Jane Sloan Media Librarian jsloan@rci.rutgers.edu December 2003

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Media Collections:
Feature Films Germany

This guide is a browsing aid to selected titles in the video/DVD collections at Rutgers Libraries. The most up-to-date, accurate, and complete information regarding the libraries' holdings is available only through IRIS, our online catalog.

Die 3 Groschen Oper The 3 penny opera 198-1931

Social satire set in Victorian London in which both government and underworld are portrayed as amoral and polluted by economic and political chaos. Polly Peachum, daughter of the king of the beggars, with the help of Mackie Messer and his gang, opens a bank in the belief that legal thievery is more profitable than larceny. In the end, Polly's father, Mackie, and the corrupt police commissioner become partners in the bank and mainstays of society.

MEDIA MEDIA 2-1300 1599

Die allseitig reduzierte Persönlichkeit, redupers The allround reduced personality 1998

A free-lance photojournalist struggles to realize herself as an artist and as a woman straddling multiple worlds- work, womanhood, motherhood, East, West, capitalism and socialism.

MEDIA 2-5216

Berlin, the symphony of a great city Berlin, die symphonie der Grossstadt 1985

A film study of the rhythms of urban life in Berlin during the early 1920s.

MEDIA 2-1386

Bildnis einer Trinkerin 1979

A woman takes a drunken sightseeing tour of Berlin in this exploration of the complexity of female identity.

MEDIA 2-6055

Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von kant The Bitter tears of Petra von Kant 1991

The story deals with the shifting power relationships among three women: a successful fashion designer, her contented assistant and a sultry model.

MEDIA 2-2642

Die Bleierne Zeit Marianne & Julianne 1994

The focus of this moving film is the relationship, emotional and psychological, between two sisters and it is based on a true story. The details of the personalities of the two main characters and their development parallels the personal history of the Ensslin sisters: Gudrun (Marianne in the film) was imprisoned as a terrorist in the Stammheim prison, where she died, supposedly a suicide, in the Fall of 1977 ; Christiane (Julianne in the film) worked for some time as an editor of a women's magazine, "Emma," and was determined to prove that her sister did not kill herself.

MEDIA 2-2646

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1995

This drama of terror produced in Germany for the silent screen is a leading example of expressionism. It is a tale of the modern re-appearance of an 11th century myth involving the strange and mysterious influence of an evil monk over a sleepwalker.

DANA 663

Conspiracy 2002

On January 20, 1942, 15 German officials attended a conference at Wannsee - on the outskirts of Berlin. The meeting comprised of mid-ranking SS commanders and a variety of government ministers. The meeting was organized by SS Major Adolf Eichmann under the direction of Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich. It was a polite conference, but under this thin veneer of manners lay an evil intent. By the end of the meeting, the fate of six million lives would be decided and the shape of the world would be altered forever.

MEDIA 10-103

Das Boot ist voll The boat is full 1989

A group of refugees from Nazi Germany seek asylum in Switzerland by posing as a family.

DANA MEDIA 926 2-2125

Das Boot The boat 1997

Follows the daring patrol of the U-96, one of the famed German U-boats known as the "gray wolves." The crew is graphically portrayed in a life-and-death struggle, challenging the British Navy at every turn. Autumn, 1941: 43 young German sailors aboard U-96 enter the war against Britain. They seek adventure, respect and heroism. For them, this voyage is for glory. For their captain, a seasoned war veteran at the young age of 30, it is a mission against enemy destroyers in a blood-red sea that can devour a ship and its crew without leaving a trace.

MEDIA. MEDIA. 2-3382 cassette 1 2-3383 cassette 2 7-148 disc 1 7-149 disc 2

Das versprechen The promise 1995

The story of two lovers trapped on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall after one successfully escapes to the West.

MEDIA 2-5050

Das zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages The second awakening of Christa Klages 1997

Christa Klages is a young mother distraught at the prospect that her day care center is running out of money. With her lover, Werner, and another friend, she robs a bank. The friend is captured and Werner is killed while eluding the police, so Christa flees with her friend, Ingrid, who helps Christa escape to Portugal.

