Franz Stein

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A decent small-town citizen named Fridolin Biedermann travels to Berlin and wants to finally experience something. And he succeeds. First he falls into the hands of a couple of crooks who rip him off terribly, and - back home - the law...

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The story of the Renaissance-era Swiss physician, alchemist and astrologer Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known to the world as Paracelsus.

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Already a famous painter, Rembrandt van Rijn is commissioned to paint the Amsterdam Archers' Guild. But upon completion of the picture, the men of the guild feel duped, because they don't consider themselves flatteringly depicted in the painting. They therefore decline to pay for the work. During this dispute, the painter finds out his wife is close to death. He finds himself terribly lonely after her passing and suffers from depression until he decides once more to marry.

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The daydreaming tailor Wenzel is fired from his job, because the fancy frock he was supposed to cut for the mayor, he instead made for himself. He is allowed, however, to take the frock, which he appropriated for himself and he puts it on as he leaves the shop. A puppeteer picks him up in his coach and addresses Wenzel as "Count". So is he received in Goldach, where people think he is Count Stroganoff, the ambassador to the Czar of Russia.

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Country Dr. Robert Koch is desperate: a tuberculosis epidemic is decimating the children in his district and no one is able to do anything about it. Every fourth child is already sick and the parents must helplessly watch as their young ones die. Now Koch is undertaking to find the cause of the tuberculosis --- something he has already been working on for years --- which has been causing this plague of illness. His work is made more difficult by envy; for example, that of his teacher, who was wounded defending his honor. But his greatest obstacle is the famous Berliner scientist and Reichstag deputy, Privy Councilor Rudolf Virchow: He is extraordinarily skeptical of Koch's theory, that the cause for tuberculosis is a bacteria.

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Because his future wife abandoned him shortly before the wedding, an old baron has decided that he doesn't want any women near him anymore. The daughter of the flaky woman decides to take it upon herself to get the baron and her mother back together again and dresses up as a gypsy boy to use music from "his" violin to soften the baron's heart ...

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Jule (Heidemarie Hatheyer), a 25 year old women is not having an easy life. Her cousin Stefan Rüdiger (Albert Matterstock) has left "manor Jobshagen" as an 18 year old and Jule has had to manage business since then. Her uncle, Stefan's father, never could get over the leaving of his son and isolated himself from the world. Jule, once a blithe youngster, became a tough woman by the time. And there are heavy debts on the manor Jobshagen, 6000 Marks. The innkeeper Meyer could give Jule the money, but he wants a big part of the estates of manor Jobshagen for exchange and that is the last thing that Jule would accept.

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A waitress takes all the gossip of a small town on the Rhine in stride, in spite of a distinguished composer being a loving husband and father for her illegitimate child.

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1865. Katharina goes to a ball in Moscow. There she meets again Tchaikowsky, her first and only love. The young, who is now married to wealthy Michael Iwanowitsch Murakin, a man she does not love, has not forgotten Piotr Illich, the (not yet) famous composer. Both are still in love with each other but Piotr is engaged to Nastassia, a dancer, while for her part Katharina cannot leave her husband. Tchaikowky's first love then decides to sacrifice her happiness to the success of the composer, sponsoring him in secret. Something Piotr will learn only years after. When Katharina finds herself free at last it is too late: Tchaikowsky is dying of cholera and she only has time to close his eyes.

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A love story between officer von Warp coming from a wealthy family and salesgirl Therese. When the social rules of the time would force the officer to resign from service in order to marry Therese the situation becomes tense.

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In a transport museum, the items on display begin to tell their stories. Most interesting is the history of the Pullman car. In the beginning, it served as transport for a princely family; then became the headquarters car for the military high command; and then, most adventurous of all, it ended up with a circus. Converted to a bar, it finally had its day and was supposed to serve as a placard carrier. Luckily, the museum saved it from this sad fate.

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Mayor Eberhorn is known as a womanizer to everyone in the village. Katchen, his wife, is constantly trying to convert him to a proper way of life … but in vain. When one morning, Casanova finds a stroller with a clever slogan referencing his affairs at his front door, Eberborn seeks revenge. Top suspects for the prank? The “Spassvogel”: seven friends led by the former sailor Hannes Strobel.

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Albert and his sister Lene live with their aunt. One day, they discover that the street car line will open a new track, which will go through the land, on which their aunt has a house. In expectation of a high buying price for her property, the aunt goes on a spending spree, only to find out that the new line will not be laid on her property after all.

