Essential German
List activity
31 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
58 titles
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
- CreatorHelmut DietlStarsHelmut FischerRuth-Maria KubitschekChristine KaufmannFranz Muenchinger, called "Monaco", is married to Annette von Soettingen. But he can't take his eyes of young girls and as a police officer he often goes out for "Fahndung". Always at his side is Manni Kopfeck, also policeman and always hoping that one of the girls Franz gets will be left for him.
- DirectorMay SpilsStarsWerner EnkeUschi GlasHenry van LyckA free-wheeling comedy, Zur Sache Schaetzchen chronicles a day in the life of Martin, a witty yet lazy songwriter who'd rather not get out of bed. During the opening sequence, Martin watches a break-in on the other side of the street. In the morning, his friend Henry forces him to report it to the police, yet Martin gets bored with the cops and flees. The two of them spent the rest of the day escaping the law, in the Munich zoo and a public bath, were Martin meets Barbara. Block, the record company executive, needs Martin's new song lyrics right away, and Martin, who continually cranks out mad random remarks, comes up with a ridiculous sailor song. In the end, Martin's playful- ness collides with the authority the police represents. The movie is certainly not plot based; it draws its superior humor from one-liners and the hilarious, carefree insanity of its protagonist.
- DirectorMay SpilsStarsWerner EnkeGila von WeitershausenHenry van LyckCharly flew home and now lives with his buddy Harry, who lives in a sort of commune of potential department store founders.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHelmut WildtIngmar ZeisbergHans CossyThe story takes place in postwar Germany, following Germany's loss in World War II. For years, people struggled with shortages of everything, housing, water, food, clothing.
- DirectorVeit HarlanStarsCarl RaddatzKristina SöderbaumIrene von MeyendorffIdle intellectuals Albrecht, Octavia and Äls, are given to quoting and emulating their philosopher hero, Nietzsche. Albrecht later contracts typhus bringing the foster child gravely ill Äls out of an infected area.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHans AlbersIlse WernerHans SöhnkerThe film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger who works in a St. Pauli club on the Große Freiheit 7, and falls in love with a girl. But she prefers his rival Willem and Hannes returns to the sea.
- DirectorKlaus LemkeStarsDieter GeisslerChristiane KrügerMonika ZinnenbergA young man pays the amateurish attempt to gain wealth by betraying industrial secrets and securing a place in the fascinating world of jet-set life.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsRosel ZechHilmar ThateCornelia FroboessPartially based on the life of Sybille Schmitz, who found fame under the Nazi regime, but whose career was destroyed afterward. Veronika Voss is a once prominent UFA actress, kept by her doctor, who raises suspicion in a sports journalist.
- DirectorRoland KlickStarsMario AdorfMarquard BohmAnthony DawsonIn a deserted mining town at the end of nowhere three desperate men fight over a suitcase full of cash.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiRuy GuerraHelena RojoIn the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsHerbert KnaupKatja FlintHansa CzypionkaThe members of a special police task force uncover a conspiracy involving leading politicians, organized crime masterminds and an ex-colleague who was believed dead. When they are to be silenced, they investigate on their own initiative.
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsGötz GeorgeGudrun LandgrebeJoachim KemmerTwo bank robbers hold the clerks hostage and demand 3 million German marks as ransom. What the police do not realise is that the true criminal mastermind watches them from outside the bank, anticipating every move.
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsKaroline EichhornAntonio WannekSebastian UrzendowskyKatrin and Jürgen spend their holidays in Corsica. Katrin is in her mid-thirties, working as a tracer at Jürgen's company who suddenly remembers he's married -- but not with Kathrin. So they decide to end their vacation earlier than they had planned. Virtually a second before they start to drive back to the airport, Katrin takes her belongings out of Jürgens car again and lets him go. Now being alone for the remaining days of her vacation, Katrin finds herself more and more bewildered by the things that happened to her. She tries to calm herself down a bit by strolling around, visiting clubs and bars and discotheques, having a gentle one night stand with two men passing by, things like that... Then she meets Malte, a 17 year old criminal from Berlin, who is serving time in a reform camp. Malte falls in love with that friendly but sad and disappointed woman. It takes some time for Katrin to realize what's going on, then she feels more and more sympathy for that little bandit who, in a way, is a bit like her. Torn between Katrin and the camp, Malte causes more and more trouble, and in the end Katrin tries to help him escape from the island. But things end up differently.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsClaus HolmMario AdorfHannes MessemerA serial killer strikes again during World War II in Germany. The wrong man is arrested and a detective hunts down the real killer, but justice in Nazi Germany is not so easily administered.
