Waldemar Pottier

Martin Berger’s 'Menschen' serves as a harrowing socio-cinematic autopsy of the human spirit, adrift in the wreckage of a post-war landscape. Far from the escapist fantasies that often dominated early Weimar screens, this 1921 opus delves into the penumbral existence of the disenfranchised. The narrative follows a fatalistic trajectory, where the characters—portrayed with a raw, almost primitive intensity—grapple with the crushing weight of systemic indifference and personal moral decay.

The Ethiopian King offers his daughter to a powerful Pharaoh to secure peace between the two countries.

During the Austro Hungarian empire, a girl substitutes for her brother in a military academy.

A confidence trickster is released from prison and travels to a village where he blackmails and tricks women out of their savings.

Railway employee Fritz Marr is not regarded well by his superiors. It is the year 1920, and trains regularly pass the railway hub of Erfurt to the East to secretly transport weapons for the fight against the young Soviet Union. Marr knows about this and wants to mobilise other workers to stop these illegal deliveries. To muzzle him, Marr is relocated to a remote rail work construction site.

A woman is rescued after a shipwreck by two fishermen and falls in love with one of them, whereupon the other jealousy attempts a fratricide and other intrigues. The film seems almost like a prelude to Italian neo-realism. Filmed on Sicily, Corsica and on the French Riviera.

The Berlin Volkseigene Betrieb (VEB) Komet is planning a company outing. Willi Redlich, member of the party committee, votes like the others: The relatives stay at home. But he doesn't dare tell his wife Susanne. So she does the work of renting the "Waldschlösschen" restaurant for him - without his knowledge. When Willi wants to book the seats, everything is fully booked and he switches to the "Sonnenburg" opposite. Meanwhile, word has gotten around among the women that they are excluded. They plan a counter-event. On the day of the excursion, both groups are sitting in their inns and the women make sure that they can still celebrate together.