The American Soldier 1970  N/R, 80 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Karl Scheydt, Elga Sorbas, Jan George, Hark Bohm, Eva Ingeborg Scholz, Kurt Raab, Marius Aicher, Gustl Datz, Marquard Bohm, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
In this tribute to U.S. gangster films, Ricky (Karl Scheydt), an American Vietnam vet originally from Munich, is hired by crooked cops to eliminate criminals they have not been able to catch. Things don't go as the cops planned, as Ricky plays the bad guys against the "good" guys.
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Angry Harvest 1986 N/R, 102 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: Bitter Harvest
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elisabeth Trissenaar, Wojciech Pszoniak, Gerd Baltus, Anita Hofer, Hans Beerhenke, Kate Jaenicke, Isa Haller, Margit Carstensen, Kurt Raab, Klaus Abramowsky, Malgoscha Gebel
During the winter of 1942-1943 in the midst of World War II and Nazi occupation, working-class Polish Catholic farmer Leon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) hides sophisticated Viennese Jewish refugee Rosa (Elisabeth Trissenaar) in his cellar. Leon soon falls in love with Rosa, but the relationship is doomed from the start and ends in tragedy.
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Beware of a Holy Whore 1971  N/R, 117 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Marquard Bohm, Hanna Schygulla, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Hannes Fuchs, Ulli Lommel, Marcella Michelangeli, Kurt Raab, Karl Scheydt
The cast and crew of a German film company are on location awaiting materials (due to lack of funds) and the director, Jeff (Lou Castel). While they wait, the time is spent drinking, fighting, and sleeping around. When Jeff arrives, the funding has still not shown, and so more of the same antics continue as insights are gained on the filmmakers' lives.
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Boarding School 1978  R, 95 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
aka: The Passion Flower Hotel
Director: Andre Farwagi
Cast: Nastassja Kinski, Carolin Ohrner, Marion Kracht, Fabiana Udenio, Gerry Sundquist, Stefano D'Amato, Gabriele Blum, Veronique Delbourg, Sean Chapman, Nigel Greaves, Kurt Raab, Peter Schmidt Pawloff
Deborah (Nastassja Kinski) attends an exclusive girls' boarding school, which just happens to be close to a boys' school. She heads a group of classmates that tries to convince the boys that the girls are hookers–and the fun begins.
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Escape from Sobibor 1987  TV, 150 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
aka: Escape
Director: Jack Gold
Cast: Alan Arkin, Joanna Pacula, Rutger Hauer, Harmut Becker, Jack Shepherd, Emil Wolk, Simon Gregor, Linal Haft, Jason Norman, Robert Gwilym, Eli Nathenson, Kurt Raab, Eric P. Caspar, Hugo Bower, Klaus Grunberg
During World War II, Jewish death camp prisoners at Sobibor plot an against-all-odds escape from their Nazi captors. There are 600 inmates, almost 300 escape, and many would later be recaptured and killed. But, their decision–considering whether or not to reduce themselves to killers–to fight against the Nazis does result in the Nazis closing the death camp and planting a forest in its place. The film is based on a true story.
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Fear of Fear 1976 N/R, 88 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Margit Carstensen, Ulrich Faulhaber, Brigitte Mira, Irm Hermann, Armin Meier, Adrian Hoven, Kurt Raab, Ingrid Caven, Lilo Pempeit, Helga Maerthesheimer, Hark Bohm
Margot (Margit Carstensen) thinks that she is losing her mind after recently having a baby, but neither her husband nor in-laws seem to care about her problem. She begins a downward plunge through drink and drugs in another of Fassbinder's experimental tales.
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Love Is Colder Than Death 1969 N/R, 86 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Ulli Lommel, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Ingrid Caven, Liz Soellner, Ursula Stratz, Irm Hermann, Gisela Otto, Monika Nuchtern, Hans Hirschmuller, Kurt Raab, Peter Moland
A pimp/small-time criminal and the man that is sent to kill him strike up a friendship–even to the extent of sharing the pimp's girlfriend–in this unusual crime story that, though low budget, displays the talents of a young Fassbinder.
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Martha 1974 TV, 116 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Margit Carstensen, Karlheinz Bohm, Barbara Valentin, Peter Chatel, Gisela Fackeldey, Adrian Hoven, Ortrud Beginnen, Kurt Raab, Ingrid Caven, Peter Berling, Gunter Lamprecht, El Hedi ben Salem
Martha (Margit Carstensen) has lived a protected life, but her lifestyle changes when, immediately following her father's death, she marries a stranger (Karlheinz Bohm), and the battles begin.