- DirectorRoland KlickStarsCharly WierczejewskiEva MattesMichael DegenWilli is a street kid trying to make a living with petty crimes. He befriends both a journalist who wants to help him make an honest living and an older petty criminal looking for a quick buck.
- DirectorPeter F. BringmannStarsMarius Müller-WesternhagenGuido GagliardiClaudia DemarmelsTheo is having some bad luck. His barely paid-for truck has been stolen, and credit collectors are after him. The chase leads him across Europe.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHannelore SchrothCarl RaddatzGustav KnuthTwo barge skippers fall in love with the same woman.
- DirectorHans-Christian SchmidStarsAugust DiehlFabian BuschDieter LandurisWhen the orphaned Karl Koch and his friend David start breaking into government and military computers, an acquaintance senses that there is money in computer cracking - and travels to east Berlin to try to contact the KGB.
- DirectorAkizStarsCarolyn GenzkowSina TkotschWilson GonzalezAfter attending a rave party, a teenage girl forms a bond with a strange monster as she suffers a slow chaotic mental breakdown.
- DirectorEckhart SchmidtStarsDésirée NosbuschBodo StaigerSimone BrahmannThe hero-worship that Simone has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans. She is later shocked when he lets her know that he does not love her.
- DirectorRomuald KarmakarStarsGötz GeorgeJürgen HentschPierre FranckhFritz Haarmann, who has killed at least 27 boys, is questioned by a psychology professor in order to find out whether he is sane and can be held responsible for his crimes. During this interrogation Haarmann reveals his motives and his killing methods.
- DirectorHelmut DietlStarsGötz GeorgeUwe OchsenknechtChristiane HörbigerThe slightly fictionalized story of an art forger, a journalist desperate for a big story, and the biggest press scandal in German history: the Hitler Diaries.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraIngrid CavenMargit CarstensenFrau Kusters is preparing dinner late one seemingly-ordinary afternoon in her seemingly-ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. She wants to add canned sausages to the stew; her annoying daughter-in-law thinks otherwise. But the point is moot: Mr. Kusters has murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he works--and followed that by committing suicide.
- DirectorPaul MayStarsO.E. HasseRolf KutscheraEmmerich SchrenkWinter 1942: Like thousands of other German soldiers, Asch and Vierbein have ended up at the Eastern front.
- DirectorHeinz RühmannStarsHertha FeilerHans SöhnkerHans NielsenA man meets a girl in an Alpine Lodge and decide to make the relation permanent, but they lose each other, each thinking the other to be disloyal. When the meet again, both are engaged, to others, and she is mother of his child.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPaul RichterMargarete SchönTheodor LoosSiegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.
- DirectorHerbert SelpinWerner KlinglerStarsSybille SchmitzHans NielsenKirsten HeibergThird Reich's Nazi propaganda epic about a heroic fictional German officer on board of the RMS Titanic. On its maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable ship hits an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and starts to go down.
- DirectorOskar RoehlerStarsRP KahlMarie ZielckeRobert Viktor MinichA young Berlin couple travel to a friend's place for the celebration of Silvester and New Year's Eve. During that period, we witness today's juvenile sub-culture, especially the ways of keeping a partnership - or breaking it up in between.
- DirectorGünther RittauStarsHerbert WilkHeinz EngelmannJoachim BrenneckeThis Nazi propaganda film follows the exploits of a German submarine as it prowls the North Atlantic.
- DirectorHans H. KönigStarsRuth NiehausHermann SchombergArmin DahlenIn a small German village in the middle of large moors, there is an old legend of a young woman having sunk in the wetland after being raped by a Swedish intruder of the Thirty Years' war. Now young Dorothee, falling in love with the architect Ludwig, is harassed by an obnoxious, rich farmer Eschmann. The brutal man is ready to do anything to get the maiden. The history is repeating itself, as Eschmann follows Dorothee to the moors after his crime.
