Johannes Arpe

This film is set in a medieval mill town in the Harz mountains. The greedy and brutal millman and his accomplices, the castle steward and the mayor, set fire to a forest mill that the farmers used for processing their grain. Without their mill, the farmers must now rely on the millman's services. When the farmhand Anna uncovers the millman’s crimes, he swiftly detains her and a young miller, Jörg. The forest spirits have a different plan, however, and they free the young couple with the charge to rebuild the ruined forest mill and turn things around for the villagers.

This film is the first of a two-part historical and biographical portrait of the communist politician and anti-fascist Ernst Thälmann. In early November 1918, Ernst Thälmann is an unwilling soldier serving on the western front. As the revolutionary movement at home is threatened by the betrayal of the Social Democrats and fissures in the working class, Thälmann calls on his fellow soldiers to put down their weapons and unite with the workers in the communist struggle at home. Thälmann’s qualms about which side he is fighting on continue, but when the local police attempt to prevent a shipment of provisions and supplies from reaching the people in Petrograd, he intervenes and the ship is unloaded. With this moment of clarity, Thälmann continues to follow his political convictions and joins the workers at the Hamburg uprising in October 1923.

Under political pressure, a West German radio station stages a radio play about a Russian invasion of West Germany. A handsome fee convinced the unemployed Anton Wiesel to take on the direction. At the same time, the driver Harry Kyritz received an inheritance: a decrepit barge with which he intends to become an entrepreneur. His acquaintance with Madeleine Müller, the daughter of a coal wholesaler, comes at just the right time. But so does Mr. Müller, because he is broke. So he throws a big party to sell his daughter as his last profitable asset. Harry has a good chance when the radio plays a radio play about a Russian robbery. The guests take it as a factual report and flee to the cellar. Harry reveals his true financial situation, but Müller accepts him anyway - as a model worker for the Russians. But when the mistake is revealed, Harry is out of the running in favor of a wealthier son-in-law.

The young lady Lisa Gau probably took her own life at Seilergasse 8 in Rostock, at least that's what it looks like. Captain Schirding, who has been assigned to the case, sees things differently. Together with forensic scientist Kurt Lisowski, he investigates the case and soon discovers that Lisa was poisoned and is shocked when all the evidence points to his...

At the beginning of the 1960s, a German turns up on behalf of the NATO in the British village of Rocksmouth. NATO wants to establish a naval base in Rocksmouth, but first, the German envoy has to salvage an old ship wreck. In 1942, the "Princess of India" was supposed to bring children to safety in Canada but was sunk by a German submarine at departure. 58 people were killed, most of them children.

The story of Hanna, a woman who will not take life’s setbacks and knock-downs sitting down. Instead, she takes them in her stride, picks herself up and marches onward. This is a woman who continually draws new courage from her inexhaustible will to live. Whatever losses and uncertainties come her way, she remains true to herself.

A musician seeks a peaceful vacation in a Vogtland village but is soon overwhelmed by requests for a symphonic composition and a pop song for a local dance band, leaving him with no time to relax.

No synopsis available yet.

Professor Heger's son was shot by the Gestapo during the war. Dr. Bram was also responsible for his death. After the war, working in Heger's clinic, Bram tells the professor about his guilt. Considering Bram a traitor, Heger refuses to work with him. Bram flees to West Germany. Soon the professor, who has decided in his heart to stay in the FRG forever, leaves for Munich for the congress. But his meeting with Bram in Munich and the reality surrounding them dispelled his illusions, and they both return to their homeland.

Antwerp at the end of the 16th century. For the second time, the city falls into the hands of the plundering and murdering Spaniards. Jan and Myga are just ten years old. While Myga's father tries to come to terms with the Spaniards, Jan leaves the occupied country with his father. When Jan has grown into a young man, he joins the Geusen and is entrusted with the best ship as helmsman, the "Black Galley". He survives numerous battles and dangers, but one day he is captured by the Spanish. He frees not only himself but also his beloved Myga from the hands of the enemy. In 1609, the Spaniards are forced to finally recognize the independence of the northern provinces.

This film takes place during the Seven Years' War. The Prussian Major von Tellheim has become engaged to the Saxon noblewoman Minna von Barnhelm. After the war, the King - in an unwarranted move - deprives the major of his honor. Von Tellheim becomes impoverished and, filled with shame, breaks off his relationship to Minna. An innkeeper in Berlin, who is a police informer, makes the Major move to a shabby little attic because he cannot pay his debt. In the meantime, Minna has also arrived at the inn. She and her lady's maid Franziska are questioned and spied on by the nosy innkeeper. Minna has followed her beloved Tellheim and she now cunningly manages to elicit a new declaration of love from him...

Albert Hauptmann is an out of work waiter in Cologne who is often confused with a former Captain of the Nazi Army. Albert uses this to his advantage and becomes the Director of the Montan Corporation, and a member of the West German Parliament. Herr Karjanke, the real Captain, learns of Albert’s ruse, and wants to claim his "rightful" position in Parliament. But Karjanke cannot come forward until his politicking "Doppelganger" succeeds in passing an amnesty law for war criminals. When Albert is finally brought before a judge on charges of fraud, he learns that this own amnesty law does not apply to him.

In 1955, Michael Vierkant, a Jew who had emigrated during the Nazi era, returns from abroad to the Federal Republic of Germany to obtain the conviction of Korn, the former informer responsible for the murder of his sister. Korn is back in office; Michael's efforts remain unsuccessful. There is a direct confrontation between the two, and Michael shoots Korn in self-defense. He flees and is hidden by the young, reclusive artist Marie Jäger, but is then caught by the police and charged with premeditated murder. The case is taken out of the hands of the criminal investigation department by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which constructs an act of political revenge on behalf of the communists. Michael manages to escape from prison. Marie and her friends organize a press conference at which Michael reveals the connections. The trial is postponed.

