Over 2000 Rare and Out-of-Print Classic German Videos  for Sale or Rent in the USA Division of Heidelberg Haus Established 1968 German Language Video Center 7625 Pendleton Pike Indianapolis, Indiana 46226-5298 USA Phone 1 + (317) 547-1257 FAX 1 + (317) 547-1263

Most of our DVDs listed on this page are in Region Code 0 or 1
and are in the USA NTSC television video format.

This means they will play on most DVD player in the U.S.A. and the world. Please see bottom of page for more information about different DVD-systems and different Region Codes.

We do not currently rent DVDs, only VHS tapes.

You wanted it and its finally here!!!

Sissi Collection (5 disk set) DVD
At the age of seventeen, Romy Schneider became an international star through her portrayal of Princess Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria in the first of three lavish films directed by Ernst Marischka. While she would go on to work with someo f the most influetial and daring European directors of the era, Schneider will always be remembered by this defining role. This restored version of the "Sissi Trilogy" in its entirety along with the U.S. theatrically released, English-dubbed version "Forever My Love" as well as "Victoria in Dover(The Story of Vickie)", a precursor to the trilogy in which Schneider plays Britains Princess Victoria
DVD Extras: Sissi: The Young Empress Featurette, Trailers
German and English with English Subtitles

Includes 5 full features:
Sissi
Sissi: Die junge Kaiserin
Sissi: Schicksals Jahre einer Kaiserin
Forever My Love
Victoria in Dover

The Thomas Mann Collection
German Language with optional English subtitles (7 disc gift set)
Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. Thomas Mann was honored for a body of work that began with his first novel, "Buddenbrooks", and whose other milestones included "The Magic Mountain" and "Doktor Faustus". These three novels are brought to life in this outstanding 7-disc collection, which pays tribute to Mann's most celebrated and famous works.
Buddenbrooks - A stimulating adaptation of Mann's most famous novel and one of the most widely read German novels in the world. A sweeping tale of the rise and fall of a wealthy merchant family torn between loyalty and personal freedom. ca. 10 hrs, 38 min.
Doktor Faustus - Driven by a single-minded search for a totally new musical idiom, composter Adrian Leverkuehn makes a pact with the devil with a very high price: The total renunciation of love and the gradual deterioration of the mind and body. ca. 177 min.
Der Zauberberg(The Magic Mountain) - Hans Castorp, son of a distinguished Hamburg family, spends seven years in a Swiss sanatorium. Drawn to the hermetic society, he receives an erotic and philosophical initiation but abruptly leaves at the launch of the Great War to learn true life experience and responsibility. ca. 5 hrs. 24 min.

08 / 15
Based upon the celebrated novels by Hans Helmut Kirst, the 08/15 film trilogy marks a touchstone in post-German culture. A corrosively satiric look at German army life - the title comes from a notoriously malfunctioning gun type, the 08/15 which became a popular shorthand among soldier for everything wrong with the military - the films depict the life and times of lance corporal Asch, a model soldier constantly out of step with his overbearing superiors. This was Germany's biggest movie hit in the 50's. German language with English subtitles

08/15 Part One
1954 - A German army barracks shortly before the outbreak of W.W.II. Asch, whose conduct and spotless record make him a model soldier, starts disobeying orders when a buddy of his is about to commit suicide because of the bullying by their superior.

08/15 Part One
1954, b/w, ca. 96 min. German dialogue, English subtitles - Part I takes us into German barracks life on the eve of World War II. Asch, pushed into open rebellion when a cruel officer drives a fellow soldier to the brink of suicide, wages a battle of wits with his superiors. Asch survives this round, prompting an investigation into barracks ocnditions his hard-won victory is overshadowed by pmpending war.

08/15 Part Two
1955 - Ordinary army life goes on at the front, as it did in the training unit at home. While a new commander takes over the unit and causes a lot of confusion through giving senseless orders, our guys are battling at the Russian front and trying to do something about the army spirit.

08/15 Part Three
In the Heimat (Go Home)
1955 - The last days of W.W.II, the heads of the army have left the fighting troops. They are already having their soup in the communication zone or at home. Asch is on the trail of two SS men who dressed up as Wehrmacht officers, trying to secure their stolen goods by murdering others.

Order the entire set of three (3) videos

The Devil's General
b&w, ca. 92 min. - A terrific suspense thriller loosely based on the life of Ernst Udet, the highest scoring German ace (62 confirmed kills) to survive the First World War. Udet was awarded the Pour le Merite, the coveted "Blue Max" and was made Inspector-General of the Luftwaffe under Hermann Goering. He killed himself in November 1941 in horror over the decadence and incompetence of the Nazi military leadership. General Harras (Udet) is played by the brilliant actor Curt Juergens. Curiously, Juergens was steadily improving in his craft during WWII, when Dr. Goebbels had him deported to a concentration camp for political unreliable in Hungary. Marianne Koch and Bum Krueger also star. DVD has both English dubbed and German with English subtitles versions

Germany Awake
English commentary and subtitles, 1968, b/w, ca. 90 min. A documentary on the German motion picture and its use as a propaganda tool, produced by Erwin Leiser (originally titled Deutschland Erwache). Excepts from the following German feature films are included: Dawn (1933), Hans Westmar (1933), Hitler Youth Quex (1933), Bismarck (1940) newsreels, For Merit (1938), Venus on Trial (1941), Refugees (1933), Homecoming (1941), Crew on the Dora (1943), Request Concert (1940), Jud Suess (1940), I Accuse (1941), U-Boat, Course West (1941), The Higher Order (1935), The Rothschilds (1940), Ohm Kruger (1941), Carl Peters (1941), The Great King (1942), Kolberg (1945), the Great Love (1945).  
A collectors must!!

