Woman in the Moon is a German science fiction silent film that premiered 15 October 1929 at the UFA-Palast am Zoo cinema in Berlin to an audience of 2,000. It is often considered to be one of the first "serious" science fiction films. It was directed by Fritz Lang, and written by his wife Thea von Harbou, based on her 1928 novel The Rocket to the Moon. It was released in the US as By Rocket to the Moon and in the UK as Woman in the Moon. The basics of rocket travel were presented to a mass audience for the first time by this film, including the use of a multi-stage rocket. The film was shot between October 1928 and June 1929 at the UFA studios in Neubabelsberg near Berlin.
Faust – A German Folktale is a 1926 silent film produced by Ufa, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm Dieterle as her brother and Yvette Guilbert as Marthe Schwerdtlein, her aunt. Murnau's film draws on older traditions of the legendary tale of Faust as well as on Goethe's classic 1808 version. Ufa wanted Ludwig Berger to direct Faust, as Murnau was engaged with Variety; Murnau pressured the producer and, backed by Jannings, eventually persuaded Erich Pommer to let him direct the film.
Lilian Harvey was an Anglo-German actress and singer, long based in Germany, where she is best known for her role as Christel Weinzinger in Erik Charell's 1931 film Der Kongreß tanzt.
Joe May was an Austrian film director and film producer and one of the pioneers of German cinema.
Gustav Fröhlich was a German actor and film director. He landed secondary roles in a number of films and plays before landing his breakthrough role of Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis. He remained a popular film star in Germany until the 1950s.
People on Sunday is a 1930 German silent drama film directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer from a screenplay by Robert and Curt Siodmak. The film follows a group of residents of Berlin on a summer's day during the interwar period. Hailed as a work of genius, it is a pivotal film in the development of German cinema and Hollywood. The film features the talents of Eugen Schüfftan (cinematography), Billy Wilder (story) and Fred Zinnemann.
Philippine Amann, known professionally as Betty Amann, was a German-American film actress. Born to American parents in Germany, she began her acting career in the United States with the film The Kick-Off (1926). She is perhaps best known for her role in Asphalt (1929).
Rosa Valetti, born Rosa Alice Vallentin, was a German actress, cabaret performer, and singer.
Wunschkonzert is a 1940 German drama propaganda film by Eduard von Borsody. After Die große Liebe, it was the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second highest gross.
Mother Krause's Journey to Happiness is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Phil Jutzi and starring Alexandra Schmitt, Holmes Zimmermann and Ilse Trautschold. The film was produced by the left-wing Prometheus Film, a German subsidiary of the Soviet company Mezhrabpom-Film. It depicts the cruelty of poverty and depicts Communism as a rescuing force that, alas, reaches Mutter Krause and the child that lives in Krause's apartment too late.
The Italian Straw Hat is a 1928 French silent film comedy written and directed by René Clair, in his feature debut, based on the 1851 play Un chapeau de paille d'Italie, by Eugène Marin Labiche and Marc-Michel.
Emil and the Detectives is a 1931 German adventure film directed by Gerhard Lamprecht and starring Rolf Wenkhaus. It is based on the 1929 novel by Erich Kästner, who also contributed to the film's script. The film script was written by Billy Wilder. It is generally considered to be the best film adaption of Emil and the Detectives.
Gold is a 1934 German science fiction film directed by Karl Hartl. The film involves a British scientist who is attempting to create a device that turns base materials into gold. He later forces the German scientist's assistant Werner Holk, who was working on a similar experiment, to come to his underwater nuclear reactor to help him. Gold was made in both German-language and French-language versions with Brigitte Helm reprising her role in both.
Schlußakkord is a German film melodrama of the Nazi period, the first melodrama directed by Detlef Sierck, who later had a career in Hollywood as Douglas Sirk and specialised in melodramas. It was made under contract for Universum Film AG (UFA), stars Lil Dagover and Willy Birgel and also features Maria von Tasnady, and premièred in 1936. It shows stylistic features later developed by Sierck/Sirk and makes symbolic and thematic use of music.
The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 1929 and was one of the main locations of film premières in the country. The building was destroyed in November 1943 during the Bombing of Berlin in World War II and replaced in 1957 by the Zoo Palast.
Erich Karl Heinrich Kettelhut was a German production designer, art director and set decorator. Kettelhut is considered one of the most important artists in the history of early German cinema, mainly for his set direction for Die Nibelungen (1924) and his design and visual effects for Metropolis (1927). His early career was defined by a working relationship with fellow designers Otto Hunte and Karl Vollbrecht, the trio working on many of Fritz Lang's early German films. Despite being best known for his iconic visuals on several of the most important films of German Expressionist cinema, he is also noted for a career spanning into the 1960s and his work on more light-hearted films and musicals.
A Salzburg Comedy or Little Border Traffic is a 1943 German comedy film directed by Hans Deppe and starring Willy Fritsch, Hertha Feiler and Heinz Salfner. Erich Kästner wrote the screenplay based on one of his own novels. As he had been blacklisted by the Nazi Party he used the pseudonym Berhold Bürger. The novel was again adapted for the 1957 film Salzburg Stories.
Inquest is a 1931 German crime film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Albert Bassermann, Gustav Fröhlich and Hans Brausewetter. Along with another film that Siodmak made the same year Storms of Passion, it anticipates the later development of film noir. It was made by German's largest studio Universum Film, with sets designed by art director Erich Kettelhut. Paul Martin, who soon after emerged as a leading director, was assistant director to Siodmak on the film. It was based on a 1927 play of the same title by Max Alsberg and Ernst Hesse. A separate French-language version About an Inquest was also produced.
Dangerous Crossing or Rail Triangle is a 1937 German crime film directed by Robert A. Stemmle and starring Gustav Fröhlich, Heli Finkenzeller, and Paul Hoffmann. It is set amongst railway workers and takes its name from Gleisdreieck on the Berlin U-Bahn.
The Law of Pardon, is a 1906 French silent short film directed by Albert Capellani. It is a melodrama about a man getting a divorce from his wife for adultery and getting the custody of their child.
