth which till then he had not wanted to believe. 6.: The car is to bring two people to freedom after the 20th July 1944. 7.: The confusion of the last days of the war brings a man and a girl together.

Cast: Erich Schellow, Winnie Markus, Franz Schafheitlin, Alice Treff

Story and Screenplay: Helmut Kaeutner

Directed by: Helmut Kaeutner

1947

UNRUHIGE NACHT – RESTLESS NIGHT1x90’

A protestant military chaplain with the German army is the presiding judge at a summonary court held during the attack on Russia in World War II. The pastor has to judge the fate of a corporal who fell in love with a Russian Woman, deserted to be with her, and, clad as a Russian live with her. The soldier is sentenced to die. Many years later, the pastor recalls the incident in refusing a position as chaplain in the Bundeswehr, as he has come to hold himself accountable for the horrors of World War II.

Cast: Bernhard Wicki, Ulla Jacobsson, HansjörgFelmy

Story and Screenplay: Horst Budjuhn

Directed by: Falk Harnack

1958

VERRAT AN DEUTSCHLAND – TREASON1x90’

Dr. Sorge is a spy whose cover is that of being a journalist. Sorge is in Japan, and built up the ‘cricket’ espionage network. Sorge’s good connections to the German embassy in Tokyo permit him to report to Moscow on important decisions, such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, well before they happen. When two of his associates are arrested, he tries in vain to flee. A secretary at the German embassy, who has loved Sorge without knowing what he was up to, smuggles a poison pill to him in prison, so that he can be spared a death by hanging. For her efforts she is arrested as an accomplice.

Cast: Paul Muller, Valery Ikinshinow, Kristina Soederbaum

Story and Screenplay: Thomas Harlan

Directed by: Veit Harla

1954

08/15 – Trilogy3x90’

Part 1 - A German army barracks shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Private Asch, whose conduct and spotless record make him a model soldier, starts disobeying orders when a buddy of his is about to commit suicide because of unbearable bullying by Platzek, their superior. Angered into action, Asch also uncovers corruption; when shots are fired at sergeant Schulz, an at- tempt is made to lay the blame on Asch. Not to be intimidated, resourceful Asch reports the incidents to the higher-ups and causes the major to start an investigation of the entire barracks. Ultimately Asch is promoted, while Platzek is transferred for disciplinary reasons.

Part 2 - Ordinary army life goes on at the front, as it did in the training unit at home. While a new battalion commander takes over lieutenant Wedel- mann's unit and causes a lot of confusion through giving senseless orders, non-commissioned officer Vierbein is ordered home in order to fetch radio equipment. In the meantime sergeant Asch and his friend Kowalski are trying to do something against the narrowmindedness of the army spirit at the Russian front, while lieutenant Wedelmann falls in love with a Russian interpreter. After Vierbein's return the front is to be pulled back. The retreat is interrupted by a Russian attack, in the course of which Vierbein dies.

Part 3- The last days of the Second World War: The heads of the army have left the fighting troops. They are already having their soup in the communication zone or at home, while Asch, having been promoted to lieutenant, is on the trail of two SS men who, dressed up as Wehrmacht officers, are trying to secure their stolen goods by murdering others. Behind all the weird happenings which Asch observes, the American news service suspects a mysterious and dangerous system. The foremost greatest patriots and troublemakers become the victors' most enthusiastic collaborators.

Cast: Joachim Fuchsberger, Eva-Ingeborg Scholz, Paul Boesiger, Helen Vita, Gundula Korte, Peter Carsten, Mario Adorf

Story and Screenplay: Helmut KirschDirected by: Paul May

1954 / 1955