Afrika Korps
Transferred to videocassette from original 35mm prints for superb audio and visual quality. With English Subtitles. Germany, 1942, B&W, 81 minutes.
Afrika Korps opens with German Soldiers in Africa, an army film produced for troops ordered to duty on the Dark Continent. Reserves are shown being medically examined and fitted with tropical uniforms, traveling by train to Naples, and encamping there. Supplies are loaded onto steamers, and the unit crosses in convoy to Tripoli. Shown next are scenes of the desert landscape, wildlife, and primitive nomadic tribes. Arab civilization is depicted with footage of cultivated oases and a typical North African village on market day. German troops are seen arriving in Tripoli. Liberal footage showing the city's scenic places is included.
German Newsreel: February 1942
German and Italian naval officers participate in a ceremony honoring successful U-boat commanders in the Mediterranean. An Italian battleship protecting a German convoy to Tripoli engages attacking British destroyers in an artillery duel. General Rommel watches Axis field guns bombard advancing enemy tanks. Italian armor counterattacks. British prisoners are shown.
German Newsreel: June 20th through 26th, 1942
Colonel Adolf Galland visits an air base in the desert. Lieutenant Marseilles lands in his Me-109 fighter. General Rommel is decorated by Italian General Bastico. German vehicles advance on Bir Hacheim. A British armor attack is repulsed by anti-aircraft guns. A captured battle post which had been disguised by the British as a field hospital is shown. An Allied garrison manned chiefly by "colored" auxiliaries surrenders. General Rommel photographs a shot-down English fighter plane.
German Newsreel: June 27th through July 3rd, 1942
German mechanized troops cut off the British garrisons at Acroma and El Gazala. Engineers clear a path through a minefield. Italian flak engages attacking British aircraft. Italian infantry is shown in action. Stuka dive bombers raid Tobruk. German engineers bridge an anti-tank ditch as German armor advances. British soldiers from the Tobruk garrison surrender.
German Newsreel: July 4th through 7th, 1942
German 88-millimeter guns take up positions on the Mediterranean coast and bombard British ships evacuating Tobruk harbor. Field Marshal Kesselring flies over the captured city. German troops enter Tobruk as thousands of British soldiers are sent to POW assembly areas. Rommel orders a further advance from his field headquarters.
German Newsreel: August 8th through 14th, 1942
Mussolini visits Axis troops in North Africa. A German convoy arrives in Tobruk. Marshal Rommel is seen at the front. Italian Bersaglieri troops are shown in action.
German Newsreel: August 1942
German soldiers at a coastal position swim in the Mediterranean. A new well is dug to replace one poisoned by retreating British troops. German reinforcements for the Alamein front pass a caravan enroute to their new positions. Marshals Rommel and Bastico observe a British armored thrust which is repulsed by heavy artillery. Damaged British tanks litter the battlefield. Rommel decorates anti-tank gunner Gunther Halm on August 7th, 1942. (original synchronous sound)
German Newsreel: October 31st through November 6th, 1942
A bomber squadron holds a situation conference. Heinkel III bombers are prepared for a long- range mission. Aircraft bomb the British-held Kufra oasis and strafe British flak positions.
German Newsreel: October 10th through 16th, 1942
Marshal Rommel, with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels holds a press conference in Berlin. Hitler presents Rommel with a field marshal's baton. Rommel attends the annual "Winter Help" rally in Berlin with Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, and Keitel.

Olympia, Part 1 DVD (Festival of the People)
Germany, 1938, English dialogue, b/w, ca. 111 min. - Based on the 1936 Munich Olympic Games, dedicated "To the honor and glory of the youth of the world." Produced and directed by Leni Riefenstahl as part of the Nazi propaganda effort, yet still a fascinating documentary filled with breathtaking moments and images.

Goodbye Lenin!
color, ca. 121 min., German Language, English Subtitles. Hysterically Historical. Winner of six prestigious European Film Awards. Including Best Picture and 2004 Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this coming-of-age adventure blends the fall of Communism with the salient emotions of a family's love. In 1989, Christiane Kerner has lost her husband and is completely devoted to the Socialist East German state. A heart attack leaves her in a coma, and when she awakens eight months later, the Berlin Wall has fallen and it's a whole new world. To protect her from the shock, her son Alex hatches a plan to keep her in the dark. Its easy all he has to do is turn back the hands of time. DVD features: Director's Commentary, Cast Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Visual Effects Featurette, "Mini-Making Of" Featurette and Uncut "Aktuelle Kamera" Broadcasts.

Der Graf von Luxemburg

color - Von den Seefestspiele Moerbisch. Operette in 3 Akten von A. M. Willner und Robert Bodanzky. Musik von Franz Lehar. Mit Michael Suttner, Gese Hoppe, Harald Serafin, Marika Lichter und Marko Kathol German Language - optional subtitles:English,French Italian and Spanish

The Gleiwitz Case
English subtitles, 1961, 70 min, Director Gerhard Klein reconstructs details of the surprise attack by a nazi unit on the radio station at Gleiwitz on the Polish border in 1939. Immediately after the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, Gerhard Klein's film The Gleiwitz Case arrived in theaters in the GDR. Together with authors Wolfgang Kohlhaase and Guenther Ruecker, Klein reconstructed details of the surprise attack by a Nazi unit on the radio station at Gleiwitz on the Polish border in 1939. This attack, which was later blamed on Polish forces, served as Hitler's reason for marching into Poland, starting the Second World War. Cool and impartial, the film reflects on the possibilities and techniques of provocation. It shows how facts and opinions can be manipulated and how people are made to accept lies, murder and war. Gerhard Klein and his Czech cameraman Jan Curik found an impressive visual language with which to describe fascism: groups of people were assembled into ornaments, in which the individual is suppressed by the masses. This enlightening perspective on the fundamentals of totalitarian power and violence met with resistance among the cultural politicians in the GDR. The film was accused of glorifying fascism. Today, the film is considered one of the most modern and experimental films in DEFA history. DVD Bonus Materials: Essay titled The Case of The Gleiwitz Case; Film about editor Evelyn Carow; Orignal Trailor; Photo Gallery; Biographies & Filmographies

