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Die Fledermaus (1937)
Character: Rechtsanwalt Dr. Rommel / Dr.Falke
The delightful Johann Strauss comic opera Die Fledermaus was mercilessly lampooned in this truly bizarre production. For starters, a framing device has been added: After appearing in 300 consecutive appearances of Fledermaus (which translates as The Bat) the lead tenor (Georg Alexander) imagines that he's seeing bats everywhere. Driven a bit over the edge by all this, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about the opera, with a group of non-singers cast in the leading roles. The original libretto about romantic assignations, political imprisonments and mistaken identity is burlesqued to the hilt: at one point, the hero finds out that his prison cell is surrounded by rubber tubes!
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Die tödlichen Träume (1951)
Character: "Magier" / Rodriguez / Olivier
Strange things begin to happen to a student when he rents a room once belonging to the poet ETA Hoffmann.
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Eine Stunde Glück (1931)
Character: Tommy
The two happy fitters Eddy and Tommy are doing overtime to ensure the great travel-exhibition of the department store they work in is ready for display. Outside, they see a poor newspaper seller, who looks longingly at the beautiful things in the display window. So they simply decide to smuggle the unfortunate inside and compete to win her favor by giving her gifts from the shelves of the department store. In their frenzy of happiness, they don’t notice that the girl is taking the fun little game for the truth. When she realizes that she has to give back the alleged gifts, she runs away.
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Der Herrscher (1937)
Character: Rechtsanwalt Hanefeld
Der Herrscher (The Sovereign) was based on Before Sunset, a play by Gerhart Hauptmann. The great Emil Jannings stars as Mathias Clausen, a self-made businessman who is forced to do a great deal of soul-searching when his wife unexpectedly dies. Determining to start life anew, he falls in love with his secretary Inken (Marianne Hoppe) and impulsively takes a vacation to Italy. Clausen's selfish grown children, not wishing to share their father's affections -- nor his money -- with his new wife-to-be, go to court demanding that Clausen be declared mentally incompetent. Upon finding this out, Clausen flies into a rage, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not he really as gone off his trolley. Der Herrscher was directed by Veit Harlan, more famous (or notorious) for his viciously anti-Semitic Jud Suess (1940).
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Traumulus (1936)
Character: Niemeyers Sohn
This film is a fascinating showcase for Emil Janning's theatrical play. He's a gentle school teacher who believes in his boys and is easily fooled about all things, while the other town officials want him dismissed. Curiously it's very hard to see what the film is exactly aiming for. Disaster strikes and the lax prof proves to be too far removed of the real problems of the world, on the other hand his enemies are shown in the most unsympathetic, satirical way denouncing the militaristic, bourgeois ideology of the Kaiserreich.
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Das Lied vom Leben (1931)
Character: Sänger
This Brechtian musical about a young woman who flees from her decrepit, noble fiancé and marries a sailor is an interesting, although not a completely successful attempt to translate the sort of stage show to film. It has some good points, including the complete abandonment of the sort of surrealistic stage design that had enlivened the silent cinema. Instead, this tries for a purely cinematic technique, including multiple exposures, undercranking and distorting camera angles and lenses.
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Stradivari (1935)
Character: Imre Berczy
In 1914 a Hungarian officer inherits a Stradivarius which is believed to bring back luck to its owner. He and his Italian fiancée are separated by the First World War, and he is badly wounded.
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Kennwort Machin (1939)
Character: Ramon Tomasa
The cashier, Jürgen Borb, has already worked for 10 years at Dadag in Hamburg and is an example for customer service and company loyalty. His professionalism are matched by the trust of his employers, who, while relating to him in an acceptable manner professionally, desire no closer contact with him outside of the workplace. When Borb suddenly disappears one day, Dadag's directors and Borb's colleagues are surprised. They become even more surprised when they soon discover that Borb has embezzled well over a million marks from the firm. His stepsister, Mette, doesn't believe that her stepbrother is an embezzler. In the meantime, she has fallen in love with a criminal investigator, who, she believes, is simply exploiting her affections to get to Borb. Then one day, the criminal investigator finds a body in the cellar of a house Borb rented under a false name and this man created a phony ID card for Borb, identifying him as a resident of a South American country.
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Oberwachtmeister Schwenke (1935)
Character: Karl Franke
A pretty girl helps a popular Berlin policeman solve the murders of a woman he knew and the crooked banker the victim worked for.
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Die Stunde der Versuchung (1936)
Character: MacNorris
Irene is unhappy because her lawyer husband Dr. Leuttern never has time for her. Womanizer Mac Norris slyly benefits from her depression and lures her to his apartment. As she struggles to fend him off a shot is fired and Mac collapses.
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Ave Maria (1936)
Character: Michel
Ave Maria was the second film-starring vehicle for legendary operatic tenor Beniamino Gigli. Mourning the loss of the only woman he ever loved, concert singer Tino Dossi (Gigli) is temporarily shaken from his doldrums by vivacious Montmartre entertainer Claudette (Kaethe Von Nagy). Dossi doesn't realize that Claudette is merely using him to advance her own singing career. Ultimately won over by Dossi's sincerity and courtesy, Claudette falls in love with him for real, only to suffer the pangs of conscience as a result. About to kill herself, she decides instead to return to Dossi's arms, vowing never to confess her original mercenary intentions.
