Good German-language movies from the 50s or 60s?

May 17, 2015 9:33 PM

There are a lot of old German movies on youtube, like this, from the 50s and 60s. I like to watch them, but quality seems to be highly variable, and I don't know much enough about German cinema of the time to know which are highly thought of. Can anyone recommend some that are definitely worth watching, for whatever reason? All genres are okay, subtitles not required, later decades okay too, if they are on youtube.
posted by bertran to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

"Die Trapp-Familie" (YouTube link) was the inspiration for "The Sound of Music". There's also a sequel.
posted by iviken at 1:49 AM on May 18, 2015

Does it have to be that late? If we're going back to the 1920s and 1930s, it's a real golden age. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, The Blue Angel, on and on. I saw Madchen in Uniform (1931) a few years ago, and it blew me away with how edgy and contemporary it felt. It's basically a lesbian drama set in a girl's school, written and directed by women. I mean, that kind of shit's all too rare NOW.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:00 AM on May 18, 2015

From much later but always amusing and easy to understand are the famous Heinz Erhardt movies. You can find a number on youtube if you search the name and filter for "long >20 minutes" (try my link). Light-hearted family entertainment with a good sense of humor :)

If you are going more for the classics you can also search for long videos with the movie names or actors/actresses from this website: It is a great list and you should be able to find a number of movies on youtube.
posted by Fallbala at 3:02 AM on May 18, 2015

Wir Wunderkinder (1958).

I think this is such an important post-war film because it criticises problematic aspects of post-war Germany, such as former National Socialists being able to escape their pasts and become successful businessmen. That's something that activists were protesting about in the 60s and 70s, so for this black and white film to do that in 1958? I was amazed.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 4:08 AM on May 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: @UrsulaH: yes, it's post-war and later stuff that interests me most; mainly because I've seen a lot of the classic Weimar films, while the early Bundesrepublik is terra incognita for me. Its films didn't make it to the video rental stores hereabouts in California, and thus have a kind of mystique, now that they are available to see.
posted by bertran at 5:40 AM on May 18, 2015

Himmel ohne Sterne is another film that I would recommend. However it unfortunately doesn't seem to be on youtube.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 5:52 AM on May 18, 2015

Der Himmel über Berlin is a bit later than you're looking for, but Bruno Ganz is terrific, and the footage of middle-of-the-cold-war Berlin is without equal.
posted by Seeba at 8:37 AM on May 18, 2015

Rosen fuer den Staatsanwalt is great. It's about a Wehrmacht soldier who gets sentenced to death at the end of WW2, but is able to evade execution. He has a hard time adjusting to civilian life after the war. When he gets arrested for a minor offense, the attorney in charge of his case is the same officer who sentenced him to death ten years earlier... Great movie.
posted by tecg at 10:20 AM on May 18, 2015

Oh, and Die Bruecke is an absolute classice. It's about a group of 16 year old kids who got drafted into the army at the end of WW2 and are defending a bridge against the advancing US army. It's maybe the best German war movie of all times (with Das Boot) and can hold its own against much later movies in sheer intensity. There was a recent remake for TV, but it is allegedly much inferior (and unnecessary, the movie has held up amazingly well imo.)
posted by tecg at 10:27 AM on May 18, 2015