Kolberg
One of the Third Reich's most ambitious spectaculars, three years in the making, mobilized Germany's most talented artists and thousands of extras to re-create the true story of a Prussian town's rebellion against Napoleon's army of occupation. Laced with anti-Christian symbolism and National Socialist ideology, the film is a mirror of Hitler Germany's own war for survival. In its characterization of Kolberg's besieged citizenry, the epic allegorically reflects the spirit of fanatical resolve to fight on, that Nazi propaganda was attempting to instill in the German population during the final years of World War II. The film was directed by Veit Harlan, with music by Norbert Schultze.
Color, 107 minutes, English subtitles. (Germany, 1945)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Scene Selections
• Photo Gallery with Audio Commentary
• Bonus Material: Goebbels 1943 Total War Speech Newsreel
• Actors Biographies
• Digitally Restored and Remastered
• Illustrated Essay Booklet "Kolberg:The Apotheosis of Nazi Cinema"

Panzer I & II - Light Tanks
The definitive series on Germany's Tanks and Artillery in World War II
It was with these light-weight workhorses rather than their heavier and more glamourous stablemates, that the infamous Blitzkrieg legend was forged.
DVD Features - Interactive Menus, Previews, Scene Selection

Panzer III - Medium Tank
The definitive series on Germany's Tanks and Artillery in World War II
Although the Panzer III emerged as one of the formative images of the German military success in the newsreels produced by the Popaganda Ministry, the Panzer III had many technical shortcomings.
DVD Features - Interactive Menus, Previews, Scene Selection

Panzer IV - Heavy Tank
The definitive series on Germany's Tanks and Artillery in World War II
This program tracks the long history of this most versatile of German Tanks.
DVD Features - Interactive Menus, Previews, Scene Selection

Downfall (Der Untergang)
Downfall takes you into Hitler's bunker during the brutal and harrowing last days of the Third Reich. Seen through the eyes of Hitler's infamous secretary Traudi Junge, optimism crumbles into grim realization and terror as it becomes clear that Germany's defeat is inevitable. As the Russian army circles the city, the dimly lit halls of the underground refuge become an execution chamber for the Fuehrer and his closest advisors.

The Green Devils - German Paratrooper Elite 1933-1941
This program deals with the evolution of the paratrooper arm, and goes into depth about their important role in the invasion of the west in 1940.
DVD Features - Interactive Menus, Previews, Scene Selection

Grey Wolves - U-Boats 1942-1943
New footage helps us understand the on-going battle between hunter and hunted above and beneath the cold, grey waters of the North Atlantic.
DVD Features - Interactive Menus, Previews, Scene Selection

Grey Wolves - U-Boats 1943-1945
This final chapter of the "Grey Wolves" war is told with fascinating footage covering all aspects of this story. It ends with film of one man "Biber" submarine, and the arrest of Doenitz in 1945 - Hitler's nominated successor and Germany's last Fuehrer!
DVD Features - Interactive Menus, Previews, Scene Selection

Die Lustige Witwe

DVD, Seefestspeile Moerbisch, 2005, ca. 150 min. Operette in 3 Akten von Victor Leon und Leo Stein, Musik von Franz Lehar. Subtitles available in English, French and Italian

Die Csardasfuerstin
ca. 132 min.- Operette in 3 Akten von Leo Stein und Bela Jenbach. From the Seefestspiele in Moerbisch, Austria. The 2002 Moerbisch Seefestspiele production of Emmerich Kálmán's greatest operetta. This is an all new, full production copy of this classic. Starring Ferdinand von Bothmer and Vera Schoenenberg.

Das Land des Laechelns
color, ca. 120 min. - Romantische Operette in drei Akten nach Victor Leon von Ludwig Werzer und Fritz Loehner. Musik von Franz Lehar. In der Fassung der Seefestspiele Moerbisch 2001. Featuring Harald Serafin, Ingrid Habermann, Dietmar Kerschbaum, Sangho Choi, Yuko Mitani, Tory Tanabe, Gideon Singer, Volker Wahl, Nora Miedler and Julia Resinger. With Festival Orchester Moerbisch, The Hunan Provincial Song and Dance Troupe, Union Turniertanzformation Gold und Silber Statisterie der Seefestspiele Moerbisch.

Fritz Lang Epic Collection - A Five-Disk Set
Metropolis - Die Nibelungen - Spies - Woman in the Moon

F. W. Murnau Collection - Box Set of Five DVDs
The most gifted visual storyteller of the Silent Era F. W. Murnau. The DVD Box Set of all four DVDs
Nosferatu - The Last Laugh - Tartuffe (Plus: The Way to Murnau) - Faust - Tabu
Nosferatu -Supplemental features include: Two musical scores; Photo/art gallery; Excepts from six films by F.W. Murnau including Phantom, Journey into the Night and The Haunted Castle.
The Last Laugh - Supplemental features include: Photo gallery.
Tartuffe - Supplemental features include: The Way to Murnau, a 35-minute documentary on the life and career of F.W. Murnau; Essay by film historian Jan Christopher Horak.
Faust - Supplemental features include: "UFA Studios 1925: The Making Of Faust" (a gallery of rare production stills); Essay by film historian Jan Christopher Horak.
Tabu - Supplemental features include: Audio commentary by Professor Janet Bergstrom; Rare out take footage; Theatrical trailer.