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Die fromme Lüge (1938)
Character: Smith
The stand-alone opera singer Carmen Casini dare not admit to her adult son, the spoiled race car driver Cecil, that she ruined her voice on a stormy day at the racetrack and that her career is thus at an end. Meanwhile, Cecil has fallen in love with the pretty Colette … without suspecting that her father, the wealthy Bartell, was a former lover of his mother and that he’s Cecil’s daddy. Thus, both Carmen and Bartell try to prevent the unfolding love-relationship between brother and sister, because this ain’t the Ozarks, you know! Only after the unhappy Cecil tries to commit suicide after an argument with his mother do Carmen and Bartell realize they still love one another. Suicide attempt be damned; let’s go out on a date! A movie that screams “Fun for the whole family.”
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Der Demütige und die Tänzerin (1925)
Character: N/A
Toni wants to become an opera-singer. Her mother was once simple chanteuse. Toni marries the brutal industrialist Liesegang. An Italian doctor falls in love with Toni. He want's to see Liesegang dead.
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Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheines (1926)
Character: Fritz
Anna receives her first weekly wage: a ten-mark note with the no. K 13513. She gives it to her mother, who hides it in her Bible. Anna's brother Robert steals the note and uses it to buy a knife with which he becomes a murderer.
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3 x Ehe (Dreimal Ehe) (1934)
Character: N/A
A bickering husband and wife decide to go to a lawyer to get divorced. When in the office, they present their sides of the same story, of which they are wildly different.
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Unheimliche Geschichten (1932)
Character: Frank Briggs
A crazed scientist murders his wife, walls her up, then flees. A reporter sets out to track him down. Remake of Unheimliche Geschichten (Richard Oswald, 1919).
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Dreizehn unter einem Hut (1950)
Character: Otto Bollmann
A girl from a wealthy industrial family falls in love with a car mechanic. He is not interested in her, so she follows him and his friends on a group tour and goes to great lengths to finally win his affections.
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Klettermaxe (1952)
Character: Malkow
A masked hero scales the walls of buildings and relieves burglars of the money or valuables they've stolen. He donates the stolen goods to charity and turns the criminals over to the authorities. An exotic dancer falls madly in love with this hero whose face she has never seen. But who is hiding behind the mask?
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Heiratsschwindler (1938)
Character: N/A
A confidence trickster is released from prison and travels to a village where he blackmails and tricks women out of their savings.
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Wenn wir alle Engel wären (1936)
Character: Enrico Falotti
Christian Kempenich, a pedantic law firm manager, attends a christening in Cologne, leading to a boozy night. He wakes up in a stranger’s bed and is accused of stealing bed linen from the hotel. Meanwhile, his wife Hedwig had her own fling and wants to keep it secret. When she learns of Christian’s predicament, she reveals her affair during a heated discussion. Realising their marriage is at risk, they decide to work on their relationship.
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Das kleine Hofkonzert (1949)
Character: Commissioner Zunder
During the Biedermeier era, a young singer searches for her missing father. Remake of "Das Hofkonzert", 1936.
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Gabriele eins, zwei, drei (1937)
Character: Simikry
Gabriele Bordersen, a woman from a good home, wants to see what real life is like among the common folk. With her stewardess Fanny Flint and the tour guide Simikry, she goes off to visit a sailors' bar. Fanny and Gabriele change clothes, which allows the stewardess to introduce herself as a fine lady. When Gabriele asks Fanny to leave with her, Fanny begs her to give her an hour more out of fear of embarrassment. Gabriele, however, is thrown out of the bar by the owner without money and papers; is picked up by the cops; and suffers a nervous breakdown, leading to her being sent to a hospital. No one believes in the slightest that she's really Gabriele Brodersen.
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Die Blumenfrau von Lindenau (1931)
Character: Burdach
Popular comedy about a flower seller who cannot afford to pay a tax for having a little dog as her companion, and the new candidate for the post of burgomaster she endangers.
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Meine Nichte Susanne (1950)
Character: Jean
A Parisian cocotte at the turn of the century plans to capture a very rich Peruvian for marriage and hires her servant as an uncle who is supposedly supposed to watch over her virtue.
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Flitterwochen (1928)
Character: Max Schulz
Newlyweds Käthe and Max met while studying law. Trouble ensues when Max takes on his first case without telling his wife.
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Ruf an das Gewissen (1949)
Character: Korfiz
Ten years ago, the "Andree case" was seemingly solved. Now criminal investigator Husfeld is to reopen it, as doubts have arisen about the guilt of Helga Andree, who was convicted at the time. She is said to have pushed her former rival, the singer Elinor Gyldenborg, off the roof garden and killed her. Husfeld seeks advice from his friend, the writer Volkmar Hollberg. He turns the case into a radio play, which is broadcast on the radio under the title The Jump from the Roof Garden. The broadcast brings back memories of the night of the crime for those present at the time...