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While vacationing in Puerto Rico, a young Swedish woman falls in love with and marries a powerful local landowner. Ten years later, their marriage has turned sour; meanwhile, two Swedish doctors have arrived on the island to investigate a mysterious fever.

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A farm boy betrothed to a socialite falls in love with his maid - an impoverished girl from the marsh.

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The film is an adaptation of the 1891 operetta Der Vogelhändler by composer Carl Zeller, with libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held, though it incorporates few of the original songs, using them mostly instrumentally or in the background. The plot follows Adam, a Tyrolean bird seller in 18th-century Rhineland, who hopes to marry his beloved Christl, a postmaster's daughter; to secure his future, she arranges for him to perform at court, but complications arise when she is mistakenly suspected of an affair with a philandering prince.

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The mustached ruler of a mythical principality, learning that his people dislike his spending so much time going hunting, allows his twin brother to take his place.

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'Love and the First Railway' is what this movie's title would mean in English. This is one of those films that depicts fictional characters participating in an historic incident. The actual first railway was built in England, of course. But according to this movie, the first railway (in Germany, at least) was built from Berlin to Potsdam, in 1838. I haven't the faintest idea if that's correct, but the people who made this movie do seem to take a great deal of interest in historical accuracy, so I'll take their word for it. Anyway, a title at the beginning establishes that this movie is set in 1838.

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In Dresden's classical music world, female students learn from an opinionated conductor and a pompous dance instructor.When their work isn't appreciated, a teacher consoles them, saying Bruckner, Schubert and Wagner were also criticized.

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After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.

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The Baltic captain Terje Wiggen works as a pilot on the island of Muhu. When the mate of the ship “Carola” calls in sick, he jumps at the chance of reviving his life as a sailor. WWI breaks soon after the departure. By and by the ship’s company gets worn down by dead calm. On account of the plague-ridden captain, Wiggen disposes of the contaminated water reserve. Discontent among the crew rises until they take the sole lifeboat and leave their mate behind. Wiggen unsuccessfully tries to bring the ship under control. At the last minute he is rescued off the Japanese coast. At his return he promises to never leave his wife and child again. But the German Imperial Navy begins to blockade the waterways of the island. Wiggen paddles to Sweden with the intention of smuggling provisions for his family. On his way back he is detained by a German captain. After five years of imprisonment he returns to Muhu once more. Wiggen is hellbent on vengeance. (Deutsche Kinemathek)

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In 1812, during the French period, large parts of Germany are occupied by the troops of Napoleon. Several paramilitary Freikorps units battle the French forces, among them the Black Brunswickers led by the 'Black Duke' Frederick William of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. After the War of the Fifth Coalition, the Black Hussars are pursued by Napoleon throughout the country, but frequently take refuge with the noble-minded German people.

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A crazed scientist murders his wife, walls her up, then flees. A reporter sets out to track him down. Remake of Unheimliche Geschichten (Richard Oswald, 1919).

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A recent rediscovery, master cinematographer Schüfftan’s only film as a director is a free-spirited, fast-paced ode to being young, free, hopeful... and completely broke.

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In the very old-fashioned town of Ostend suddenly 13 suitcases are delivered to the Grand Hotel, with a note, that O.F. will be here soon and needs 6 rooms. This event, probably the biggest in 300 years, starts a small wave of modernisation, yet everybody is wondering who O.F. is.

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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.

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Silent epic on the final years of Frederick II.

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Silent epic on the final years of Frederick II.

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In 1807 Prussia, Napoleon supporter Baron von Schranden forces his maid Regine to lead the French enemy across “Cat’s Bridge”, up behind a corps of Prussian volunteers who the French then decimate. In retaliation for this betrayal, the people of Schranden set the lord’s castle on fire. When the baron’s son Boleslav returns to the village a Prussian war hero in 1813, he is faced with a self-righteous village community that has denied his late father a decent burial. Regine is Boleslav’s only ally, and Boleslav is Regine’s only ally. The conflict escalates, and the villagers set up an ambush for him at Cat’s Bridge …

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Naive 16 year old Rosi paints butterfly pictures and day-dreams of a better world, abhorring the conducts of Else, Laura, Max and and an immoral cavalier. [16-minute segment survives.]

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