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Der Bffs hat sich mit einem Appell an die Ministerpräsidentinnen und -präsidenten der Länder gewandet, der sich gegen die Reformpläne für den öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk wendet: Gegen Pläne, die nach Ansicht des Verbandes und vieler prominenter Schauspielerinnen und Schauspieler „schwerwiegende Folgen“ für das Kulturprogramm, die journalistische Qualität und die Programmvielfalt der Sender haben würden.

Katharina Abt, Repräsentantin „Film/Fernsehen“ im Bffs (Credit: Elena Zaucke)

Der Aufschrei gegen die von den Ländern geforderten Reformen beim öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk ist groß – und auch nach Ansicht des Bundesverbands Schauspiel (Bffs) drohen mit dem angepeilten Kurs „schwerwiegende Folgen für das Kulturprogramm, die journalistische Qualität und die Programmvielfalt der Sender“. Die vorgeschlagenen Kürzungen würden demnach vor allem das anspruchsvolle Kulturprogramm und die qualitativ hochwertige Berichterstattung treffen. Damit stünden sie nach Auffassug des Verbandes „im Widerspruch zum verfassungsmäßigen Auftrag der öffentlich-rechtlichen Sender, eine umfassende und ausgewogene Informationsversorgung sicherzustellen“.

Mit Unterstützung zahlreicher prominenter Schauspielerinnen und Schauspieler, darunter Maria Furtwängler,...

UK’s Odeon Cinemas Expands Family Offer

In a bid to bolster its draw for families, the UK’s Odeon Cinemas is expanding the scope of its “adults pay kids prices” deal. The scheme will see admits for one adult and one child from as little as £10 for an Odeon Cinema and £15 for an Odeon Luxe throughout 2024. The AMC-owned chain says it’s making the investment into its family offerings as data has shown that affordability and convenience are the biggest concerns for families when considering activities, particularly over the summer holidays. With the opening weekend of Inside Out 2 marking Odeon’s busiest since National Cinema Day last September, turnstiles have been on fire. The UK gross for IO2 through Sunday stands at $40.2M while such titles with family appeal on deck include Despicable Me 4 on July 12 and Harold and the Purple Crayon on August 2. Later in the year,...

Eine positive Nachricht: Die von Showrunnerin Jana Burbach entwickelte deutsche Paramount+-Serie „Anywhere“ kann 2025 in internationalen Märkten des Streamers starten.

V.l.: Jana Burbach, Susanne Schildknecht, Felix Binder, Simon Happ, Malaya Stern Takeda, Sabine de Mardt und Rainer Marquass (Credit: Krzysztof Wiktor / Paramount+ / Gaumont)

Nachdem deutsche Paramount+-Serien wie „Zeit Verbrechen“ oder „Turmschatten“ noch nicht veröffentlicht ein neues Zuhause suchen und Formate wie „Der Scheich“, „A Thin Line“ oder „Kohlrabenschwarz“ mit Magenta TV eine neue Plattform fanden, stellt sich die Frage, was mit einem noch nicht ganz abgedrehten Projekt wie „Anywhere“ passiert.

Paramount meldet jetzt, dass bei der achtteiligen Highend-Serie von Showrunnerin Jana Burbach und der Produktionsfirma Gaumont in Kürze die letzte Klappe falle. Produzentin ist Gaumont-Geschäftsführerin Sabine de Mardt. Neben Burbach fungieren auch Rainer Marquass und Simon Happ als Executive Producer. Das Projekt entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Paramount Television International für den Streamingdienst Paramount+. Dazu heißt es nun:...

"Soon the world will know his name." Beta Film in Germany has debuted an official trailer for a German TV movie titled Louis van Beethoven, another re-examination of the life of this legendary classical musician. The film takes us through Ludwig van Beethoven's turbulent and whimsical life, including his early years when he was known as "Louis", before eventually making his way to Vienna to study and develop his music at the end of the 18th century. The cast includes three different actors playing Beethoven at various ages: Tobias Moretti (as an adult), Colin Pütz (as a child), and Anselm Bresgott (as a teen). He's joined by Ulrich Noethen, Ronald Kukulies, Caroline Hellwig, Peter Lewys Preston, Silke Bodenbender, and Cornelius Obonya. It actually looks a bit better than a TV movie, although it also looks like another generic biopic, only seemingly shedding more light on his involvement in their changing times.

The poroject is based on the classic Siegfried Lenz’s novel.