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The Merchant of Four Seasons 1972  N/R, 88 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Hans Hirschmuller, Irm Hermann, Hanna Schygulla, Andrea Schober, Gusti Kreissl, Kurt Raab, Heide Simon, Klaus Lowitsch, Karl Scheydt, Ingrid Caven
This is a bleak, but powerful, portrait of Hans, a fruit peddler on the streets of a German town. Starting with high hopes after returning from a tour in the French Foreign Legion, he settles into a loveless marriage, and his depression gets deeper as his failures mount. He finally drinks himself to death.
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Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven 1975 N/R, 110 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Armin Meier, Irm Hermann, Gottfried John, Karlheinz Bohm, Margit Carstensen, Gustav Holzapfel, Lilo Pempeit, Peter Kern, Kurt Raab
Middle-aged Emma Kusters is the wife of an unhappy factory worker. One day he loses it, kills the factory owner's son, and then kills himself. Emma becomes a celebrity, giving interviews of her story, only to be made fun of by the press. Her daughter uses the notoriety to help in her singing career, while a Communist couple befriends her, only to use her to advance their cause. She is finally left alone after others had used her for their selfish desires. In the end she meets with an unselfish act when she is invited to dinner by the factory owner. A pessimistic outlook on the social issues of the day in Germany.
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Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce 1985 TV, 192 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: Mussolini and I
Director: Alberto Negrin
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, Annie Girardot, Barbara DeRossi, Fabio Testi, Kurt Raab, Kietlinde Turban, Hans-Dieter Asner, Marne Maitland
This made-for-TV film features Anthony Hopkins as Count Celeazzo Ciano–the primary player in this film. He is the crafty son-in-law of Il Duce, and the story unfolds through the perspective of Mussolini's daughter, Edda (Susan Sarandon).
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Satan's Brew 1976 N/R, 106 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Kurt Raab, Helen Vita, Margit Carstensen, Volker Spengler, Ingrid Caven, Y Sa Lo, Ulli Lommel, Katherina Buchhammer, Armin Meier, Vitus Zeplichal, Brigitte Mira, Peter Chatel
Washed-up writer Walter (Kurt Raab) needs money, but various efforts fail until his mistress helps, after which she asks him to kill her while in a sexually-aroused condition. He accommodates her and goes home to his brash, slovenly wife (Helen Vita) and mentally challenged Ernst (Volker Spengler) who tries to have sex with flies. After other adventures, he writes a piece, which his wife identifies as being written by a 19th century homosexual poet. Convinced he is a reincarnation of that poet, he sticks with that persona. And on it goes in this dark, dark comedy.
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The Stationmaster's Wife 1977 N/R, 111 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Elisabeth Trissenaar, Kurt Raab, Bernhard Helfrich, Karl-Heinz von Hassel, Volker Spengler, Gustl Bayrhammer, Udo Kier, Armin Meier, Peter Kern, Doris Mattes, Lilo Pempeit, Elma Karlowa
Beautiful, bored, philandering Hanni (Elisabeth Trissenaar) manipulates her Stationmaster husband, Xaver Ferdinand Maria Bolwieser (Kurt Raab), in pre-Hitler Bulgaria.
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Tricheurs 1984 N/R, 95 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: Tricksters
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Cast: Jacques Dutronc, Bulle Ogier, Leandro Vale, Kurt Raab, Steve Baes, Virgilio Teixeira, Roger Serbib, Ladislaus Perreira, To-Ze Martinho, Claus-Dieter Reents, Karl Wallenstein
Elric (Jacques Dutronc) spends his time losing money at the roulette table. He is totally addicted. When he meets Suzie (Bulle Ogier), who is wearing a shirt with his lucky number 7 on it, he talks her into being his good-luck charm at the tables. Before long, she also becomes addicted. Enter Jorg (Kurt Raab) who has a scheme to cheat at the casinos and who talks Elric into working with him in his scam. The money starts to roll in, and, after Jorg is caught, Elric continues the scheme with Suzie. He hopes to build a chateau and quit gambling. But can he do it?
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Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? 1970 N/R, 88 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Michael Fengler
Cast: Kurt Raab, Lilith Ungerer, Amadeus Fengler, Lilo Pempeit, Franz Maron, Harry Baer, Peter Moland, Hanna Schygulla, Ingrid Caven, Irm Hermann, Doris Mattes, Vinzenz Sterr, Maria Sterr
Technical designer Herr R. appears to have life going his way: a good marriage and a promising professional future–until he runs amok and kills his wife, child, and neighbor.
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| 1. The American Soldier (1970)
2. Angry Harvest (1986)
aka: Bitter Harvest
3. Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)
4. Boarding School (1978)
aka: The Passion Flower Hotel
5. Escape from Sobibor (1987)
aka: Escape
6. Fear of Fear (1976)
7. Love Is Colder Than Death (1969)
8. Martha (1974)
9. The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972)
10. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975)
aka: Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven
11. Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985)
aka: Mussolini and I
12. Satan's Brew (1976)
13. The Stationmaster's Wife (1977)
14. Tricheurs (1984)
aka: Tricksters
15. Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970)
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