German Horror Classics - A Four-Disk Set
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Nosferatu - The Golem - Waxworks
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Supplemental features include: Two musical scores; Photo/art gallery; 43-minute except of Robert Wiene's Genuine: The Tale of a Vampire(1920); Wiene behind the scenes of I.N.R.I. (1923).
Nosferatu - Supplemental features include: Two musical scores; Photo/art gallery; Excepts from six films by F.W. Murnau including Phantom and The Haunted Castle; Scene comparison: Novel, Script and Film.
The Golem - Supplemental features include: Photo/art gallery; Except of the 1936 French Film Le Golem; Creation: A comparison of scenes.
Waxworks - Supplemental features include: Paul Leni's 1926 Short Rebus Film 1; Except of The Thief of Bagdad.

The Blue Angel - Special two disk set
Germany, 1930, b/w, in German with English subtitles, DVD extras: includes both German and English language versions, ca. 106 min. - Emil Jannings, the quintessential German expressionist actor, stars as Professor Immanuel Rath, the sexually-repressed instructor of a boys prep school. After learning of the pupils' infatuation with French postcards depicting a local nightclub songstress, he decides to personally investigate the source of such indecency. But as soon as he enters the shadowy Blue Angel nightclub and steals one glimpse of the smoldering Lola-Lola (Marlene Dietrich), commanding the stage in a top hat, stockings and bare thighs, Rath's self-righteous piety is crushed. He finds himself fatefully seduced by the throaty voice of the vulgar siren, singing "Falling in love again." Consumed by desire and tormented by his rigid propriety, Professor Rath allows himself to be dragged down a path of personal degradation.
Special features include both English and German versions of the film, audio commentary (German version only), Dietrich Interview footage, photo gallery, production history, etc.

La Habanera
Germany, 1937, b/w, ca. 100 min. - Swedish temptress Zarah Leander, Nazy Germany's most popular star, here plays the sultry Scandinavian wife of a scheming Puerto Rican aristocrat. Director Sirk (then Detlef Sierck) soon after fled to Hollywood and Americanized his name. Desperate to escape the "cold Swedish minds" of her homeland, beautiful Astree (Leander) falls under the enchanting spell of the Caribbean love serenade La Habanera and into the arms of Puerto Rican land baron Don Pedro de Avila (Ferdinand Marian). But ten years later, when Astree's old flame Dr. Sven Nagel (Karl Martell) arrives in Puerto Rico on an errand of mercy, all is far from heavenly. Astree is trapped in a loveless marriage to Don Pedro and the island wind that once conveyed the music of romance now carries death in the form of an outbreak of airborne tropical fever. While racing to find a cure for Astree's fever stricken son, Dr. Nagel must elude both the island authorities that would have him jailed for revealing their fatal cover-up and a psychotically jealous Don Pedro who would rather see Astree dead than reunited with her lost love.
Special features include: Photo Gallery; Excerpts of original German reviews; Douglas Sirk filmography, optional English subtitles, etc.

Baron Muenchhausen
color, 1943, 111 min. - Starring Hans Albers in this restored Epic Blockbuster Entertainment produced under the Third Reich. In early 1943, just as Nazi Germany began its collapse with the surrender at Stalingrad, the famed Ufa Studios released an elaborate super-spectacle to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. Muenchhausen was the bizarre Nazi response to such extravaganzas as Britain's The Thief of Bagdad and Hollywood's The Wizard of Oz, both of which were jealously admired by Propaganda Minister Goebbels. Starring Hans Albers, the hypnotic, blond superstar (who kept a Jewish lover safely in London), and a bevy of female stars, the film was meant to divert a German public, and those in occupied Europe. This lavish, impudent, adult fairy tale takes the viewer from 18th-century Braunschweig to St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Venice, and then to the moon using ingenious special effects, stunning location shooting, and a rich color palette, supervised by cameraman Konstantin Irmen-Tschet. Escaping the grim reality of the time with the illusion of luxury and pure fantasy, Muenchhausen daringly glorifies a braggart and liar, and was scripted by the banned Jewish author Erich Kaestner under a pseudonym.
Special Features include also the making of documentary with comments by the director of the F.W. Murnau Foundation; Original theatrical trailer; Photo gallery; Examples of "Frauen sind doch bessere Diplomaten; Optional English subtitles, etc.

Titanic
B&w, 1943, 85 min. - Before James Cameron's 1997 Blockbuster Titanic, the Hollywood Titanic of 1995, the 1958 British film A Night to Remember, and the 1997 Broadway musical Titanic, there was the Nazi German film Titanic. A Tobis production begun in 1942, this production nearly sank as decisively as the doomed ocean liner. The film's director, Herbert Selpin, infuriated with the slow second-unit shooting in the port of Gdynia, was overheard making remarks damning the German army. In April, 1943, the film was banned by the Berlin censors for German release because of its terrifying scenes of panic, all too familiar to German civilians undergoing nightly Allied bombing raids. After extensive cutting, Titanic was released in occupied Paris and a few army installations. The film was seen in Germany finally in late 1949, but banned a few months later in the Western sectors because of its unmistakable anti-British-capitalist theme. Technically, this Titanic is an excellent catastrophe film, its shots of the ship sinking were later used by the 1958 British film without credit. Somewhat true to the facts - though peppered with fictional good Germans both on and below deck, in steerage - the film ends with a trial scene that acquits the White Star Line management, followed by a final slide denouncing England's "eternal quest for profit." These packed a powerful propaganda punch; cut from the postwar prints, they have been restored for this video version.
Special features include: Original 1912 Newsreel; White Star Line promotional film, offering a tour of the Olympic, Titanic's sister ship; Theatrical trailer; Photo gallery; Optional English subtitles.

