Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot follows the life of Ivan the Terrible as he faces a conspiracy by the boyars to overthrow him. The film explores themes of power, brutality, and political intrigue in 16th century Russia.
In Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge, Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried, continues her path of vengeance against the Burgundians for their betrayal. Fueled by her grief and hatred, she seeks to destroy everything they hold dear, leading to a tragic and destructive battle that will forever change their lives.
Wanda is a dominatrix who runs a gallery in a building on the Hamburg waterfront, where audiences pay for the privilege of watching her humiliate her slaves. She is a business woman who smashes sexual stereotypes and social taboos with icy self-possession and an enigmatic smile. As artist she specializes in the staging of elaborate BDSM fantasies and her affairs transgress the usual boundaries of personal and professional life. Along the way she leaves her German lesbian lover, a shoe fetishist, for an American "trainee," and does more than step on the toes of the male performer who has broken the rules of the master-slave relationship by falling in love with her.
Hanns Heinz Ewers' grim science-fiction novel Alraune has already been filmed twice when this version was assembled in 1928. In another of his "mad doctor" roles, Paul Wegener plays Professor Brinken, sociopathic scientist who combines the genes of an executed murderer with those of a prostitute. The result is a beautiful young woman named Alraune (Brigitte Helm), who is incapable of feeling any real emotions -- least of all guilt or regret. Upon attaining adulthood, Alraune sets about to seduce and destroy every male who crosses her path. Ultimately, Professor Brinken is hoist on his own petard when he falls hopelessly in love with Alraune himself. Alraune was remade in 1930, with Brigitte Helm repeating her role, and again in 1951, with Hildegarde Knef as the "heroine" and Erich von Stroheim as her misguided mentor.
Swimmer is a visual poem that tells the story of a young boy who befriends a long-distance swimmer. Shot entirely without dialogue, the film explores themes of love, friendship, and the power of determination. As the boy and the swimmer navigate their way through an amusement park, they encounter various challenges and obstacles, including an arrow shot, a spear thrown, and swimming underwater. Ultimately, the film celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the triumph of the human will.
In Maciste in Hell, a superhero named Maciste must journey through the depths of Hell to save his lover from the clutches of evil. Along the way, he faces horrifying creatures, intense battles, and must make a faustian bargain to succeed. This expressionist film combines elements of fantasy, horror, and drama to create a thrilling and visually stunning experience.
From Morn to Midnight is an expressionist drama film from 1920, based on a play. It tells the story of a bank cashier whose monotonous life is completely changed after a chance encounter with a rich Italian lady. The film explores themes of alienation, desire for adventure, and the pursuit of happiness.
Set in Prague, Czechoslovakia, this expressionist drama follows the parallel lives of a wheelchair-bound artist and a sick child, both finding solace and rejuvenation through their relationship with a racing pigeon named The White Dove.
Student Raskolnikow, who has written an article about laws and crime, proposing the thesis that un-ordinary people can commit crimes if their actions are necessary for the benifit of mankind, murders an old woman, who operates a crooked loaning house, as well as her sister, who made the mistake of visiting her at the wrong time. He is suspected of the crime, but somebody else confesses to the murder.
An insane man first loves then grows to hate his neighbor, an old man whose penetrating gaze unnerves the insane man. He plans a perfect crime and executes it one night. The next day, two officers knock on the insane man's door, investigating a shriek heard in the night. The insane man invites them in, answers their questions, and submits to an examination of his eyes by one of the officers, who proclaims him innocent. The insane man invites them to stay and relax awhile, then regales them with his theories of crime. His heart begins to beat louder. Angles on the set are skewed to suggest the man's internal disarray.
In modern-day Berlin (1987), Frau Kutowski goes insane, believing herself to be the (real-life) notorious Anita Berber, a nude art dancer/drug addict/scandalous figure of post-WWI Berlin. (Berber died of tuberculosis in 1928, having achieved significant success and recognition throughout the dance world.) Frau Kutowski is placed in a mental hospital, where in her own mind she acts out Berber's final days, including in her fantasies the hospital's staff and patients, to represent Anita's friends and associates.
In a distant Teutonic village, people dance and drink merrily celebrating a wedding feast. However, an elderly man tells the villagers that the valley where they live wasn't always happy but sorrowful. This was due to the tyranny of the master of the mountains who ruled the valley despotically.
Absurdist short about a man with a suitcase and a man inside that suitcase.
When the old, wealthy Doctor Schön takes Lulu under his wing, he has no idea that she will be his certain death. Young and beautiful, Lulu is endowed with tremendous erotic charisma that utterly enchants any man in her reach. Although Schön sees disaster approaching, he cannot let go of her. (Stumfilm.dk)
The House on the Moon
In a series of life events, a group of young adults expressed their love, desires, and secrets in ways they didn't imagine they could.
A talented writer returns to his sick mother and discovers the true potential of his divine gifts.
Paul Wegener gives one of his most active performances here as Captain Ramper, a heroic aviator who makes a pioneering flight across the Arctic accompanied only by Ippling, his faithful mechanic (Kurt Gerron). Near the North Pole, their plane develops engine failure and crashes in the desolate wastes. Ippling dies straight off but Ramper finds a supply base containing food which has been left behind by a previous expedition. After fifteen years in the Arctic wastes, Ramper has considerably mutated.
Czech semi-documentary.