MEDIA 2-5180

David 1987

David is a young Jewish teenager who is caught up in the Nazi regime's persecution. He survives as victim and witness in this poetic but brutal drama filmed in Germany.

MEDIA 2-2096

Der blaue Engel The Blue angel 1993

A German professor foolishly becomes infatuated with an immoral cabaret singer.

DANA 329

Ein Mann wie Eva A man like Eva 1988

Stirring portrait of an obsessive filmmaker shooting a romantic drama. Inspired by the legend of Gemany's prolific director, Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

MEDIA 2-3580

Faustrecht der Freiheit Fox and his friends 1989

A gay working-class carnival entertainer whose lottery winnings attract a wealthy, upper-class lover, with whom he begins an ill-fated romance.

MEDIA 2-3480

Handler der vier Jahreszeiten Merchant of four seasons 1973

"Hans, a fruit peddler, watches his unexceptional life disintegrate. Seduced and rejected to the point of a nervous breakdown, Hans drinks himself to death as he toasts his loved ones at the dinner table"--Container.

MEDIA 2-3581

Heller Wahn Sheer madness 1997

Chronicles the friendship between two very different women: one a lecturer in literature and separated from her stage director husband; the other the shy wife of a well-known peace expert. As the two women become closer, their husbands become annoyed at their own loss.

MEDIA 2-5241

Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia 1989

Seven Western women travelers meet aboard the Trans-Siberian Express. Suddenly ambushed by a band of Mongol horsewomen, they are abducted to the plains of Inner Mongolia and embark on a fantastic camel ride across the countryside.

MEDIA 2-6052

The Joyless street 1990

A drama about the hunger and passion of the people living under the distorted conditions of inflation-ridden, post World War I Vienna.

MEDIA 2-1863

Jud Süss 1985

Tells the story of the rise to power of the Jewish financial advisor of the Duke of Württeinberg. After the Duke's death, there is a revolt, whereupon he is tried and hanged, and all Jews subsequently leave the country. An antisemetic film used for justification of the Final solution of the Jews in Europe.

MEDIA 2-2069

Judgement at Nuremberg 1983

Courtroom drama which recreates the post-World War II trials of Nazi officials, centering on the trial of four accused of war crimes.

MEDIA. 2-143 cassette 1 2-144 cassette 2

Kings of the road in the course of time 1987

Depicts the experiences of two young men in Germany. One repairs cinema equipment, the other cannot face the world from which he came. Together they set off on a rambling trip across Germany, listening to rock'n roll, visiting closed movie theatres, meeting strangers and learning what it means to be living in today's Germany.

MEDIA. 2-652 cassette 1 2-653 cassette 2

Kolberg 1985

Recreates the true story of a Prussian town's rebellion against Napoleon's army of the occupation. Laced with National Socialist ideology, the film is a mirror of Nazi Germany's own war for survival during the final years of World War II. In its characterizations of Kolberg's beseiged citizenry, the epic allegorically reflects the spirit of fanatical resolve to fight on, that Nazi propaganda was attempting to instill in the German populace.

MEDIA 2-1947

Lisbon story 1997

When sound engineer Phillip Winter receives a cryptic message from his friend, a self-obsessed director, he drives to Lisbon. But upon his arrival, Winter is unable to find the director, and an unfinished silent film is the only clue to his whereabouts. As a result the engineer finds himself roaming the streets of Lisbon recording sound for his friend's unfinished silent film.

DANA 888

Lola rennt 1999

A thrilling roller-coaster ride about two star-crossed lovers who have only minutes to change the course of their lives. Time is running out: Lola has just received a frantic call from her boyfriend Manni, who's accidentally lost a small fortune he was to deliver to his mobster boss. If they cannot find a way to replace the money within twenty minutes, Manni will suffer severe consequences.

