The Beacon

1954 · 95 min · ★ 6.0 · Drama

On a barren and stormy island, fishing families eke out a meager existence on what they can catch during summer, and what washes ashore during winter. But little has been washing ashore of late, and their situation worsens. Elders recall how twenty years ago, when the lighthouse keeper’s beacon went dark, a cargo ship broke apart on the cliffs. It proved a bountiful accident for the fishermen. Today people on the island view the conscientious lighthouse keepers with evil hungry eyes...

Directed by Wolfgang Staudte · Written by Werner Jörg Lüddecke

Your Rating

Cast

Leonhard Ritter Leuchtturmwärter
Horst Naumann Mastfischer
Waltraut Kramm Mastfischer's Frau
Jochen Thomas Masträuber
Ursula Kempert Masträuber's Frau
Friedrich Gnaß Alter Mann mit Prothese
Hans Klering Kaufmann
Ulrich von der Trenck Schnapsfischer
Maria Wendt Frau des Schnapsfischers
Kurt Oligmüller Fischer
Barbara Adolph Junge Mutter
Martin Angermann Fischer

Make it a double feature

3h 16m together

The Beacon

Escape from Sahara

Both from Wolfgang Staudte.

More from Wolfgang StaudteSee all →

Verrat ist kein Gesellschaftsspiel

Verrat ist kein Gesellschaftsspiel · 1972

Verrat ist kein Gesellschaftsspiel

Bravo Acrobat!

Bravo Acrobat! · 1943

MovieDramaComedy

Charlie, a very gifted, young acrobat, cannot find employment. A dancer and colleague, whom he trained, has gotten him a job as a stagehand at a vaudeville theatre. After a number of chaotic events and some highs and lows - none of which ever discourage him - his hour arrives: an act can't go on and "Akrobat schööön" can finally make his grand entrance.

Der eiserne Gustav

Der eiserne Gustav · 1979

Der eiserne Gustav

The stern and reserved Gustav Hartmann, known as "Iron Gustav", is the last Berlin cab driver. At the end of the 1920s, his time is over as horse-drawn cabs are replaced by automobile cabs. He is threatened with impoverishment. His family wants to have him incapacitated. So he sets off on one last great journey that takes him from Berlin to Paris and back. A reporter with a nose for a big story accompanies him, Gustav becomes famous, returns to Berlin in triumph and, having become a gentle and approachable person, reconciles with his family.

Destination Death

Destination Death · 1964

Destination Death

A group of West German men on a stag party find themselves stranded in a Montenegrin village inhabited only by vengeful women since all their men were shot during the war.

The Commissioner

The Commissioner · 1969

The Commissioner

SeriesDramaCrime

Der Kommissar is a German television series about a group of detectives of the Munich homicide squad. All 97 episodes, which were shot in black-and-white and first broadcast between 1969 and 1976, were written by Herbert Reinecker and starred Erik Ode as Kommissar Herbert Keller. Keller's assistants were Walter Grabert, Robert Heines, and Harry Klein who, in 1974, was replaced by his younger brother Erwin Klein.

MS Franziska

MS Franziska · 1978

MS Franziska is a German television series.

Die Pawlaks

Die Pawlaks · 1982

Gentlemen in White Vests

Gentlemen in White Vests · 1970

Gentlemen in White Vests

MovieComedyCrime

Bruno Stiegler, a boxing promoter with a disreputable past, returns from America to Berlin to make some big things again with his friends. Fatally, he is always preceded by some gentlemen from better circles who are developing amazing criminal activity in their old days. They are led by Oberlandesgerichtsrat a. D. Herbert Zänker, whom it still hisses, that he could bring in his term Bruno never behind bars.

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front · 1930

All Quiet on the Western Front

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

The Sea Wolf

The Sea Wolf · 1971

SeriesAction & Adventure

Writer Humphrey van Weyden is thrown overboard in a shipwreck in the Bay of San Francisco, and is rescued by the seal-hunting schooner 'Ghost' under the command of the brutal Captain Wolf Larsen.

The Hussy

The Hussy · 1978

MovieWesternAdventure

An unemployed engineer working as a driver at an oil company hears about a lost Inca treasure and goes in search of it.

Escape from Sahara

Escape from Sahara · 1958

Escape from Sahara

MovieAdventureDrama

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.

Lockruf des Goldes

Lockruf des Goldes · 1975

Lockruf des Goldes

SeriesAction & Adventure

America at the end of the 19th century: news spreads like wildfire that gold has been found in the Klondike. Half of America is in an uproar. Among the adventurers is the young lawyer Elam Harnish from San Francisco. Over the next few months, he experiences unique adventures with the hard search for gold, the merciless nature and the shrewd stock market sharks of the big city...

The Blue Angel

The Blue Angel · 1930

Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola Lola and visits a local club, The Blue Angel, in an attempt to catch them there. Seeing Lola perform, the teacher is filled with lust, eventually resigning his position at the school to marry the young woman. However, his marriage to a coquette -- whose job is to entice men -- proves to be more difficult than Rath imagined.

Roses for the Prosecutor

Roses for the Prosecutor · 1959

Roses for the Prosecutor

MovieDramaComedy

April 1945. Because he stole two bars of chocolate, the soldier Rudi is sentenced to death by the court-martial judge Dr. Schramm. Rudi manages to escape from the firing squad at the last minute, and since the end of the war has been making a meager living as a street peddler. Years later, Dr. Schramm is now a respected public prosecutor. By chance, he runs into Rudi one day on the street. Afraid that Rudi will blow the whistle on him, Dr. Schramm wants to scare him out of town. He has Rudi arrested and bullied by the police.

The Anthem of Leuthen

The Anthem of Leuthen · 1933

The Anthem of Leuthen

MovieHistoryDrama

The story of the rise to power of King Frederick II (aka "Frederick the Great") of Prussia of his military campaigns to make Prussia a major power in Europe.

More Like This

Devara: Part 1

Devara: Part 1 · 2024

MovieDramaAction

A mighty warrior takes a stand against the criminal deeds of his village, while his mild-mannered son grows up to walk his own path.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter