Trace of Stones
★ 6.3 · 1966 · 139m · Drama · Comedy · Romance
Bad planning and shortages prevail on an East German construction site. Foreman Hannes Balla uses unconventional methods to overcome the problems. New Socialist Unity Party secretary Werner Horrath is charged with bringing the rough-and-ready builder crew into line. The task seems doomed to fail as the two men compete for the affections of young engineer Kati Klee. But when she gets pregnant by married man Horrath, he is in danger of being expelled from the party, and Balla takes his side...
More Like This
If It Don't Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer
2002 · ★ 6.3
Frustrated with their lazy new intern, a trio of offbeat builders decide to teach him a lesson with a series of escalating pranks.
More info →
1-2-3 Corona
1948 · ★ 6.3
Post-war Germany 1945: Two rival gangs of uprooted boys fight each other in the ruins of Berlin, whose business is the black market out of necessity in order to survive. Their respective leaders are Gerhard and Dietrich. A pretty young circus artist named Corona comes to the destroyed city with a traveling circus. She immediately caught the boys' attention. When the latter notice that the circus director is abusing the girl, the two gangs join forces and plot an act of revenge against the tyrant. But with the hustle and bustle caused by this, Corona falls from the trapeze and is seriously injured. When the circus moves on, the boys organize a doctor for the sick artist who has been left behind. Their collectively concern for the blonde beauty makes them forget their enmity. This welds the troops closer together and sets the course for a common, meaningful future.
More info →
The Working Man
2019 · ★ 8
After his parents' death, construction worker Sigi doesn't know what to do with his life. He can't do much with his pay, and as a working-class man, women aren't interested in him. But things start to change after a colleague advises him to start moonlighting as a private builder and he meets the beautiful Hannah.
More info →
Naked Among Wolves
1963 · ★ 6.3
Based on a true story of inmates at KZ Buchenwald that risked their lives to hide a small Jewish boy shortly before the liberation of the camp.
More info →
The Legend of Paul and Paula
1973 · ★ 5.8
Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interrupted by Paul's ties to family and career.
More info →
Bird Waking Weather
1976 · ★ 4.5
Jette and Johannes have been living together for two years when Johannes suggests that they "legalize" their relationship. Jette loves him, but the proposal of marriage terrifies her.
More info →
The Lives of Others
2006 · ★ 8
In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.
More info →
Solo Sunny
1980 · ★ 6.2
Sunny is the singer of a band trying to establish itself in the East Berlin music scene. They play regular gigs in small towns, but Sunny feels out of touch with the audience and with her life as a whole. She begins a relationship with Ralph, an amateur saxophonist and philosophy student, who writes her a very personal song—but his obsession with death and unfaithful lifestyle are not for her. After getting into a quarrel with a band member who harasses her and telling off a show host, she is thrown out of the band. Abandoned, she struggles to regain control over her life.
More info →
The Blue One
1994 · ★ 4.1
In this German political drama, an ex-Stasi agent encounters an old friend whom he may have betrayed after his friend tried to escape East Germany. The former East German agent is Otto Skrodt who after many years is about to be promoted in the highest government ranks. He is anxious to maintain a squeaky clean image. His daughter is Isabelle. The young and friendly Kalle returns after spending many years in jail for his escape attempts. He doesn't know exactly who blew the whistle, but his friend Skrodt is definitely under suspicion. Kalle returns to ostensibly renew the friendship and to see Isabelle whom he loves. The duplicitous friendship between the two men becomes the main focus of the story which features interesting plot twists at the end.
More info →
Fischzüge
1975 · ★ 7
A ship from the GDR fishing fleet is on its way home. The work is done, the hold full of fish. Captain Nipmerow could be satisfied with that, but he has a completely different problem to deal with - a matter about which he also owes the shipping company a statement.
More info →
Orpopojan valssi
1949 · ★ 8
A biographical film about Finnish singer J. Alfred Tanner and his path through a failed career as a construction master to become a highly successful couplet singer - the "king of couplets".
More info →
Bouzouki Strumming
1966 · ★ 7.3
One day, while Grigoris is working and singing at a construction site, a conductor, Vangelis, and two bouzouki musicians happen to pass by. They listen, enchanted by his limpid voice, and suggest that he becomes a member of their orchestra. Thus, the newly-wed day laborer gets a second job at Mr. Lefteris’ night club. His wife, Marina, soon joins him at the club, and, before long, she too goes on stage, cuts capers and charms everyone. Her success, however, has a negative impact on the couple’s relationship, since Marina’s admirers as well as those of Grigoris’, turn one away from the other.
More info →