Despite the fact that production manager Kruse doesn't have the actors or the crew for the job, he recklessly boasts that he could direct a revue film. To prevent him losing face, Kruse brings together four people - a dramaturg, a composer, a writer and an architect - and gives them the thankless task of turning his idea into a film. Except for the relatively unknown composer Alexander Ritter, who is enthusiastically committed to the project, the other members of the team find themselves stuck in this mess.

Several men have been murdered lately, mostly rich lovers on their way to meet their mistresses with gifts of fine jewelry. To fight this scourge, King Louis XIV decides to create a special court named "La chambre ardente", designed to find and punish the perpetrators of such heinous crimes. An unexpected person, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, the famous poetess, will find herself entangled in the web of a criminal intrigue linked with the jewel murders, along with a a goldsmith, his daughter and her fiancé...

A few Conti Press journalists are granted exclusive coverage of the launch of the newly developed Skylight 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from the CBA rocket center. But the test ends in disaster. Parts of the rocket break loose and the head, armed with napalm, drifts off uncontrollably. Former pilot and star reporter Pit Nordfors succeeds in uncovering the scandalous background to the false launch. But the Conti Press retracts his article as it turns out that the CBA is a major shareholder in the newspaper group. Nordfors soon gets the opportunity to beat the powerful with their own weapons.

Carola has been running the family-owned circus alone since her husband’s death, but she suddenly finds herself at odds with her three adult sons who are also performance artists and want to have a say in how the business is run. The family discord leads Carola to turn her back on the circus, leaving the three inexperienced sons in charge. This turn of events forces the family to learn to work together or face bankruptcy.

The story of a resistance fighter in the Nazi era: Communist Hans Löning was arrested in 1933, imprisoned in a concentration camp and tortured. The Gestapo plans to smash the resistance group around Löning. Despite the imminent threat to his life, Löning, together with his wife, organized the passive resistance of the Hamburg workers against the Hitler regime. In 1944, Löning was again taken and killed.

In the Werra valley near the border is one of the five soda factories of the GDR that once belonged to the powerful Solvay group. After the war, they moved the headquarters from Berneburg to Frankfurt, but some people loyal to the groups bosses remained to sabotage the production in the now nationally owned factory.

After years of drifting around, Willi Palko arrives in the lignite mining area. He was not only looking for a new job, but also wanted to finally settle down here. The party leadership sends him to the Schepp brigade, which has made itself "suspicious" (on paper) due to its extremely high production figures. The stranger is accused of being a spy for the factory management. Willi finds it difficult to assert himself, but he is taken with the big excavator, the prospect of one day being allowed to drive it, and the brash flapper Hanna. He stays, and with his help a mine foreman is exposed as a Western agent and coal production is brought up to a really high level.

A Saturday evening dance in the village pub is interrupted when the barn of local farmer Paul Gäbler catches on fire. The farmer himself is soon found – hanged. Sawmill owner Züllich claims that Gäbler committed suicide because he was forced to join an agricultural production cooperative, but others are convinced Gäbler was murdered. Officers Schneider and Anders must navigate their way through a complex maze of personal and political motivations in order to reconstruct the crime.

Based on an authentic case from the 1920s. The head country constable Heinz Lippert arrests the Polish farm worker Jakubowski on suspicion of murdering a child - his adopted son. Although he has insufficient evidence, public prosecutor Becker takes the case to court. Jakubowski is sentenced to death, the "Polish murderer" fits in with the propaganda of the time. Lippert, encouraged by the communist editor Hartmann, tries to prevent the sentence from being carried out and even investigates the real perpetrator. In vain, the death sentence was carried out prematurely. After the Nazis seized power, the public prosecutor, now an SS leader, had the men who had uncovered the true facts arrested. Lippert joins the underground resistance.

No synopsis available yet.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Czech music student Honsik comes to Germany from Prague to join a "foreign worker company". After rescuing a boy from the rubble of a bombed-out house, he himself is seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Stralsund. There he is regarded as a second-class citizen and the Germans are preferred to him. Nurse Käthe stands up for him, cares for him and defies all prohibitions. A love affair is kindled between the two, but it is not under a good star. Honsik tries to flee to his homeland with his comrades and Käthe supports him. At the last moment, however, Honsik realizes that his love for Käthe is stronger than his homesickness and makes his way back. Once back home, he can only watch as Käthe is arrested by the Gestapo. With the help of a resistance fighter, the young man from Prague manages to escape after all.

After years of drifting around, Willi Palko arrives in the lignite mining area. He was not only looking for a new job, but also wanted to finally settle down here. The party leadership sends him to the Schepp brigade, which has made itself "suspicious" (on paper) due to its extremely high production figures. The stranger is accused of being a spy for the factory management. Willi finds it difficult to assert himself, but he is taken with the big excavator, the prospect of one day being allowed to drive it, and the brash flapper Hanna. He stays, and with his help a mine foreman is exposed as a Western agent and coal production is brought up to a really high level.

Erich Kubak is an excavator operator at the lignite plant. A technical weakness in the excavator, which repeatedly leads to production downtime, is causing problems for everyone. Erich works on an improvement, but this is not accepted by the chief engineer. On his own initiative, Erich carries out an experiment and causes a great deal of damage. He is dismissed as excavator operator and then resigns. Meanwhile, his son Ewald, who also works at the plant, manages to interest the chief engineer in his father's improvement proposal. Together they work on perfecting it. When Erich finds out about this, he returns to the factory.