Erika Helmke

Wenn Männer verreisen

Ludwig Gruber, the director of a spa café, is a good man. Now and again, he makes little adventure-trips to Berlin to find business for his company. The women he is traveling with have an accident on the highway. Gruber is traveling incognito as “Mr. Rabbit” with Lotte, the leader of the group. Because of the accident, they’ll have to overnight together in a hotel. Since Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit are a “couple”, they’ll be getting a double-room, where they can … mmm … do what rabbits do. Since they both insist on climbing into bed with the lights out, it isn’t until the next morning that they notice they’ve been in the same bed the whole night. In the ensuing chaos, Grube loses his wedding ring, which is later sent to the address of Lotte’s mother, who now insists repeatedly, that he marry her daughter.

Everything for Gloria

The ambitious female chief executive of a gramophone record company slowly finds herself falling in love with the company's head of production.

Träumerei

A musical film based on biographical facts about Clara Wieck's love for composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856), her marriage against her will, Schumann's triumph, and his tragic end due to mental illness. The film is beautiful and entertaining, full of noble spirit and beautiful words about art and love, which only conflict in a theoretical context; not least thanks to its solid cast, this film is quite serious and far from kitsch. Completed in 1944, during World War II, the film was rejected by the Nazi leadership, but was eventually released and enjoyed success with an audience already weary of war.

The Spanish Fly

As a young man, mustard manufacturer Ludwig Klinke had an affair with a dancer, the “Spanish Fly”. The dancer had a son and Klinke has been secretly paying maintenance ever since. Wimmer and Tiedemeier also had a relationship with the dancer. With the appearance of the dancer's supposed son, Heinrich Meisel, chaos breaks out.

Der Gasmann

A man comes into money unexpectatly. That's when the trouble starts.

Salonwagen E 417

In a transport museum, the items on display begin to tell their stories. Most interesting is the history of the Pullman car. In the beginning, it served as transport for a princely family; then became the headquarters car for the military high command; and then, most adventurous of all, it ended up with a circus. Converted to a bar, it finally had its day and was supposed to serve as a placard carrier. Luckily, the museum saved it from this sad fate.

Carnival in Flanders

Flanders, Hispanic Monarchy, 1616. The inhabitants of the small town of Boom are busy organizing the annual local festivities when the arrival of the Duke of Olivares, who rules the country on behalf of the King Philip III of Spain, is announced. While the male citizens cowardly surrender to panic, the brave female citizens decide to become the best hosts the Spaniards can ever meet. (German version of the French film La Kermesse héroïque, 1935.)

Weiße Wäsche

Musician Eduard Boeckel wants to settle down and marries laundry owner Lisbeth Timm. He brings his friend August Garfs into the marriage, and the housekeeper Alwine quickly sets her sights on him. In his new position, Boeckel invents a laundry detergent with unfortunately disastrous consequences: the laundry becomes brittle, and the first major marital spat ensues. Eduard flees to his fellow musicians, gets drunk, and seeks solace with Alwine. When she drives him away, he returns contritely to his wife, who forgives him. And now she also knows what is truly wrong with their marriage: her Eduard misses his profession. From now on, he makes music, and she does the laundry.

I Do Not Want to Know Who You Are

An impoverished count has to work as a chauffeur but because of his good looks attracts women, one of them wealthy enough to solve his problem.

The Sea Calls

The Baltic captain Terje Wiggen works as a pilot on the island of Muhu. When the mate of the ship “Carola” calls in sick, he jumps at the chance of reviving his life as a sailor. WWI breaks soon after the departure. By and by the ship’s company gets worn down by dead calm. On account of the plague-ridden captain, Wiggen disposes of the contaminated water reserve. Discontent among the crew rises until they take the sole lifeboat and leave their mate behind. Wiggen unsuccessfully tries to bring the ship under control. At the last minute he is rescued off the Japanese coast. At his return he promises to never leave his wife and child again. But the German Imperial Navy begins to blockade the waterways of the island. Wiggen paddles to Sweden with the intention of smuggling provisions for his family. On his way back he is detained by a German captain. After five years of imprisonment he returns to Muhu once more. Wiggen is hellbent on vengeance. (Deutsche Kinemathek)

The Night with the Emperor

A dancing girl succeeds in getting Napoleon, in 1808, to pardon her lover, a German artist who has drawn an unflattering caricature of the French emperor during his Erfurt conference with the Czar and several local princes.