Wild Bunch has boarded German director Christian Schwochow’s adaptation of Siegfried Lenz’s classic novel The German Lesson (Deutschstunde) which begins shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia in March.

Schwochow, who has oscillated between TV and feature productions throughout his career, is at the Berlinale this year with his buzzed-about high-finance thriller TV series Bad Banks (pictured) which premieres in the festival’s TV sidebar.

One of the classic novels of post-Second World War German literature, The German Lesson explores human behaviour under a dictatorship through the tale of a young man who defies his police officer father to save the expressionist paintings of a neighbour from destruction during the Nazi reign.

Network Movie Film is producing alongside Senator Film with the support of Zdf. The picture sees Schwochow collaborate again with his mother Heide Schwochow who wrote the screenplays for three of his previous feature films: November...

As expected back in August, the Deutschland83 TV show has been renewed for a second season on SundanceTV, with the new title, Deutschland86. The Cold War spy thriller from creators Anna Winger and Joerg Winger will return to East and West Germany, but as the new name suggests, it will make a time jump to 1986. Should the Deutschland TV series be renewed for a third season, expect it to return as Deutschland89.Deutschland follows Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), a 20-something East German native who is embedded in the West German military, to gather Nato military secrets. The cast also includes Maria Schrader, Ulrich Noethen, Sylvester Groth, Sonja Gerhardt, Ludwig Trepte, Alexander Beyer, and Lisa Tomaschewsky.Read More…...

Amazon Prime Video Germany is reportedly poised to pick up the second season of the German-language Deutschland 83 TV series drama which runs on SundanceTV in the Us. The second season is set in 1986, and this is entitled Deutschland 86.Described as a Cold War era "coming of age spy thriller," Deutschland 83 follows Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), an East German native who, in his mid-twenties, is embedded in the West German military, to gather Nato military secrets. The cast also includes Maria Schrader, Ulrich Noethen, Sylvester Groth, Sonja Gerhardt, Ludwig Trepte, Alexander Beyer, and Lisa Tomaschewsky.Read More…...

Bahman Ghobadi’s Life On The Border, Hans Steinbichler’s The Diary Of Anne Frank join Generation special screenings.

Hans Steinbichler’s The Diary Of Anne Frank is among two special screenings added to the Berlin Film Festival’s (Feb 11-21) Generation strand, aimed at teenagers and children.

The film, which will be distributed by co-producers Universal Pictures International in Germany and gets its world premiere in the strand, stars Lea van Acken (Heil) as Anne Frank, alongside Martina Gedeck (The Lives Of Others) and Ulrich Noethen (Downfall).

The latest project from Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (Turtles Can Fly) will have its European premiere in the strand.

The documentary, produced by Ghobadi, sees eight children from Syrian refugee camps handed cameras and given the encouragement to tell their personal stories.

The juries for the Generation programme’s two sections - Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus – have also been revealed.

The Generation 14plus International Jury - which presents...

Premiering its first two episodes at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, the eight episode Cold War television mini-series “Deutschland 83” went on to become the first German series to be broadcast on American television in its native language. A Sundance TV original series (co-produced by Rtl Television), it stands as one of the more notable moments in television from 2015, an example of a growing international industry with increased cross-over potential. Created by husband and wife duo Anna Winger, an American novelist, and Joerg Winger, a German television producer, the series reflects not only period tensions but is constructed in a familiar format that’s earned it comparisons to the acclaimed Us series “The Americans.” Imbued with a delectable early 80s soundtrack, East meets West with vintage flair, an antidote to the curiously hampered mechanics of Steven Spielberg’s recent theatrical release, Bridge of Spies, which documents the birth of the infamous...

How did this sneak by? It's a combo escapist spy story, engrossing soap opera, and historically accurate Cold War flashback to the time of Duran Duran and Blondie, produced in Germany with a great cast of young and/or unfamiliar actors. Sure, the expected unlikelihoods are there, but so is an essential authenticity. Great fun! Deutschland 83 DVD (Season 1) Kino Lorber 2015 / Color / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 336 min. / Street Date September 29, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Jonas Nay, Maria Schrader, Sonja Gerhardt, Ulrich Noethen, Ludwig Trepte, Sylvester Groth, Alexander Beyer, Nikola Kastner, Errol Trotman Harewood, Godehard Giese. Cinematography Philipp Haberlandt, Frank Küpper Music Reinhold Heil Written by Anna Winger Produced by Joerg Winger, Nico Hoffman, Henriette Lippold Small>Directed by Edward Berger, Samira Radsi

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This is something extraordinary, an exciting TV serial about the misadventures of an East German spy during the Cold War's '80s high point,...