- DirectorHardy MartinsStarsBernhard BettermannIris BöhmAnatoliy KotenyovA German Army officer is captured by the Soviets in World War II and sent to a labor camp in Eastern Siberia. After five years of enormous hardship he escapes, commencing an incredible, arduous, danger-filled journey.
- DirectorRobert A. StemmleStarsHeidemarie HatheyerWilhelm BorchertWerner HinzA Nordic fishermen's village surrounded by the raging sea. This is were fisherman Haldor (Wilhelm Borchert) is living. His marriage with the proud Salvör (Heidemarie Hatheyer) is going to be impend. While on the sea in a storm, he is being cast upon an island. There he falls in love with the farmer's girl Maria (Ingrid Andree). When Haldor learns, that Maria is pregnant, he takes her with him back home. Salvör who was still waiting, hates him for that and marries a rich merchant. Twenty years later Haldor's daughter Gunna and Salvör's son Ragnar, are falling in love with each other. And only now Haldor learns from Salvör that Ragnar is his son.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsMarianne HoppeHans SöhnkerFritz OdemarMichael and Franziska's relationship suffers from the separations brought on by his photojournalism. Only after Michael's colleague lay dying in his arms does he decide to go home, but is asked by Franziska to join the war: as a soldier.
- DirectorNicolette KrebitzStarsLilith StangenbergGeorg FriedrichSilke BodenbenderAn anarchist young woman breaks the tacit contract with civilization and fearlessly decides on a life without hypocrisy or an obligatory safety net.
- DirectorRainer KaufmannStarsNicolette KrebitzMarc HosemannSunnyi MellesWhen Ben is released from prison, undercover police agent Melody picks him up at the gate. Kahnitz, her sinister and ambitious boss, wants to see Ben convicted of another crime as soon as possible. Since Ben seems to show only mild interest both in Melody and in safe-busting she has to come up with a plan. Alas, the talkative cop has developed quite a liking for the taciturn gangster.
- DirectorArnold FanckGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsGustav DiesslLeni RiefenstahlErnst PetersenA man climbs a 12,000-foot mountain to search for his wife, who was lost on their honeymoon. Another couple makes the dangerous climb with him.
- DirectorUlrich SchamoniStarsUlla JacobssonSabine SinjenHans-Dieter SchwarzeThe advertising editor Hannes Lücke spends the Christmas holiday every year with his family in Münster. He has his new girlfriend, Inge, in a hotel waiting.
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsPeter LohmeyerAnica DobraHansa Czypionka
- DirectorChristian PetzoldStarsNina HossDevid StriesowHinnerk SchönemannYella is estranged from her possessive and violent husband; but he can't quite bring himself to give her up. When their fraught interaction finally comes to dramatic conclusion, Yella's life takes an odd shift.
- DirectorChristian PetzoldStarsJulia HummerSabine TimoteoMarianne BaslerNina, an end-of-teenage orphan with mental problems, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fell in love with each other, but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. In the meantime, Francoise is picked up at a psychic department of a Berlin hospital by her husband, Pierre. After seeing Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but neither Toni nor Pierre believe her. Nina is unsure about what to think...
- DirectorStefan RuzowitzkyStarsFranka PotenteBenno FürmannAnna LoosA cute med student starts a summer course at Heidelberg University. David's on her dissection table. She met him the day before on the train. Something's wrong.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDana VávrováWerner StockerClaude-Oliver RudolphThis cinematic adaptation of the autobiography of Anna Wimschneider depicts her life's experiences and workaday routines as a woman born on a farm in lower Bavaria, Germany in the 1920s. Anna's mother died young in childbirth and Anna had to take her place and work very hard. At a Nazi rally she meets young Albert, who owns a farm. They realize that they both don't believe in fascism and go to a coffee bar where he starts wooing her. Against her prior decision to leave farm life as soon as possible, she agrees to marry him, hoping that her life will become easier on Albert's farm.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsMoritz BleibtreuChristian BerkelOliver StokowskiFor two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.
- DirectorWill TremperStarsKarin HübnerLouise MartiniHarald LeipnitzA thick fog force the travelers to persevere on the ground for many hours at Berlin-Tempelhof airport. Among them is a businessman who is facing ruin and not shy away, throwing his girlfriend to another man's neck in order to save himself.
