The Warsaw Debut

The Czech revival movement is divided at the end of the first half of the 19th century. While the older generation, such as František Palacký, urges restraint, students lean towards radical positions. A report on the revolutionary events in Paris prompts Czech Prague residents to write down the demands of the Czech nation for self-determination and the proclamation of a constitution. Tensions peak during the All-Slavic Congress in Prague's Žofín. Vienna rejects the Czech demands and the congress is brutally dispersed by the Austrian police. Prague begins to build barricades...

Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.

Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.

In 1912, the Titanic embarks on its inevitable collision course with history. In the wake of the over-spending required to build the largest luxury ship in the world, White Star Line executive Sir Bruce Ismay schemes to reverse the direction of his company's plummeting stock value. Onboard the Titanic, brave German 1st Officer Petersen struggles to convince his self-important British superiors not to overexert the ship's engines.

Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

In the first of Hartl's two Mozart biographies, Hans Holt plays the robust and dashing composer who, in keeping with the spirit of the film's time of origin, sets out into the world like a soldier of art after his falling out with the Salzburg authorities. Instead of conquering lands, he conquers the hearts of young ladies, like one of his most famous creations.

Nemorino is hopelessly in love with Adina but she is attracted to a dashing captain.

Non-musical account of Puccini's opera: Tosca and Cavaradossi are in love, but the tyrant Scarpia desires Tosca and oppresses Cavaradossi who is fighting for freedom.

In the 15th century Richard Duke of Gloucester, aided by his club-footed executioner Mord, eliminates those ahead of him in succession to the throne, then occupied by his brother King Edward IV of England. As each murder is accomplished he takes particular delight in removing small figurines, each resembling one of the successors, from a throne-room dollhouse, until he alone remains. After the death of Edward he becomes Richard III, King of England, and need only defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain power.

Franz Schubert toils by day as his father’s clerk while secretly composing in Beethoven’s shadow, gaining little recognition until friends persuade publisher Diabelli to host a public performance where he meets and falls for soprano Therese Grob. Abandoning a teaching career, he moves in with artist and poet friends, finds inspiration for the “Erlkönig,” and together with Therese sustains himself by performing his songs.

A fictionalized account of famous French writer Emile Zola and his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair. After struggling to establish himself, Zola wins success writing about the unsavory side of Paris and settles into a comfortable upper-class life. However, Zola's complacency is shaken when Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus is imprisoned for being a spy. Realizing that Dreyfus is an innocent victim of anti-Semitism, Zola boldly pens a newspaper article exposing the truth, is charged with libel and must defend himself in a dramatic courtroom testimony.

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.

The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

Diederich Heßling is scared of everything and everyone. But as he grows up, he comes to realize that he has to offer his services to the powers-that-be if he wants to wield power himself. His life motto now runs: bow to those at the top and tread on those below. In this way, he always succeeds: as a student in a duel-fighting student fraternity and as a businessman in a paper factory. He cajoles the obese district administrative president Von Wulkow and wins his favor. He slanders his financial rivals and hatches a plot with the social democrats in the town council. On his honeymoon with his rich wife Guste, he finally finds a chance to do his beloved Kaiser a favor. And when a memorial to the Kaiser is unveiled in the town where Diederich lives and works, he delivers the address. He stands behind the lectern in the pouring rain, saluting his Kaiser. The crowd is dispersed. Everything is laid in ruins...

Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.

In the second half of the 18th century, the young shepherdess Emma accidentally catches the eye of the English painter George Romney. She becomes his model in London, where she also has several love affairs. After she is temporarily forced to work as a prostitute, she marries the much older Lord William Hamilton, who is stationed as British ambassador in Naples. There she meets Admiral Nelson again, whom Emma, now Lady Hamilton, had met years before...

Marika is a cheerful girl who lives on the Danube aboard an old barge she inherited from her father. She works as a waitress in her aunt's inn, entertaining the guests with singing and dancing. Her greatest dream is to save enough money to repair the old barge and sail down the Danube. One day, she meets three young artists, Georg, Oskar, and Christoph, who all fall in love with her. Together, they put on an open-air revue and raise the necessary money. And with Georg, Marika is lucky in love.

The story of Johann Friedrich Böttger, an apothecary’s apprentice and alchemist’s assistant. Fleeing from the Prussian King, he goes to Saxony, where King Frederick August the Strong takes him to a fortress and demands that he create gold. Böttger is equipped with everything he would need for the task, but he has known for a while that actual gold production is a myth and instead experiments with porcelain—white porcelain, as the Chinese are said to possess. In 1709, he finally succeeds in surprising the King with the "white gold," the first white porcelain made in Europe, he hopes for freedom.

A character study depicting the life of Rembrandt Van Rijn at the height of his fame in the mid 1600s. Beginning with the death of his wife, Rembrandt's work takes a dark turn, which offends many of his patrons.

Sándor Barinkay joins the gypsies en route to his home village hiding his real identity as an Hungarian nobleman, whose parents were sent to exile. He claims his former properties, now taken by a pig merchant who plays the fool to the villagers' delight. Yet this man has an interesting daughter, and there's also the beautiful gypsy Saffi to consider. And a family hidden treasure to be found.