Fourteen Lives(1954)

Forbidden Songs(pl)

Set during the German occupation of Warsaw during WWII, this musical tells the story of several inhabitants of the same tenement house.

Lache Bajazzo(de)

A dramatization of the melodramatic story that inspired the popular opera, Pagliacci.German language version of a film simultaneously shot in an Italian version.

Mirza Ghalib(ur)

A fictionalized account of the life of poet and nobleman Mirza Ghalib during the reign of the last Mughal Emperor, told through the lens of his ill-fated love for a beautiful courtesan he called Chaudhvin.

Vergiß mein nicht(de)

Tenor Enzo Curti, a widower with a young child, falls in love with a secretary from New York. Liselotte has experienced disappointment in her first love, Helmut, an ocean liner officer. She marries Enzo Curti, but later, when she meets Helmut again, she experiences emotional stress as love struggles with a sense of duty in her heart.

Hogler's Task(de)

The Luisin ridge is divided not only by the river, but also by the zone boundary. The old CEO Högler still lives in the west, the eastern part has been expropriated and is managed by the chief engineer Dr. Tellen. He is working on a new steel production process that Högler absolutely needs. Högler's means to achieve his goal are bribery, espionage and slander. Trade union member Maria Steinitz almost becomes a victim of slander. However, the intrigue is exposed and Hogler's criminal intentions are thwarted. At a large production meeting, the old people's controller Hufland exposes the true culprits. Maria and Fritz Rottmann, a trade unionist from Munich, who have known each other since the days of the anti-fascist resistance, embrace each other.

Life Is Ours(fr)

A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.

Casta diva(it)

Martha Eggerth heads the cast of Casta Diva, but the central character is famed Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, here played by American actor Phillips Holmes. Paying but scant attention the facts, the film concentrates on Bellini's colorful love life. Evidently the film went through several rewriting processes, as witness the curious performances of Donald Calthrop and Arthur Margetson, whose characters do complete about-faces halfway through the story. Amidst so many British accents, Martha Eggerth's Polish intonations seem out of place, but she photographs beautifully and sings quite well. Casta Diva was attractively filmed on location in Naples. Not to be confused with the 1954 remake (by Gallone himself) or to the English language version "The Divine Spark" (also directed by Gallone and starred by Eggerth).

The North Star(en)

A Ukrainian village must suddenly contend with the Nazi invasion of June 1941. Later re-edited and released as "Armored Attack."

The Dream of Butterfly(it)

Italian filmmaker Carmine Gallone was still in his "operetta" mode when he helmed 1938's Il Sogno di Butterfly (Dream of the Butterfly) Maria Cebotari plays opera diva Rosa Belloni, currently starring in a production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The plot thickens when Rosa's backstage life begins to mirror the travails of the character she is portraying. The climax comes when Harry Peters (Fosco Giachetti), the American father of Rosa's illegitimate child, returns after four years with his new wife in tow, leading inexorably to a doleful ending both on- and offstage. Critics complained about the substandard photography in Il Sogno di Butterfly, but this might have been due to poor laboratory work.

Jesus(en)

Three and a half years of Jesus' ministry, as told in the Gospel of Luke.

Emma Hamilton(it)

In the second half of the 18th century, the young shepherdess Emma accidentally catches the eye of the English painter George Romney. She becomes his model in London, where she also has several love affairs. After she is temporarily forced to work as a prostitute, she marries the much older Lord William Hamilton, who is stationed as British ambassador in Naples. There she meets Admiral Nelson again, whom Emma, now Lady Hamilton, had met years before...

Shree 420(hi)

The story of a small-town man who comes to make it big in the city, where he is almost instantly relieved of all his possessions. Homeless and penniless, he is taken in by a woman who looks after him.

The Song from Kumbara(sh)

Story of the revolt of the people of Serbia against the Turks, who ruled the country for four centuries. The battle and the fall of the fortress of Belgrade in 1806.

Dragon Beard Ditch(zh)

Mister Taxi(fr)

An honest taxi driver gets into trouble by looking for a customer who left her purse full of cash in her vehicle.

The Great Waltz(en)

Composer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.

Shaolin vs. Lama(zh)

A kung fu fanatic, Yu Ting (Alexander Lo Rei), searching for the ultimate master, saves a young Shaolin monk, Hsu Shi (William Yen), from a group of mobsters and sees it as a golden opportunity to enrich his kung fu skills. He persuades the young novice monk to smuggle him into Shaolin, but Ting's presence isn't welcome and he is driven out, but remains close to the temple, keeping in touch with Hsu Shi. When Ting rescues a girl from the clutches of the Flying Eagle gang, the Golden Wheel Lama and sworn enemy of Shaolin finds the perfect excuse to lead an assault on the Temple. Realizing Ting's devotion, the abbot decides to bring Ting into the Shaolin order and teach him the deadliest techniques to prepare him for the Lama's merciless fury.

The Love of a Woman(fr)

Marie, a young doctor, settles down on the Ouessant Island. She will be able to win the diffidence of the local population but she will have to fight for her independence after falling in love with an Italian engineer.

Kidnapped(cs)

American agents hijack a plane on the Ostrava-Prague route to launch a campaign against the People's Democratic Czechoslovakia. The plane lands in West Germany, but the Americans have an unexpected problem convincing the hijackers to stay in the West. Based on a true story.

Pagliacci(en)

Canio and his Comedia dell'Arte troupe tour Italy. His wife Nedda meets a young cadet and they plan to elope. He tries to leave her when he finds how important she is for his husband, but a rejected trouper interferes. As jealous Canio suspects the truth the tragedy approaches. The film was partly made in Ufacolor.