German Cinema
by shuusvampe | created - 10 Apr 2020 | updated - 21 Mar 2022 | PublicGermany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland
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1. The Last Laugh (1924)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
An aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz
Votes: 15,212 | Gross: $0.09M
2. Faust (1926)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard
Votes: 16,629
3. Phantom (1922)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Romance
A shiftless young man becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman and yearns to find her again.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Alfred Abel, Frida Richard, Aud Egede-Nissen, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Votes: 1,956
4. Tartuffe (1925)
Not Rated | 70 min | Comedy, Drama
A young man shows his millionaire grandfather a film based on Molière's Tartuffe, in order to expose the old man's hypocritical governess who covets his own inheritance.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Hermann Picha, Rosa Valetti, André Mattoni, Werner Krauss
Votes: 2,713
5. My Name Is Bach (2003)
97 min | Biography, Drama
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach is introduced to King Frederick II of Prussia in 1747. The aging composer and the young monarch clash and a battle of egos ensues.
Director: Dominique de Rivaz | Stars: Vadim Glowna, Jürgen Vogel, Karoline Herfurth, Anatole Taubman
Votes: 358
6. The Color Out of Space (2010)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A boy, looking for his missing father, travels to Germany and uncovers a haunting legacy that a meteorite left behind in the area. Based on H.P. Lovecraft's short novel "The Color Out of Space."
Director: Huân Vu | Stars: Paul Dorsch, Jürgen Heimüller, Ingo Heise, Philipp Jacobs
Votes: 1,765
7. Hitler: A Film from Germany (1977)
442 min | Biography, Drama
Director Hans-Jurgen Syberberg examines the rise and fall of the Third Reich in this brooding seven-hour masterpiece, which incorporates puppetry, rear-screen projection, and a Wagnerian ... See full summary »
Director: Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Stars: Heinz Schubert, Peter Kern, Hellmut Lange, Rainer von Artenfels
Votes: 906
8. Karl May (1974)
187 min | Biography, Drama, History
This ethereal, three-hour biopic is the middle film in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's "German Trilogy" on the mythological foundations of the Third Reich.
Director: Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Stars: Helmut Käutner, Kristina Söderbaum, Käthe Gold, Attila Hörbiger
Votes: 173
9. Vampyr (1932)
Not Rated | 75 min | Fantasy, Horror
A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz
Votes: 20,524
10. The Damned (1969)
R | 157 min | Drama, War
The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Griem, Helmut Berger
Votes: 9,928 | Gross: $0.63M
11. Colonel Redl (1985)
R | 144 min | Biography, Drama, History
Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl (Brandauer), an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become ... See full summary »
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Hans Christian Blech, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gudrun Landgrebe
Votes: 3,342 | Gross: $0.00M
12. Destiny (1921)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Bernhard Goetzke, Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Hans Sternberg
Votes: 6,694 | Gross: $0.01M
13. Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
Not Rated | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Paul Richter, Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos, Gertrud Arnold
Votes: 6,559
14. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Not Rated | 242 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel
Votes: 9,174
15. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Not Rated | 122 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A criminal mastermind uses hypnosis to rule the rackets after death.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke, Thomy Bourdelle, Gustav Diessl
Votes: 13,602
16. Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924)
Not Rated | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Princess Kriemhild vows to avenge her husband's murder but must overcome her brothers who swore allegiance to Hagen. She marries Etzel, King of the Huns, and persuades his army to attack Hagen, but she loses more than she bargained for.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Margarete Schön, Gertrud Arnold, Theodor Loos, Hans Carl Mueller
Votes: 5,000
17. Spies (1928)
Not Rated | 90 min | Romance, Thriller
The mastermind behind a ubiquitous spy operation learns of a dangerous romance between a Russian lady in his employ and a dashing agent from the government's secret service.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gerda Maurus, Willy Fritsch, Lien Deyers
Votes: 3,948
18. Woman in the Moon (1929)
Not Rated | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A tenacious scientist blasts off for the moon in hopes of riches that may be found there.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus, Klaus Pohl, Fritz Rasp
Votes: 3,860
19. Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Not Rated | 79 min | Drama
After falling pregnant by a pharmacist and refusing to marry, a young woman is ejected from her home and sent to a strict girls' reform school.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Louise Brooks, Josef Rovenský, Fritz Rasp, Edith Meinhard
Votes: 4,823
20. The Threepenny Opera (1931)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Rudolf Forster, Lotte Lenya, Carola Neher, Reinhold Schünzel
Votes: 2,544
21. Comradeship (1931)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama
Plea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt
Votes: 1,750
22. Westfront 1918 (1930)
Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Romance, War
A group of German solders fight on the front line in France at the end of World War I.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Fritz Kampers, Gustav Diessl, Hans-Joachim Möbis, Claus Clausen
Votes: 2,423
23. The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929)
75 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A man climbs a 12,000-foot mountain to search for his wife, who was lost on their honeymoon. Another couple makes the dangerous climb with him.
