Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen
This 1970 Werner Herzog film is a dark comedy centering itself on a correctional facility exclusively inhabited by little people. It was filmed on the Canary Islands, Spain, but is (other than some names) entirely…
Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.
This 2014 social drama is available on Netflix. It covers the events of 1992 in Rostock, during which xenophobic riots attacked Vietnamese refugees. Using a variety of film art techniques, this film can be analyzed…
Flucht nach Berlin
This 1961 drama-thriller, currently available on Amazon, was a West German production centering around farmers leaving East Germany to flee the collectivization that was taking place. Being a post-war older film, the actors may not…
Frau im Mond
This 1929 Fritz Lang film, written by his then-wife Thea von Harbou, was banned by the Nazis in 1937 due to a prop – the film shows in detail the first working rocket, and the…
Das doppelte Lottchen (1950)
Narrated by Erich Kästner himself, this version’s screenplay was adapted from his book himself. Lotte and Luise are played by twins Isa and Jutta Günther. This was the first film for both girls, and they…
Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl
This 1993 documentary covers the life of Leni Riefenstahl, detailing not only her involvement in the propaganda of WWII, but also attempts to understand her as an artist without the bias of history. It is…
Berlin ‘48
This documentary shows Germany in the post-war era, especially focusing on the Berlin Airlift. This particular documentary was originally in English and the titles and other written information are not translated into German. I’m writing…
Die Nibelungen (Siegfried; Kriemhilds Rache)
These Fritz Lang films from 1924 follow the famous stories of Siegfried, beginning with the sword that he forged to slay the dragon. The actor playing King Etzel in Kriemhilds Rache probably goes down in…
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Fritz Lang’s 1931 mystery/criminal thriller is among the final films he directed before leaving his wife, screenwriter Thea von Harbou, who became a member of the Nazi party in 1932, and emigrating to the U.S.…
Spione
This 1928 film directed by Fritz Lang is marketed as a romance-thriller. The music does a good job keeping the thriller feeling, even 90 years later. The leading lady Sonja was played by Gerda Maurus,…
Nosferatu (1922)
The band Type 0 Negative wrote a modern soundtrack for this film and it was re-released as a TV-Movie in 1998. The modern soundtrack fits the movie very well and adds to the suspense built…
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
This 1920 film is not rated in the U.S. strictly because movie ratings didn’t exist until long after its release date. It was a suspenseful horror in its day and does involve murder, so one…