MEDIA 10-10

Los asesinos se encuentran entre nosotros The murderers are among us 1996

After the end of World War II, Susanne Wallner returns from a concentration camp to find that her Berlin apartment is occupied by Dr. Martens, whose memories of mass executions ordered by his captain in Poland have driven him to despair and drunkenness. They stay together, but when Martens learns his former captain is alive and prospering he determines to kill the war criminal.

MEDIA 2-3442

Macumba 1981

Three Germans, isolated in a Brazilian city by their own lethargy, are haunted by the energetic Afro-Brazilian religion and music around them.

MEDIA 2-5434

Marion Wolff a young girl in Hitler's Berlin 1989

Following an introduction describing the stages and causes of the Holocaust, Marion Wolff addresses a class at Langley High School. She describes the increasing restrictions against the Jews of Berlin from 1933 to 1938, when she was a school child, the indifference of the world during the Evian Conference, the horror of Kristallnacht, and the growing number of arrests, disappearances and murders after Kristallnacht.

MEDIA 2-1815

Menschenfrauen Humanwomen 1989

Four women are either married to, pregnant by or in other ways attached to one man who, for a long time, gets understanding until, in the end, the four women revolt against him.

MEDIA 2-2669

Metropolis 1984

The story of a 21st century city run by a "super trustee" and his collaborators who live in a paradise-like garden. Workers are totally enslaved by machines and condemned to live underground. In the midst of this misery, a young woman, Maria, arises and attempts to inspire the workers to throw off their oppressors.

MEDIA DANA MEDIA 2-34 614 10-165

Schwestern, oder, Die Balance des Glücks = Sisters, or, The balance of fortune 1997

Two sisters share a complex and compelling relationship in this well-crafted film about sibling rivalry.

MEDIA 2-5181

Die stille nach dem schuss The legends of Rita 2001

This political thriller, set in the final years of the Cold War, recounts the struggles of a young West German woman member of a terrorist group (loosely based on the real Baader-Meinhof gang). When the group disbands, she goes into hiding with an invented identity in East Germany. She struggles with the realities of a Communist state while keeping the distant ideal of socialism.

MEDIA 10-98

The three penny opera 1996

A political satire set in Victorian London. Macheath, a notorious criminal and ladies' man, gets away with robbery and criminal acts until he marries Polly Peachum, daughter of the king of the beggars. The king sends a force of crooked cops after Mack, and he must run for his life.

DANA 1600

Verführung die grausame Frau = Seduction : lady cruel 1992

A drama concerning the erotic relationships of a dominatrix who runs a gallery on the Hamburg waterfront, where audiences pay for sadomasochistic entertainment.

MEDIA 2-2839

Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum The Lost honor of Katharina Blum 1975

This film is about the systematic victimization of a proud young woman [because she is suspected of aiding a terrorist]. In a period of several days, Katharina's privacy and particularly, her honor, are destroyed, first by the police, who terrorize her, and then by the yellow press.

MEDIA MEDIA D-376 2-590

Warum läuft Herr R. amok? Why does Herr R. run amok? 1994

Herr R. seems perfectly normal, until one night when he calmly picks up a lamp and bludgeons to death his wife, son and a visiting neighbor.

MEDIA 2-3469

Die Weisse Rose White Rose 1983

The story of a secret society of students and their professor who printed and distributed anti-Nazi leaflets to urge German citizens to sabotage the war efforts.

MEDIA 2-5971

Wings of desire 1988

A romantic fantasy about an angel who wishes he were mortal and is willing to fall from the sky if it means a chance to fall in love. Set in modern day Berlin, the film follows angel Damiel's path from heavenly flight to earthly delight in a manner that's comical, touching and entertaining.

MEDIA 2-2411

The woman in the moon (by rocket to the moon) 1987?

When a crew lands a rocket on the moon, the discovery of gold leads to deceit, murder and greed.

MEDIA 2-2230

Woyzeck 1990

Overworked to exhaustion by an officer, used for experiments by a sinister doctor, and scorned by the prostitute he lives with, Woyzeck becomes as lethal as the razor with which he carries out his chilling destiny.

MEDIA 2-2359