Circle of Deceit
Germany, 1981, color, ca. 108 min. - Set in Beirut during the 1970s Civil War, Bruno Ganz and Hanna Schygulla star in this extraordinary film about how the West in general and journalists in particular confront terrorism in the Middle East. This film has gotten more relevant with age. Grateful for a respite from his imploding marriage, Hamburg newspaperman Georg (Bruno Ganz) arrives in civil war-torn Beirut to chronicle the bloody Lebanese war. Inside a shell pitted hotel, Georg and his photographer colleague Hoffman (Jerzy Skolimowski) join a cynical international coterie of competitive fellow journalists. Outside, they take their lives in their own hands, dodging both Christian and Palestinian bullets and conducting interviews that are always just a trigger pull away from becoming executions. When Georg's affair with a beautiful German ex-pat widow (Hanna Schygulla) evolves into somthing more than just an indulgence, Beirut's bloody whirlpool of brutality threatens to claim Georg's neutrality and his civilized self-control.
Special features include also: The Making of Circle of Deceit (1981, 29 min., w. English commentary by Volker Schloendorf); An interview with Volker Schloendorff; Stills Gallery; Optional English sublitles.

The Legend of Rita
Germany, 2000, color, letterboxed, German with English subtitles, ca. 101 min. - From Volker Schoendorff (The Tin Drum, Circle of Deceit) comes a striking political thriller set in the latter years of the cold war. As a West German ex-terrorist haunted by her radical past, new comer Bibiana Beglau anchors the film with a bravura leading turn. Director's commentary on DVD.

The Ogre
Germany, France, UK, 1996, color, letterboxed, In English, ca. 117 min. - Volker Schoendorff's magnificent 1996 film presents Germany's Nazi past as a grotesque fairy tale. A disturbing fable with "moments of brilliance suggesting the cinematic equivalent of a Wagner opera" (N.Y. Times). With Armin Mueller-Stahl and Marianne Sagebrecht.

The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
Germany, 1993, color and b/w, German/English, ca. 181 min. - A spelbinding account of the career of the most renowned woman director, best known as Hitler's moviemaker. Studded with fascinating clips from her work: Triumph of the Will, Olympia, The Blue Light, Tiefland and more.

The Holy Mountain
Germany, 1926, color tinted, ca. 105 min. - A strange and beguiling romance that launched the career of Leni Riefenstahl, The Holy Mountain is the greatest of Arnold Fanck's legendary mountain films, in which dramatic intrigues are played out against the breathtaking backdrop of the Germanic Alps. Riefenstahl, who would go on to direct the controversial Triumph of the Will and Olympia, no doubt acquired her fascination with the Uebermensch as an actress in this lofty morality tale, and developed an eye for the striking compositions for which she would late become famous. Enthralled by the scenic majesty and heaving power of nature, an alluring dancer (Riefenstahl) seeks the man of her dreams in a small mountain village. There she encounters a reclusive climber (Louis Trenker) and a young skier (Ernst Petersen), who are each pursuing their own elusive ideals amid the intoxicating beauty and treacherous dangers of the Alps.
Special features include: Interview footage of Leni Riefenstal and co-star Louis Trenker (Excerpted from the documentary The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl).

Das Boot (Superbit Director's Cut)
2 disc set, ca. 210 min., audio in English and German, Subtitles in English, French, Spanish,Chinese, Korean, Thai - Starring Juergen Prochnow, Herbert Groenemeyer, Klaus Wennemann. A film by Wolfgang Peterson. It is 1942 and the German submarine fleet is heavily engaged in the so-called "Battle of the Atlantic" to harass and destroy English shipping. With better escorts of the Destroyer Class, however, German U-boats have begun to take heavy losses. "Das Boot" is the story of one such U'Boat crew, with the film examining how these submariners maintained their professionalism as soldiers, attempted to accomplish impossible missions, while all the time attempting to understand and obey the ideology of the government under which they served.

Das Boot
ca. 210 min., audio in English and German, additonal language Spanish, Subtitles in English, French, Spanish - Starring Juergen Prochnow, Herbert Groenemeyer, Klaus Wennemann. A film by Wolfgang Peterson. It is 1942 and the German submarine fleet is heavily engaged in the so-called "Battle of the Atlantic" to harass and destroy English shipping. With better escorts of the Destroyer Class, however, German U-boats have begun to take heavy losses. "Das Boot" is the story of one such U'Boat crew, with the film examining how these submariners maintained their professionalism as soldiers, attempted to accomplish impossible missions, while all the time attempting to understand and obey the ideology of the government under which they served.

The Bridge
1994, German lang., includes both subtitled and English-dubbed versions. - In one of the most viciously realistic war films ever made, The Bridge takes you to a time and place that no longer exists; Germany 1945, in the final hours of the war. As the war rages to its bitter climax, eight sixteen-year-old German schoolboys are drafted into the Wehrmacht as a last resort to defend a bridge to their town. With patriotic enthusiasm, the boys struggle bravely but futilely to carry out their orders against advancing American troops and tanks. Bernhard Wicki directed this brutally cool and realistic true account that quickly won wide acclaim: an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and a Golden Globe Award, as well as many International Film Awards. It is a film you will remember for years to come - a film of youth trapped in the fires of Hell.

The Star of Africa
1957, English subtitled and dubbed versions, ca. 105 min. - Witness the dashing exploits of the Star of Africa, the Eagle of the Desert: Hans-Joachim Marseille, a Luftwaffe Ace with 158 confirmed kills. Marseille, born into a wealthy family, quickly gained a reputation for a being a fearless flyer, thanks to tricks performed while at the Luftwaffe's flight school. Brazen and uncompromising, he repeatedly ran into conflict with the German "Iron Code" of discipline. During WWII Marseille gained glory as an attack-loving "Flying Devil." His ability to turn inside an opponent and his mastery of deflection shooting made him one of Germany's best Aces. This was proved on September 1, 1942 when Marseille shot down 17 aircrafts in a single day. Marseille won the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds as well as the Italian Gold Medal for Bravery, which was awarded to only three men in WWII. Starring Hoachim Hansen and Marianne Koch, directed by Alfred Weidernmann.

Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens)l
1935, b/w, ca. 120 min., original German language with newly translated removable English subtitles - Leni Riefenstahl's classic piece of historical filmmaking filmed during the 1934 Nazi Party Rally in Nuernberg, Germany, is considered by many to be one of the most important and controversial films ever made. The film, realized by Paul Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, was created to influence all of Germany to support the "power" of the Nazi Party. All during WWII in every theater in Germany, either part or all of Triumph of the Will was shown. Funded entirely by the N.S.D.A.P. (the Nazi Party), Hitler hired the young actress/director Leni Riefenstahl to direct. Money was unlimited so Riefenstahl was eating and sleeping in the editing room with hundreds of thousands of feet of film for several months. All of the shots are carefully constructed. Sets were specially built to accommodate cameras and Hitler was filmed separately from the crowds so Riefenstahl could edit together a film that would manipulate imagery and seduce the mind. An historically significant and, at times, horrifyingly manipulative exercise in propaganda for the Nazi regime, Triumph of the Will continues to be controversial over sixty years after its original release. This historical document has been unavailable in Germany for many decades and Leni Riefenstahl has since come under fire for her personal relationship with Adolph Hitler, spending her life in the shadow of collaborating with the Nazi party.

All Quiet on the Western Front
b/w, language and/or captions or subtitles: English, Spanish, French, ca. 130 min. - Unlike most "message" films which date themselves almost immediately, Lewis Milestone's low-key, unpolished and deeply-felt screen adaption of the Erich Maria Remarque anti-war novel has lost little of its original impact. Years after its release it was still being banned in countries mobilizing for war. The plot follows a group of young German recruits in WWI through their passage from idealism to disillusionment. As the central character Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres) declares, "We live in the trenches and we fight. We try not to be killed - that's all." All Quiet is an anthology of now famous scenes: Ayres trapped in a shell crater with a man he has killed; the first meetig of the recruits and the veterans; infantrymen being mowed down to machine-gun visual rhythms, a moonlight swim with French farm girls; Ayre's pacifist speech to his astonished schoolmates; and the final shot of the soldier's hand reaching for a fatal butterfly.

Attack and Retreat
1965, b/w, English dubbed, ca. 140 min. - Also known as Italiano Brava Gente, this 1965 film starring Peter Falk and Arthur Kennedy is an explosive chronicle of the Italian-Russian front during WWII. The story follows an Italian squad through the battle for Stalingrad and their terrible defeat and retreat through the disastrous winter that followed. This defeat, more than anything else in the war, meant the end of the Third Reich and the Italian fascist regime. Attack and Retreat, along with the original 1958 German version of Stalingrad, provided many of the images and scenes that were used later in the two modern classics The Winter War and Stalingrad (1991).

The Devil Strikes at Night
1958, b/w, English subtitled version, ca. 105 min. - The story of a serial killer. Siodmak's film takes place during the Third Reich, and thus every aspect of the case is filtered through the political reality and interests of that regime. An honest police officer solves the case and arrests the murderer who, beginning in 1933, had killed over eighty women (the character was based on an actual murderer, Bruno Luedke). Yet in 1944 Germany, however, it was inconceivable to admit that a mass murderer had eluded detection or capture for over a decade. By order of Hitle himself, news of the case were completely supressed, and the police officer was sent to the front. Siodmak narrates this story with a kind of chilling detachment, avoiding sesationalism while focusing on the omnipresent influence of the Gestapo even on criminal invetigations. Screen debut by Mario Adorf.

Sharks and Little Fish
b/w, English subtitled/dubbed versions, ca. 119 min. - A war movie about four young naval cadets who in 1940 begin their military service, first on a minesweeper, then on a submarine; only one of them will survive. Using all the then available special effects technology, Frank Wisbar tried to create as realistic a sense of shipboard life and naval battles as possible. Like other contemporary filmmakers, he hoped that by showing war in all its horror, as a "shark" devouring everyone and everything in its path, he could deliver a powerful anti-war message. By placing the battle sequences against the backdrop of a young cadet who grows increasingly disillusioned with the war and with life, many critics felt he negated the politcal dimensions of the war, yet Wisbar seemed to capture in his film something of the atitude of many Germans towards their wartime experience.

Stalingrad - Dogs, do you want to live forever?
1958, Englis subtitled version, b/w, ca. 97 minutes, DVD includes Chapter Search, Pan and Scan Format - It is the winter of 1942-43 in Stalingrad. Despite heavy losses, Hitler's Wehrmacht troops have conquered Stalingrad, though they are encircled by the Russian Army. This is the story of a German lieutenant who realizes that the war is senseless and that there is little hope for a final victory. Filled with great battle scenes, original war footage and German Newsreel clips that blend together to form a picture of the last deperate days of the most important battle of WWII. This is the original film that much of the 1991 version of Stalingrad was based upon. It tells the story of an army deserted by its leadership and left to battle two overwhelming enemies - the Russian Army and the Russian winter! Starring Joachim Hansen, Wilhelm Borchert and Peter Carsten. Directed by Frank Wisbar.

Victory of Faith (Der Sieg des Glaubens)
b/w, mono, English subtitles, ca. 77 min. - This Special Edition DVD contains: The Legend of Victory of Faith. The never before seen original trailer: "Der Deutsche Reichstag zu Nuernberg" - ca. 5 min. "Victory of Faith(1933) directed by Leni Riefenstahl, German with English subtitels, music by Herbert Windt - ca. 60 min. "Word and Deed" (1938) directed by Dr. Fritz Hippler - ca. 12 min.