Directors: Arnold Fanck, Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Gustav Diessl, Leni Riefenstahl, Ernst Petersen, Ernst Udet
Votes: 1,109
24. The Joyless Street (1925)
125 min | Drama
In post-WWI Vienna, Greta (Greta Garbo), her kid sister, and retired dad try to make it through tough times.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, Ágnes Eszterházy, Werner Krauss
Votes: 1,720
25. Hard to Be a God (1989)
119 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Another planet in the period of medieval times. An employee of the institute of experimental history from Earth, who is send under the name of noble don Rumata of Estor as a spy with a ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Fleischmann | Stars: Edward Zentara, Aleksandr Filippenko, Hugues Quester, Anne Gautier
Votes: 1,235
26. Stroszek (1977)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz, Wilhelm von Homburg
Votes: 15,327
27. Heart of Glass (1976)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
The foreman of a small village glassworks dies without revealing the secret to the famous "Ruby Glass".
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz, Volker Prechtel
Votes: 6,613
28. The Circle (2014)
Not Rated | 102 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A young teacher in Zurich in the 1950s falls in love with a transvestite star but is torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality.
Director: Stefan Haupt | Stars: Matthias Hungerbühler, Peter Jecklin, Marie Leuenberger, Stefan Witschi
Votes: 1,695
29. 3 (2010)
Unrated | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A Berlin-set drama centered on a 40-something couple who, separately, fall in love with the same man.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow, Angela Winkler
Votes: 5,394 | Gross: $0.06M
30. Deadly Maria (1993)
106 min | Drama, Thriller, Fantasy
A woman is trying to escape from a depressing life position.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Nina Petri, Katja Studt, Juliane Heinemann, Josef Bierbichler
Votes: 1,046
31. Fox and His Friends (1975)
Not Rated | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A suggestible working-class innocent wins the lottery but lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Chatel, Karlheinz Böhm, Adrian Hoven
Votes: 6,756
32. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
R | 120 min | Drama
Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Löwitsch, Ivan Desny, Gisela Uhlen
Votes: 14,928
33. Lola (1981)
R | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A seductive cabaret singer-prostitute pits a corrupt building contractor against the new straight-arrow building commissioner, launching an outrageous plan to elevate herself in a world where everything-and everyone-is for sale.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf, Matthias Fuchs
Votes: 6,825
34. Lili Marleen (1981)
R | 120 min | Drama, Music, Romance
In 1938, a German singer falls in love with a Jewish composer in Zurich, who helps Jews flee Nazi Germany. She wants to help but is forced back to Germany. Her song "Lili Marleen" becomes a hit with soldiers and the Nazi top brass.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer, Karl-Heinz von Hassel
Votes: 4,295
35. Effi Briest (1974)
Not Rated | 135 min | Drama, History
In the nineteenth century, seventeen year old Effi Briest is married to the older Baron von Instetten and moves into a house, that she believes has a ghost, in a small isolated Baltic town.... See full summary »
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenck, Ulli Lommel, Karlheinz Böhm
Votes: 2,700
36. Chinese Roulette (1976)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Thriller
Both parents of a young teen who walks with crutches secretly meet their lovers, who both surprise each other at the family's country home. The daughter arrives and initiates a guessing game of "Chinese roulette."
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Anna Karina, Margit Carstensen, Brigitte Mira, Ulli Lommel
Votes: 4,728
37. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Romance
A troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Eva Mattes
Votes: 11,043
38. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance
A lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann
Votes: 23,871
39. Broken Mirrors (1984)
112 min | Drama, Thriller
Released in Holland as Gebroken Spiegels, Broken Mirrors is set for the most part in an Amsterdam brothel. Lineke Ripman and Henriette Tol play two whores who begin to rebel against their ... See full summary »
Director: Marleen Gorris | Stars: Lineke Rijxman, Henriëtte Tol, Edda Barends, Coby Stunnenberg
Votes: 235
40. The Paradise Suite (2015)
123 min | Drama
The jarring lives of six immigrant residents of Amsterdam intertwine in a poetic mosaic.
Director: Joost van Ginkel | Stars: Anjela Nedyalkova, Boris Isakovic, Erik Adelöw, Issaka Sawadogo
Votes: 1,800
41. Import Export (2007)
Not Rated | 141 min | Drama
A nurse from Ukraine searches for a better life in Central Europe, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason.
Director: Ulrich Seidl | Stars: Ekateryna Rak, Lidiya Oleksandrivna Savka, Oksana Ivanivna Sklyarenko, Dmytro Andriyovich Gachkov
Votes: 6,309
42. Persian Lessons (2020)
127 min | Drama, War
A young Jewish man in a concentration camp has his life saved when executioners realize he owns a Persian book. Brought before a camp officer who wants to learn Farsi, Gilles agrees to teach him despite not knowing a word of the language.
Director: Vadim Perelman | Stars: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Lars Eidinger, Jonas Nay, David Schütter
Votes: 12,178
43. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,758
44. Young Törless (1966)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
In a boarding school, a student observes in passive disgust as his two friends manipulate, humiliate and torture a fellow student, justifying their every act.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Mathieu Carrière, Marian Seidowsky, Bernd Tischer, Fred Dietz
Votes: 2,666
45. Frantz (2016)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama, History, Romance
In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.
Director: François Ozon | Stars: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber
Votes: 17,455 | Gross: $0.88M
46. Look Who's Back (2015)
Not Rated | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century. He quickly gains media attention, but while Germany finds him hilarious and charming, Hitler makes some serious observations about society.
Director: David Wnendt | Stars: Oliver Masucci, Thomas M. Köppl, Marc-Marvin Israel, David Gebigke
Votes: 49,662
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