Harald Sawade

DEFA crime film about the smuggling of PVC across the (still open) border from East to West Berlin.

Director Wolfgang Staudte who left East Germany in 1953 to make movies in West Germany, takes a few swipes at the West German judicial system in this fairly effective courtroom drama about the murder of a four-month-old baby. Police almost immediately arrest the mother Ingrid who is the mistress of the father, a rich business VIP married to another woman. His position and wealth keep him insulated from suspicion. A hot-shot lawyer has to overcome the unaccountably biased perceptions of the police, the judge, the prosecutor and almost everyone else in the judicial system. The defence lawyer, driven to an extreme, knows he has to find the real killer or his client will be convicted.

A group of hooded vigilantes hang wrong-doers with a rope stolen from Scotland Yard's Black Museum.

A masked killer is stalking and killing Londoners outside a nightclub.

In Monte Carlo, a captain tries to raise the money to pay his crew at the gaming table, and meets and falls in love with a Queen.

Three Foreign Legionnaires - Luigi, Pat and Kurt - desert during the Algerian war because they have had enough of the inhumane war machine. But their comrade Robert intercepts them and decides to have them court-martialed. On their way to Algiers, they pick up young Madeleine, who has just survived an attack by insurgents. Suddenly Robert changes his mind and joins the deserters. Madeleine realizes that she is now a prisoner of the four foreign legionnaires and must make her own escape.

A typical woman's fate at the turn of the century, from the first love mistake to the arranged marriage and further disappointments.

Peter's fiancee Maria is chronically lying and hides her little affairs. To change this, Peter bets that he is going to tell everyone the truth for 24 hours. The consequences are catastrophic.

In 1955, Michael Vierkant, a Jew who had emigrated during the Nazi era, returns from abroad to the Federal Republic of Germany to obtain the conviction of Korn, the former informer responsible for the murder of his sister. Korn is back in office; Michael's efforts remain unsuccessful. There is a direct confrontation between the two, and Michael shoots Korn in self-defense. He flees and is hidden by the young, reclusive artist Marie Jäger, but is then caught by the police and charged with premeditated murder. The case is taken out of the hands of the criminal investigation department by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which constructs an act of political revenge on behalf of the communists. Michael manages to escape from prison. Marie and her friends organize a press conference at which Michael reveals the connections. The trial is postponed.

Manfred Falk is an experienced race car driver and member of a racing collective in Eisenach. While competing in West Germany, the beautiful Manuela convinces him to leave his girlfriend Inge and his friends at the collective behind in order to join the South American Alvarez racing company.