Hugo Döblin

If any one man is responsible for the rejuvenation of the postwar Swiss film industry, that man was director Leopold Lindtberg. Matto Regiert (Madness Rules) was co-adapted for the screen by Lindtberg from a novel by Friedrich Glauser. Heinrich Gretler stars as Police Constable Studer, the hero of several of Glauser's most popular works. This time, Studer must solve the murder of the director of an insane asylum -- and it's not (surprise, surprise) the most likely suspect, manic-depressive patient Herbert Caplaun. For box-office purposes, Matto Regiert stresses a romantic subplot involving Caplaun and nurse Irma Wasem.

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

A painter working at the Louvre is struck by the Mona Lisa. When he meets a girl whom he believes bears a resemblance to the painting, and who wants him to become famous, he comes up with the idea of stealing the painting. Based on the real-life theft of 1911.

About the booming of smuggling alcohol across the Baltic Sea between Estonia and the neighboring and alcohol prohibited Finland. Fiery love relationships are another theme of the film.

No synopsis available yet.

Slapstick-style comedy in which a celebrity, to escape a marriage, trades places with his personal chauffeur.

A cashier in a bank in a small German town is alerted to the power of money by the visit of a rich Italian lady. He embezzles 60,000 Marks and leaves for the capital city, where he attempts to find satisfaction in politics, sport, love and religion.

A look at various lives, one of which is Jewish girl Hanne Liebe, as she grows up and experiences the pains of living as a Jew in Russia, leading to a revolution.

A German soldier lies wounded on the front line in the First World War. To avoid capture or death, he assumes the identity of a fallen French officer. As the German soldier happens to speak fluent French, nobody realizes the deception. The soldier begins a new life in Paris, yet remains in constant fear of being exposed as the ‘enemy’.

No synopsis available yet.

At the height of Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre orchestrates the trial and execution of several of his fellow leading French revolutionaries including Georges Danton.

Jacques Lantier, the "human beast" of the title, has a hereditary madness and has several times in his life wanted to murder women. At the beginning of the story he is an engine driver, in control of his engine "La Lison". His relationship with "La Lison" is almost sexual and provides some degree of control over his mania.

No synopsis available yet.

Drama about street walker Elena who marries shop keeper Albert. When her former pimp Peter shows up, her life is ruined. She shoots him and poisons herself.

Deviating from the historical facts, Lola is introduced as a young Spanish “Gypsy” who becomes involuntarily embroiled in an attempt to poison the Infante of Spain (a short but splendid cameo by Heinrich George). As a result, she has to flee the country, arriving first in Italy, where she is taught how to act like a lady. Later, in Paris, she is invited to dance at the city’s prestigious opera house, becoming a worldwide sensation. She then becomes secretly involved in a revolutionary plot by Louis Napoléon, the future emperor of France. When the plot fails, Lola is once again forced to flee, this time to Munich, where she captures the attention of Ludwig I. Their ensuing affair arouses a great deal of hatred among the people and the establishment, however. In the end, Lola has no choice but to leave again, and vanishes into the night mist.

London at the time of the War of the Spanish Succession. Queen Anne's followers are divided into two factions: one side, led by Lord Bolingbroke, is pushing for peace talks and a quick reconciliation with France; the other side, led by the influential Duchess of Marlborough, is in favor of continuing the war. Queen Anne herself is still undecided, and so a game of intrigue unfolds at court between Bolingbroke and Marlborough, each trying to win the queen over to his side.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

A classic love triangle set in the modern era (the 1920s), featuring a woman and her daughter who both share an interest in the same man.

No synopsis available yet.

Police battle against a gang of blackmailers known as The Crimson Circle.

The House on the Moon

Lotte Wohlfahrt, the typist, is just like all the young women of the petty bourgeoisie of that era, who dream only of happiness, prosperity, and a nice young man.

No synopsis available yet.

Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweetheart who is a woman of the people, Lucrezia, who is virtuous and wants to marry Alfonso, and Cesare, who is wicked and lusts after Lucrezia, Juan's girlfriend, and probably others. Cesare has vowed to kill any suitor for Lucrezia's love, and he has three thugs to carry out his wishes. Bodies fall into the Tiber, into the Colosseum (with lions prowling), and onto the Vatican floors.

In medieval Italy, a group of men plot to kill a cruel and despotic duke.

When a travelling troupe threatens to unleash a saucy Berlin revue on the provincial town of Emilsburg, the local Morality Society, a band of sanctimonious middle-aged men, stages a protest. Meanwhile, the reigning monarch is concerned that his son and heir is not living his life to the full. Ninon d’Hauteville, a showgirl and the revue’s star attraction, takes a job as piano teacher to the young prince after her engagement at the local theatre was brought to a premature end, a result of the Morality Society’s interference. It doesn’t take long for those hypocrites to get wind of this. While on the outside they appear to be concerned with running the immoral woman out of their town, behind closed doors they rank among the new piano teacher’s most ardent pupils. However, Ninon, out to right the wrong done against her, secretly keeps a “diary” of their visits, recording each encounter on film with a hidden camera.

Paul Wegener gives one of his most active performances here as Captain Ramper, a heroic aviator who makes a pioneering flight across the Arctic accompanied only by Ippling, his faithful mechanic (Kurt Gerron). Near the North Pole, their plane develops engine failure and crashes in the desolate wastes. Ippling dies straight off but Ramper finds a supply base containing food which has been left behind by a previous expedition. After fifteen years in the Arctic wastes, Ramper has considerably mutated.

A demon, a reaper, and the ghost of a prostitute read gothic short stories and act them out.

Der Stolz der Firma, meaning The Pride of the Business, is a classic German silent film from 1914. The film tells the story of a shrewd apprentice and is filmed in the comical style of director Lubitsch. This is one of the few Lubitsch films from World War I that wasn’t lost.

A tyrannical landowner terrorizes his wife and seduces the daughter of one of his employees.