Trude Lehmann

Berlin 1849: The democrat Adolf Glasbrenner, known as Brennglas, publishes the political satire magazine "Phosphor" on a shoestring budget. He plans to marry his lover, the actress Adele Peroni. But the plan comes to a standstill when Adele is to make a guest appearance at the reactionary Royal Prussian Playhouse. A democratic journalist marrying a court actress? Impossible! Together with his friend Pulecke, Brennglas tries to disrupt Adele's performance with a bachelor party...

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The Berlin Volkseigene Betrieb (VEB) Komet is planning a company outing. Willi Redlich, member of the party committee, votes like the others: The relatives stay at home. But he doesn't dare tell his wife Susanne. So she does the work of renting the "Waldschlösschen" restaurant for him - without his knowledge. When Willi wants to book the seats, everything is fully booked and he switches to the "Sonnenburg" opposite. Meanwhile, word has gotten around among the women that they are excluded. They plan a counter-event. On the day of the excursion, both groups are sitting in their inns and the women make sure that they can still celebrate together.

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The friends Jochen and Gerd both work at the fashion boutique "Saxonia", which has only recently designed a new collection. Therefore, Jochen and Gerd are shocked when they meet two young ladies during their well-deserved holiday who are already dressed in two of the new pieces. And as if that was not enough, they pass the creations off as their own, even though they are employed at the competing company "Berolina". Naturally, the two men refuse to let the matter rest, although they do not actually want to raise a quarrel with the pretty ladies. After some turbulent entanglements they become aware of the foolishness of their squabbling and, eventually, the four of them present the disputed designs as a co-production at the fashion fair in Leipzig.

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It can hardly be said that things are peaceful in the Berlin apartment building where the film's story takes place. There are constant clashes between the residents – and sometimes that's quite literal: for example, when the widow Bock hid some explosives among the bricks, which detonated when the building's thieving doorman lit them in his stove.

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The opera singer Maddalena had been cast out by her family after they learned she was to bear the child of a banker, von Keller, who had seduced and abandoned her. Her return to her native city has her father warn her to remain away, because she is a threat to her family, and her sister Marie's wedding. However, von Keller threatens the reputation of her family with an underhanded banking scheme. He commits suicide, and Maddalena is reconciled with her family.

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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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A son learns his father has been tricked by two schemers into investing in a fake boxing training camp.

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Aspiring singer Susanne takes over one night for her sick friend, a small-time female impersonator, and finds unexpected fame when everyone believes that she is actually a man. While touring London, complications arise as a local womanizer catches on to her game.

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The cousin of an ugly duckling, during a search for missing documents, brings out her hidden charm and falls in love with her.

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A woman accompanies her husband to a party. Both leave with other partners.

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Musical vehicle for up and coming Dolly Haas, as a would be actress with a would be composer boyfriend. She sings,at one point, that she has the walk of (Lilian) Harvey, the mouth of Garbo and the legs of Dietrich.

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A pregnant teenage couple consider their options.

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Based on the real life events of the 1927 Steglitzer Schülertragödie, in which several high school students planned murder-suicides.

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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.

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If watching a fellow facing indifference/rejection in the slums of Berlin didn't convey enough pathos, Gerhard Lamprecht gathered much of the same crew from Die Verrufenen and turned his attention to the city's population of unwanted children for the heart-tugging Die Unehelichen, released the following year. The trio of foster children at the center of Die Verrufenen are survivors who use their own resourcefulness to get by when the kids' guardians and the system itself let them down.

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