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Mordsache Holm (1938)
Character: Kriminalrat Wiegand
A wrecked car is found on the Reichsautobahn between Hamburg and Bremen. Inside is a murdered woman. It soon becomes clear that the woman is the dancer Grazielle Holm. The investigators are certain: it was murder! But unfortunately there are far too many suspects...
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Tobias Knopp, Abenteuer eines Junggesellen (1953)
Character: Debisch (voice)
The wealthy man Tobias Knopp becomes ever more lonely and quirky over the years. He had let himself go, his girth increased significantly, and his hair fell out. Over that, he waited too long for the right woman and stayed a bachelor involuntarily. But now, he wants to try again one more time and wants to get married after all. But first of all, the right woman for this has to be found, and thus Knopp embarks on a journey to look for a wife all through the German lands. During that, he visits his friends who are already married for a long time and gets all kinds of advice from them on how to get to know a woman and to conquer her heart. On his journey, Knopp then learns much about the different facets of married life. After countless adventures, he, however, doesn’t find an adequate partner and returns home frustrated. But perhaps, his housekeeper might be able to help out?
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Die Austernlilli (1937)
Character: Aristide - Kassierer
The Parisian restaurant "At the Oyster King's" is looking for a new waitress, whose job would be to crack open oysters with a newfangled oyster cracker (how exciting!). But who would have thought that this newfound invention would lead to so much turmoil (they're French, aren't they?)?! Through a mix-up, Lilli Dupont gets the job. But Lilli is no waitress, but rather a talented singer, waiting in vain for an engagement. She takes the job and soon every male visitor is laying at her feet. So that Lilli doesn't constantly have to fight off all the horny men, the cashier Aristide spreads the rumor that Lilli is actually the daughter of the millionaire van Muhlen, to whom the "Oyster King" belongs (daughter of a millionaire?!? Oh yes, of course: that will dissuade potential suitors!).
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Alraune (1930)
Character: Frank Braun
A scientist, Professor Jakob ten Brinken, interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts. The girl, Alraune, suffers from obsessive sexuality and perverse relationships throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins and she avenges herself against the professor.
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Die Nacht in Venedig (1942)
Character: Kammersänger Peter Laurenz
The marriage of the celebrated operetta diva Vilma and the chamber singer Peter has come to an end. Peter, however, is intent on winning back his now ex-wife. So he’s come up with the idea of a guest performance in Venice, where the two will both appear. Vilma, however, has already found a new man – Niki. He’s a salesman and she wants to marry him. With the help of Annemarie, a friend, who has won a trip to Venice, Peter succeeds in diverting Niki, for he falls in love with Annemarie. Now the way is free for Peter to win back the ex-wife, who couldn’t care if he lived in a hole six feet underground.
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Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (1931)
Character: Bauunternehmer Stark
In the very old-fashioned town of Ostend suddenly 13 suitcases are delivered to the Grand Hotel, with a note, that O.F. will be here soon and needs 6 rooms. This event, probably the biggest in 300 years, starts a small wave of modernisation, yet everybody is wondering who O.F. is.
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Die kleine Stadt will schlafen gehen (1954)
Character: Fritz Waldvogel
In a small town a bag with delicate letters disappears. Many of the residents are worried about their written messages. A clever sculptor uses the opportunity to play a prank.
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Genuine, die Tragödie eines seltsamen Hauses (1920)
Character: Percy Melo
Since completing a portrait of Genuine, a high priestess, Percy becomes irritable and withdrawn. He loses interest in painting and refuses to see his friends, preferring to spend his time alone with the portrait in his study. After turning down a wealthy patron's offer to buy the picture, Percy falls asleep while reading stories of Genuine's life. Genuine comes to life from the painting and escapes.
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Briefträger Müller (1953)
Character: Bertram
Postman Titus Müller returns from his daily rounds with a letter that will change the course of his modest provincial existence.
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Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1943)
Character: Frank the Reporter
A man of mystery known only as Doctor Terror recounts seven stories from his casebook of personal encounters with evil and the supernatural.
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Der treue Husar (1954)
Character: Otto Kersten
When Eberhard Wacker's marriage is made fun of at the regulars' table "Der treue Husar", he wants to prove to his drinking brothers who wears the pants in the Wacker house. Out of the marriage yoke, into the fun, meaning the big carnival ball that takes place next week. And there is one ironclad condition: the women stay at home. But the merry fellows have made their calculations without the fair wives. And so it goes: "Once upon a time there was a faithful hussar who loved his girl for a whole year. A whole year and much more, the love never ended.
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Bismarck (1940)
Character: Vincent Benedetti
A biographical film of Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, and how he and his policies - including aggressive war - helped to unite Germany.
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Ohm Krüger (1941)
Character: Französischer Außenminister
An anti-British propaganda film from Nazi Germany which depicts the life of the South African politician Paul Kruger and his eventual defeat by the British during the Boer War.
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