The Definitive Watchlist Seeking the Same Brilliance as Der Roman e...

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

Comedy with an Egyptian backdrop: Businessman Tobby and the Countess Stafanie wish to take all the fun away from their single parents and make them marry each other.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of All for Money perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Rupp (Jannings) is a former butcher, made rich in the meat packing industry as a result of the reversal of fortunes brought on by WWI. He is crude, uncouth and uneducated. His son, Fred, is the apple of his father's eye and is an auto enthusiast. The widowed Rupp falls in love with a former aristocrat, Helen, now down on her luck and pawning her last heirloom. He proposes marriage and she accepts in order to save her ailing mother who needs a monetary influx to avoid death. Her former boyfriend, Platen, warns Helen against Rupp's intentions - he and Rupp are enemies, Rupp having caused his being fired for protecting a chorus girl against Rupp's unwanted advances. Meanwhile, Graf, a shyster, arranges purchase of a near bankrupt auto manufacturing firm, Phoenix, to Rupp's great advantage with practically no monetary recognition to Graf, who swears revenge. Rupp comes upon his son begging Helen not to marry his father but to return to Platen. Rupp misinterprets the scene, thinks his son is after his intended, and banishes him. The last twenty minutes involve an auto race and its aftermath. Fred unknown to all becomes the driver of his father's rival auto maker. Platen is driving for Rupp's firm, Phoenix. In order to win, Rupp has bribed Graf to make sure his rival won't.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of How Shall I Tell My Husband? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

About a lurid tale of magic and secret societies during the reign of Luis XVI, focused on the figure of the Italian occultist Giuseppe Balsamo, known under his alias of Count Alessandro di Cagliostro.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

A wife believes her husband has been deceiving her and decides to have some fun at his expense. After a bit of mischief, her husband, a lawyer who is preparing a divorce for a client, decides to start divorce proceedings himself. The wife then realises she has gone too far.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Der Graf von Cagliostro perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Peter Fall, once a gentleman of fine society, is cheated upon and ruined by the woman he loves. He disappears from the scene and goes to sea as a sailor.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

Ronny is a young designer on her way to the capital of the Ruritanian Kingdom of Perusa with the costumes she has created for the operetta written by the Prince. On her journey she meets the prince and is persuaded to take the place of the star who had just walked out. The prince falls for Ronny but how can he marry a commoner ?

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Der kleine Seitensprung perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Originally Liebe in Ring, this German part-talkie is a generally agreeable effort to transform heavyweight boxing champ Max Schmeling into a movie star. It's the old saw about an up-and-coming pugilist who ignores his loyal girlfriend in favor of a wealthy adventuress. His new romance nearly wrecks the hero's career, but with the help of his friends -- and of course, his real sweetheart -- he makes a spectacular comeback. The final scenes show Schmeling and his new bride heading for America, which was evidently Mecca so far as pre-Hitlerian German filmmakers were concerned. Max Schmeling's leading lady in Love in the Ring is Olga Tschechowa; in real life, he married the equally popular actress Anny Ondra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

Aspiring singer Susanne takes over for ham actor Viktor at a small cabaret in Berlin where he works a woman impersonator and per chance she's discovered by an agent, who thinks that she really is a man. She becomes famous, but her situation becomes troublesome when she falls in love with Robert.

Dir: Reinhold Schünzel

Helene has agreed to marry a man that she isn't in love with. On the day of her wedding her cousin arrives just in time to rescue her and they run away together. They stay with her aged grandmother who assumes the young man (whom she doesn't know) to be the new husband and has prepared a bridal bed for them.