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 8, “Able Archer”

Written by Anna Winger

Directed by Samira Radsi

Aired Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) on SundanceTV

Defcon 1 is literally and metaphorically reached in Deutschland 83‘s season finale for better and for worse. “Able Archer” suffers from the problem many dramas set against historical events face: The audience already knows the outcome. This means that Martin’s fight to convince East Germany and the Soviet Union that West Germany, the United States, and Nato are just running an elaborate test–as opposed to gearing up for World War III–lacks some of the tension a fictional event could have mustered for viewers. However, Joerg and Anna Winger’s improbable summer hit has effectively used family drama as an allegory for its East/West historical plot all season, so the finale is much more about how all the characters process this near miss than the near miss itself.

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 7, “Bold Guard”

Written by Georg Hartmann and Anna Winger

Directed by Samira Radsi

Airs Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) on SundanceTV

Shall we play a game?

The year that War Games hit theaters, 1983, was also the year that the world came the closest it had to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. While that film depended on a computer to figure out the concept of mutually assured destruction, Deutschland 83‘s penultimate episode of the season, “Bold Guard,” places that burden squarely on Martin’s young shoulders. Of course, a computer simply analyzes a situation based on hard data and spits out a conclusion. In War Games, the data told the computer, called Joshua, that the only winning move is not to play in the first place. Unfortunately for Martin, he is dealing with humans, and unlike computers, humans are rarely motivated by data alone.

“Bold...

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 3, “Atlantic Lion”

Written by Anna Winger

Directed by Edward Berger

Airs Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) and SundanceTV

Throughout its first two episodes, Deutschland 83 introduced its characters, plots, and politics with such blithe adventure and fun that it was easy to miss that all the pieces were being placed on the chess board. But “Atlantic Lion” pulls back to reveal the board and starts to slowly circle the pieces around each other, letting the show’s interweaving character dramas finally begin to percolate and providing a glimpse of where this may all be headed.

Fresh off of Martin’s successful pilfering of a Nato official’s floppy disc in “Brave Guy,” he is sent off with General Edel to a Nato conference in Brussels. The dynamic between Edel and Martin really works. Edel faces tremendous job stress, has a strained marriage, and feels his children, both of whom have pacifist tendencies,...

'Downfall' movie: Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler 'Downfall' movie: Overlong and overwrought World War II drama lifted by several memorable performances Oliver Hirschbiegel's German box office hit Downfall / Der Untergang is a generally engrossing psychological-historical drama whose emotional charge is diluted by excessive length, an overabundance of characters, and a tendency to emphasize the more obvious aspects of the narrative. Several key performances – including Bruno Ganz's now iconic Adolf Hitler – help to lift Downfall above the level of myriad other World War II movies. Nazi Germany literally goes under In Downfall, which by the end of 2004 had been seen by more than 4.5 million German moviegoers, Nazi Germany is about to lose the war. In his underground bunker, Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) grows increasingly out of touch with reality as he sees his dream of Deutschland über alles go kaput. Some of those under his command are equally incapable of thinking coherently.

Throughout A Coffee in Berlin, the drifting slacker protagonist tries to find a good cup of coffee, while curious events keep getting in the way of collecting the caffeine. Sometimes, the coffee is too pricey. At other times, the place is short supplied. It is a good metaphor to represent the life of a man who could surely use a jolt of caffeine to spur things back into action. However, one can say the same thing for Jan Ole Gerster’s film, both deadpan and depressing, as it searches for the tone and spirit of other classic movie featuring the aimless youth wandering around a big European city. Though it has its moments, A Coffee in Berlin needs a shot of warmth and energy to wake it up.

Shot on-location and in crisp black-and-white, the film follows Niko Fischer (Generation War’s Tom Schilling), a law school dropout getting over...

Chicago – “Hannah Arendt” comes to American cinemas packaged in the sort of prestige that elicits admiration rather than anticipation. Though Margarethe von Trotta is widely regarded as the leading female filmmaker in Germany, it’s doubtful that any audiences outside of her native country are all that familiar with her work. Her new film, “Hannah Arendt,” is so undistinguished that it’s hard to believe that it was made by a director often mentioned in the same breath as Fassbinder and Herzog.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Von Trotta’s long-standing interest in feminist icons has led her to make a series of historical (yet often fictionalized) biopics, many of which provided showcases for acclaimed actress Barbara Sukowa (she won Best Actress at Cannes for playing the titular role in Von Trotta’s 1996 effort, “Rosa Luxemburg”). Since none of these previous films were viewed by me, I was initially taken aback by Sukowa’s portrayal of Arendt,...