World War II German Helicopter Footage
b/w, ca. 47 min. - Who made and tested the world's first helicopters? Find the answer in film shots by WWI German Air Ace and Blue Max Winner Ernst Udet. Udet's footage is believed to be some of the only existing film records of the FL184, FL265, and the FL282 helicopters. Filmed between 1938 and 1941, these clips show early landings aboard ships, pulling cars, high speed maneuvers and rescue testing of downed pilots. Landings take place on the Light Cruiser Karlsruhe; Richard Perlia is test pilot at the Berlin Schoenefeld in June 1939. Since the films were made using a hand-held camera over 60 years ago, the film quality is rough but acceptable considering the rare content. Some factory shots are included plus some amateur films of the 1956 Farnsworth Airshow. This is some of the most incredible footage of WWII.

The Film Before Film
Germany, 1986, color, In English, ca. 83 min. - An exhilarating and amusing encyclopedic look at the "prehistory" of cinema. Werner Nekes charts the fascination with moving pictures which led to the birth of film; covering shadow plays, peep shows, flip books, flicks, magic lanterns, lithopanes, panoramic scrolls, colorful forms of early animation and numerous other historical artifices. Working with these formats, early 'producers" created melodramas, comedies - and lots of pornography - anticipating most of the forms know today. Nekes probes these colorful toys and inventions in a rich and rewarding optical experience. Film Before Film is a bewildering assault of exotic (and sometimes erotic) images and illusions.

Tartuffe / The Way to Murnau
Tartufe Germany, 1925, silent with music score, tinted, ca. 63 min. - The Way to Murnau, Germany, 2003, ca. 35 min. - Moliere's fable of religious hypocrisy is brought to the screen by Murnau in a modernized retelling starring Emil Jannings and Lil Dagover. Includes The Way to Murnau, a documentary on Murnau's life and career.

Nosferatu
Germany, 1922, silent with music score, color tinted, ca. 93 min. - This new presentation of Murnau's classic is mastered from original German material recently made availble to Kino and is the most complete version available. An espressionist telling of Bram Stoker's Dracula so faithful to the original tale of vampirism that Stoker's widow sued. Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau's Graf Orlock (as portrayed by Max Schreck) is a nightmarish, spidery creature of bulbous head and taloned claws -- perhaps the most genuinely disturbing incarnation of vampirism yet envisioned. Nosferatu was an atypical expressionist film in that much of it was shot on location. While directors such as Lang and Lubitsch built vast forests and entire towns within the studio, Nosferatu's landscapes, villages and castle were actual locations in the Carpathian mountains. Murnau was thus able to infuse the story with the subtle tones of nature: both pure and fresh as well as twisted and sinister.
Supplemental features include: Lengthy excerpts from other films by F.W. Murnau: Journey into the Night (1920), The Haunted Castle (1921), Phantom (1922), The Last Laugh (1924), Faust (1926), Tabu (1931); Photo Gallery, New and improved English intertitle translation, etc.

Faust
Germany, 1926, silent with music score, b/w, stereo, ca. 91 min. - Director F. W. Murnau. Germany's legendary tale of an alchemist who enters into a pact with the devil is given definitive screen treatment in this visually stunning film. Mastered from a striking 35 mm print. DVD extras include a gallery of extraordinary production shots and posters. Faust captures the intensity of a medieval universe steeped in religious fanaticism and pagan alchemy. Black-hooded pallbearers lead a torchlit procession through a plague-stricken village literally cloaked by the wings of Satan. Crowded landscapes materialize and vanish in wisps of smoke, daemonic creatures soar through the heavens and earthly beings are tormented by the vaporous spirits that permeate the dungeon-like homes and Caligari-esque rooftops of this shadow world. In the eye of this infernal maelstrom is the great Emil Jannings (Othello), who sets off the film's sound and fury with a diabolically engaging performance, making Faust a masterpiece.

The Last Laugh
Germany, 1924, b/w, silent with music score, ca. 91 min. - Director F. W. Murnau. A masterpiece of silent cinema, the Kino edition is fully restored and mastered from a 35 mm archive negative, with an orchestral score by Timothy Brock recorded in digital stereo.

Die Nibelungen
1924 - On of the great achievements of the German silent cinema, Die Nibelungen is a passionate retelling of Nordic legend, invested with all the resources of the colossal UFA studios. Notable for its huge medieval era sets and ambitious special effects, including a fully animated dragon, Fritz Lang's epic established him as the maker of big films. This edition of Die Niebelungen, mastered from German archival 35 mm materials, is more than 100 minutes longer than any version previously available in the US and is presented with a magnificent orchestral soundtrack of the original score.

Die Nibelungen Part I - Siegfried
b/w, ca. 142 min. - Lang's retelling of an ancient Norse legend is a towering production, notable for its incredible special effects and immense sets that rival his own Metropolis. Transferred from original German archive material and with a triumphant score by Gottfried Huppertz.

Die Nibelungen Part II - Kriemhild's Revenge
b/w, ca. 150 min. - The sequel to the epic Siegfried, in which Kriemhild avenges the death of Siegfried with the aid of Atilla the Hun and his marauders. Lang's fascination with mob violence and the psychology of vengeance finds early expression here, later figuring heavily in his films M and the Big Heat. Kriemhild's Revenge is newly mastered from original German archive material.

The complete five-hour epic from Fritz Lang is available as a two disc set.
Special features also include: Footage of Fritz Lang on the set; Production design and special effects sketches by Erich Kettelhut; Comparison of the dragon-slaying scenes from Siegfried and The Thief of Bagdad (1924); New and improved English title translation by Ingrid Scheib Rothbart; Photo gallery, including rare behind-the-scenes images, etc.

Metropolis
Germany, 1927, silent movie, b/w, ca. 124 min. - Possibly the most famous and influential of all silent films and a "blueprint" for all movie-science fiction, Metropolis has now been magnificently restored, bringing us as close to the original 1927 release print as possible. One third longer than the 1984 "Moroder" version and with the additon of the original orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz and newly translated intertitles, this spectacualr production can now be seen it its full glory. Metropolis takes place in 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor. The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are amoung the most famous of the 20th century, many of which presage such sci-fi landmarks as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner.
Special DVD Extras: new documentary: The History and Making of Metropolis; Featurette: The Digital Restoration; Gallery of Photo and Posters since 1927; Cast and Crew Biographies; 5.1 Surround sound of newly recorded Orchstral Score; Audio Track in English, French, German and Spanish.

Spies
Germany, 1927, b/w, new recording,silent movie, original musical score, ca. 150 min. - For years available only in a truncated 88 minute version, Spies is now available in the original 2 1/2 hour version. The respected director of an international bank, Haghi doubles as a criminal mastermind who heads a spy ring specializing in the theft of government documents.

The Woman in the Moon
Germany, 1919, silent movie, color tinted, ca. 168 min. - Humankind's first voyage to the moon, as only Fritz Lang could imagine it. This sci-fi fantasy boasts remarkable effects and features a motley crew, including a scientist hunting for gold on the moon. Lang's final silent film foreshadowed several real-life aspects of space travel, and was written by his wife Thea von Harbou, who also wrote Metropolsi and M.
TheDVD includes a gallery of reare production photographs.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Germany, 1919, silent movie, color tinted, ca. 73 min. - A masterpiece of psychological horror and the film that has come to epitomize the mysterious, highly stylized German Expressionalist cinema. A demented hypnotist and his ghastly henchman spread death throughout the German countryside. Newly remastered from the archival German material and tinted according to original instructions with an evocative score. DVD Extras include: a 43-minute condensatoin of Robert Wiene's Genuine: The Tale of a Vampire (1920). Behind-the-Scenes footage of Robert Wiene on the set of I.N.R.I. Two musical scores to choose from. Gallery of more than 40 photos, posters and production sketches.
Special Features include also a 43-minute condensation of Robert Wiene's genuine: The Tale of a Vampire (1920); Behind-the-scenes footage of Robert Wiene on the set of I.N.R.I.; Gallery of more than 40 photos, posters and production sketches; New and improved English subtitle translations, etc.

Nosferatu
Germany, 1922, silent with music score, color tinted, ca. 93 min. - This new presentation of Murnau's classic is mastered from original German material recently made availble to Kino and is the most complete version available. An espressionist telling of Bram Stoker's Dracula so faithful to the original tale of vampirism that Stoker's widow sued. DVD Extras include: Lengty Excepts from Other Films by F.W. Murnau: Journey into the Night(1920), The Haunted Castle (1921), Phantom (1922), The Last Laugh (1924), Faust (1926), Tabu (1931), Choose from two Musical Scores in Digital Stereo. Photo Gallery.

The Golem
Germany, 1920, silent, b/w, The new restored authorized edition of Paul Wegener's cabalist thriller, ca. 86 min. - Recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, an ancient Hebrew legend provides the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the early German cinema and a landmark in the evolution of the horror film. Suffering under the rule of a tyrannical 16th century Prague despot, a Talmudic Rabbi creates a giant clay warrior to protect the safety of his people. Sculpted of clay and animated by the mysterious secrets of the Cabala, the Golem is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut, performing acts of great heroism, yet equally capable of dreadful violence. When the rabbi's assistant (Ernst Deutsch) takes control of the Golem and attempts to use him for selfish gain, the lumbering monster runs rampand, abducting the rabbi's daughter (Lyda Samonova) and setting fire to the ghetto.
Supplemental features include Excerpts of Julien Duvivier's 1936 film: Le Golem; Scene Comparin: featuring excepts of F.W. Murnau's Faust (1926) and Chayim Block's book The Golem (1925); New and improved English intertitle translation; Gallery of photographs and artwork.

Wax Works
Germany, 1924, silent, color tinted, ca. 83 min. - In this rarely seen masterwork of German expression, a trilogy of terror is woven around the wax figures of a carnival side show. Jack the Ripper, Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt), and Haroun al Raschid (Emil Jannings) all spring to life on the screen though a variety of visual techniques. DVD Extras include: Paul Leni's 1926 short Rebush Film 1. Excerpt from Douglas Fairbank's The Thief of Bagdad.

The German Horror Classics are masterworks of the silent screen. All four DVDs - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligar, Nosferatu, The Golem, Wax Works - are available as a four DVD Boxed Set.

The Love of Jeanne Ney
Germany, 1927, silent, b/w, English subtitles, ca. 113 min. - The film tells the story of a young French woman's struggle for happiness amid the turbulence of post-WWI Europe. For an act of political betrayal, Jeanne's father is killed by Andreas (Uno Henning), a young Bolshevik and also Jeanne's lover. Andreas sends Jeanne (Edith Jehanne) to live with her family in Paris, where he hopes to join her, but he is preceded by the sinister Khalibiev (Fritz Rasp), who pursues Jeanne, proposes marriage to her blind cousin (Brigitte Helm), and murders Jeanne's uncle. Andreas is accused of the crime and is destined for the guillotine if Jeanne cannot convince Khalibiev to offer testimony in his defenxe (not realizing that he is the murderer). This is the longest version avalilable and features a special new orchestral score by Timothy Brock.

Othello
Germany, 1922, b/w, silent, ca. 80 min. - One of the Bard's most darkly psychological tragedies finds a fitting home in the lugubrious sets of the German silent screen. With Emil Jannings.
DVD Extras include: Four Shakespearean silent shorts. Essay by Douglas Brode.

Herdsmen of the Sun
Germany 1988, color, ca. 52 min. - Shot in the arid Sahara Desert, this documentary focusing on the genderbending rites of passage among the Woodabe tribe demonstrates the same detached eye characteristic of Herzog's fiction masterworks (Aguitre, The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo).

Graefin Mariza
English subtitels, ca. 158 min. - Seefestspiele Moe