- DirectorRobert SchwentkeStarsAugust DiehlChristian RedlNadeshda BrennickeTwo police detectives, a grizzled veteran and one fresh-faced rookie, hunt a ritualistic serial killer murdering people with tattoos and skinning them.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsNatja BrunckhorstEberhard AurigaPeggy BussieckA teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsJennifer Jason LeighStephen LangBurt YoungSet in Brooklyn during the 1950s against a backdrop of union corruption and violence. A prostitute falls in love with one of her customers. Also a disturbed man discovers that he is homosexual.
- DirectorAdolf WinkelmannStarsDetlev QuandtUli HeuckeHermann LausePitman Katlewski is fed up with his conventional life: a wife, small apartment, nice living room furniture - and DM 9150 in debt to pay for all of the former. One day at work, he walks miles underground to take another exit and decides that he won't return up through his pit and into his normal self, until he's freed himself of these bounds. He befriends the unconventional Uli, who offers him shelter. But soon he realizes that it won't be that easy to come up with the money, so he gets himself a chain saw...
- DirectorVicco von BülowRenate Westphal-LorenzStarsEvelyn HamannVicco von BülowIrm HermannAfter ordering enough typewriting paper for 40 years, just to get discount, Heinrich Lohse is forced to retire. The former manager has plenty of time now to spend with his wife and their 16 year old son. But - do they want that?
- DirectorHelge SchneiderStarsHelge SchneiderPeter BerlingAndreas KunzeAn eccentric doctor tries as best he can to lead a pleasant life, despite the bad tricks played by the residents of an orphanage.
- DirectorOskar RoehlerStarsAndré HennickeMarie BäumerVadim GlownaAngst is the story of a sensitive stage director, Robert, and his beautiful girlfriend Marie, a doctor in a children's clinic. Their different attitudes toward life lead the two to constant fights and conflicts. When Robert finds out that his father is terminally ill, he feels guilty for not having taken more care of him. Marie tries to help, but when his father dies, Robert falls into a downward spiral of despair. He looks for solace in his work and in one-night stands with prostitutes. When Marie finds out that Robert has betrayed her, she leaves him. However, her love for Robert and her realization that to love someone also means one must be able to forgive, offer hope for a new beginning between the two.
- DirectorOskar RoehlerStarsJürgen VogelMeret BeckerMoritz BleibtreuThis is a family story that covers 30 years in the life of the Freytag family, narrated by grandson Robert. When his grandfather returns from Russia in 1949, he becomes part of the German "economic miracle" by producing garden gnomes. Robert's father Klaus wants to become a writer. He marries Gisela, who almost immediately gets pregnant with Robert, but the marriage doesn't work. Both parents abandon the boy, who is raised by both sets of grandparents. While his father belongs to the 1960s generation that rebels against their fathers, he falls in love with the neighbor's's daughter Laura.
- DirectorJan-Ole GersterStarsTom SchillingKatharina SchüttlerJustus von DohnányiAn aimless university dropout attempts to make sense of life as he spends one fateful day wandering the streets of Berlin.
- DirectorGustav UcickyStarsRudolf ForsterFritz GenschowAdele SandrockIn 1915, Captain Liers, commander of a submarine is leaving his hometown, where he, his 2nd officer and the radio-operator, who is married there, spend their shore leave. Liers two brothers were already killed in action, so his mother doesn't like the idea of him going back to his sub. Liers thinks his 2nd officer is in love with a local girl, who is really pining for him. On patrol they sink a British armoured cruiser, but while returning to their harbor, they're attacked by a sub trap. They're able to sink it, but the trap has alarmed a destroyer, that sinks their sub. The sub lays on the sea bed at 200 feet, and except for the bridge, it is full of water. 10 members of the crew survived, but there are only 8 rescue devices. Liers gives the order, that the crew shall use them, but they disobey, either all get out or nobody...
- DirectorGustav UcickyStarsHeinrich GeorgeHilde KrahlSiegfried BreuerA troubled father, working as a postmaster in province, worries about his daughter taken to the capital by a rich officer.
- DirectorFrank WisbarStarsHarriet AnderssonMaria SebaldtCarl Lange