Mozglyakov, a young noble playboy, brings great "luck" to the small town of Mordassov: he brings them a prince in the flesh whom he has picked up in the snow. His commentary on this "high-born": the prince is actually just an artificial figure, with horsehair, a glass eye and chalky legs as well as...
In August of 1914, amidst the public ecstasy surrounding the impending war, Hans Gastl, the young son of a Munich bürger, makes a decision: he will not take part in this war. This resolution signifies a turning point in his life; a farewell to his class and his family.
In 1523, young Thomas Müntzer arrives with his wife Ottilie in the Thuringian village Allstedt to assume the rectorate. As a follower of Luther′s teachings, he finds in the Bible not only reasons for clerical, but also for secular reforms. But when Luther turns away from the rural population...
Eight Girls concerns an all-female rowing team with its own club-house. One of the team announces she pregnant and finds herself torn between men (father and fiancé) who want the child aborted and the women who want her to keep it and bring it up at the club. The men win but it's the women you...
Susanne and Christian get to know each other during a wonderful week in summer - and fall in love. This, however, leads to conflicts: up to now, Susanne has been living with Wolfgang, a biologist. This shared life was harmonious and based on mutual trust. Wolfgang is not only resolute and in full...
Little Felix Grosser is given a chest full of tin toys by old Mrs. Goldberg. The woman had once saved the toys for her future grandchildren, but her children were too busy working to start a family. Now Felix receives the old toy and Mrs. Goldberg warns him not to let it fall into other people's...
The wrenching story of a woman sentenced in 1934 to ten years in prison for antifascist activities. The love between her and her fiancée enables her to survive the tribulations of her time in prison, where she is one of few political prisoners.
Claudia and Georg Rattey, a married couple, have everything what people in their mid-thirties might wish for: a car, a farmhouse for vacations on the weekends, and their son Oliver. But their contentedness does not turn into happiness but into an inner void: Claudia and Georg have nothing left to...
The film describes the activity of an ABV of the People's Police in its section in East Berlin. A mixture of “positive” characters from the beginning, the extensively staged “owl”, who is introduced as a criminal and over the course of time, especially due to the influence of the ABV,...
Ten-year-old Ole is full of mischief. He attempts to fly and is hospitalized with a broken leg. When he sees a Sherlock Holmes movie on TV, however, he forgets about the pains and comes up with a new plan. Disguised as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, he and his friend Andreas start searching for...
On a forest road in the Brandenburg March, village teacher Potsch accidentally encounters the distinguished Professor Menzel, who got stuck there in his car. In the conversation that ensues, Menzel and Pötsch quickly discover that they both are great admirers of the early 19th-century writer Max...
Christine inherits a sailboat from her father, whom she barely knew. Christine is a divorced single mother and her job at a research insitute leaves her with too much work and too little time to sail. She can't find anyone to buy the boat at full value, so she tries to repair it over the winter in...
Boatman Ahrens from Hamburg has a sense of justice when it comes to finding a missing girl. He goes down illegal paths when he breaks into someone else's villa. He is caught by the millionaire entrepreneur Ofterdinger and his employee. It turns out that everything is connected to the death of a...
Germany in May 1945: the war is over, men are returning home and a new life begins in the villages. After 12 years in a concentration camp, the "Red Shoemaker" also returns to his home village. His wife is dead and others live in his house: Gebhardt, an employee on the farm of the large farmer...
This film continues the story of radio operator Ludwig Bartuschek from “The Sailor’s Song”. Near the end of the Weimar Republic, Bartuschek (Erwin Geschonneck) is working as a mechanic in the Sperber airplane plant. Director Dehringer offers him the opportunity to train as an airplane...
GDR border guard Gunter Rist is a young man from humble homes. During a swimming competition he meets Penny, a professor’s daughter from a good family, and they fall in love. However, their different social backgrounds get in the way of their happiness: Penny’s friends make it obvious that they...
