Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.
A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.
A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.
After a 15-year absence, the famous actress' expatriate husband returns to Hungary to settle their divorce. The actress is rehearsing the role of a young boy back home when her husband walks in. Seeing the little boy, the husband thinks that Janika is his child, but the actress fails to inform him of the mistake.
Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.
During a hold-up in the Wild West, Dakota kills a rich old Chinese man, Wang. Later, he is captured, sentenced, and is about to be hanged - and he never profitted from Wang's death, has he buried him with the photographs of his four widows, and a few worthless papers. Meanwhile, Ho comes to America in search of his uncle's fortune, and must get Dakota free, as he his the only man who can lead him to Wang's tomb. They open the tomb, retaking the pictures of Wang's widows. It happens he reads the papers and knows that Wang had one quarter of a map tattooed in each of his women's buttocks. Now, the difficult part will really start... Treasure hunt.
An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant.
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.
A musical film based on biographical facts about Clara Wieck's love for composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856), her marriage against her will, Schumann's triumph, and his tragic end due to mental illness. The film is beautiful and entertaining, full of noble spirit and beautiful words about art and love, which only conflict in a theoretical context; not least thanks to its solid cast, this film is quite serious and far from kitsch. Completed in 1944, during World War II, the film was rejected by the Nazi leadership, but was eventually released and enjoyed success with an audience already weary of war.
Young revolutionary Kartar Singh Sarabha fights for Indian Independence in the early 1900s.
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.
In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?
Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.
The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective of the ocean liner's second officer, Charles Lightoller. Despite numerous warnings about ice, the ship sails on, with Capt. Edward John Smith keeping it going at a steady clip. When the doomed vessel finally hits an iceberg, the crew and passengers discover that they lack enough lifeboats, and tragedy follows.
The events in Sarajevo in June 1914 are the backdrop for a thriller directed by Andreas Prochaska and written by Martin Ambrosch, focusing on the examining magistrate Dr. Leo Pfeffer (Florian Teichtmeister) investigating the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Trying to do his job in a time of lawlessness and violence, intrigues and betrayal, Leo struggles to maintain his integrity and save his love, Marija, and her father, prominent Serbian merchant. But the events of Sarajevo have set into motion an inescapable course of events that will escalate to become … the Great War.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…
Dr. Peter Blood, unjustly convicted of treason and exiled from England, becomes a notorious pirate.
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.