Zeitgeist Films has sent along the poster, images and trailer for Hannah Arendt, starring Barbara Sukowa, Axel Milberg, Janet McTeer, Julia Jentsch, Ulrich Noethen and Michael Degen. The film opens at Film Forum in NYC on May 29, 2013 and at The Royal in West La, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center in Encino on June 7, 2013. A national release will follow. The sublime Barbara Sukowa reteams with director Margarethe von Trotta (Vision, Rosa Luxemburg) for her brilliant new biopic of influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in The New Yorker—controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann...

The Berlin International Film Festival is celebrating its opening today, on February 7, 2013 at 7.30 pm. After a few words of greeting from Minister of State for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann and Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit, the Festival will be officially opened by Jury President Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong, China) and Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. The International Jury – whose other members are Susanne Bier (Denmark), Andreas Dresen (Germany), Ellen Kuras (USA), Shirin Neshat (Iran), Tim Robbins (USA) and Athina Rachel Tsangari (Greece) – will also be introduced during the gala. Anke Engelke will again host the evening. This year’s music will be provided by Ulrich Tukur & Die Rhythmus Boys. 3sat will be broadcasting the opening live. Ziyi Zhang in Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster) by Wong Kar Wai Following the gala, Wong Kar Wai’s epic martial-arts drama The Grandmaster will have its international premiere. The director and his leading actors,...

Margarethe Von Trotta's Hannah Arendt lands at Zeitgeist Films Variety reports that the distributor's picked up U.S. distribution rights to the film from Match Factory, starring Barbara Sukowa, Axel Milberg, Janes McTeer, Julia Jentsch and Ulrich Noethen. The biopic drama which premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, will find New York's Film Forum on May 29th, and expand nationwide at a yet-to-be-determined time.

Margarethe Von Trotta's Hannah Arendt lands at Zeitgeist Films Variety reports that the distributor's picked up U.S. distribution rights to the film from Match Factory, starring Barbara Sukowa, Axel Milberg, Janes McTeer, Julia Jentsch and Ulrich Noethen. The biopic drama which premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, will find New York's Film Forum on May 29th, and expand nationwide at a yet-to-be-determined time.

History is so hot right now. HBO‘s Rome showed everyone the way, before the floodgates opened and one-time-unmarketable properties like Spartacus: Blood & Sand became the norm, with their blood, raunch and sandals approach to history. Couple that with the reinvigorated fascination with all things regal, and it looks like Jo Baier‘s period biopic Henry of Navarre had a lot of things going for it in the current market. But can it do what few French historical films have done before it and make a big splash on Blu-ray and DVD?

The film (also known by its French name Henri 4) charts the life of Protestant royal Henry of Navarre from his early life on the fields of battle of a religious war-torn France, through his married life, and his attempts to resist assassination by the hand of pantomimey villainess and eventually become the country’s eventually beloved monarch...

Berlin -- Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" may have missed out on the best foreign film Oscar but the Austrian filmmaker is all but certain to sweep the German Film Awards after "The White Ribbon" received 13 nominations for the country's top prize, the Lolas.

"The White Ribbon" picked up Lola noms in all possible categories, including best film, best director and best acting noms for stars Burghart Klaussner and Susanne Lothar.

Cinematographer Christian Berger, whose stark black-and-white images earned him an Oscar nomination, is the favurite to win the Lola for best cinematography at the German Film Awards on April 23 in Berlin.

"When We Leave," a drama from first-time director Feo Aladag, was the big surprise, earning six Lola nominations including ones for best film and best actress for Sibel Kekilli ("Head-On") in her comeback role as a young woman banished from her devout Muslim family.

Hans-Christian Schmid's...

COLOGNE, Germany -- The German Film academy handed veteran director Doris Dorrie the equivalent of a golden bouquet Friday, nominating her latest drama "Cherry Blossoms" for six Lolas, the German equivalent of the Oscar.

Close behind were Fatih Akin's cross-cultural drama "The Edge of Heaven" with five Lola nominations and Christian Petzold's cerebral mystery thriller "Yella" with four.

Dorrie's film -- a sweetly tragic story of a terminally ill widower who travels to Japan to fulfill a lifelong dream of his dead wife -- picked up Lola noms in most of the main categories, including best film, best director and best actor for star Elmar Wepper.

Wepper has to be considered a front runner for the best actor Lola but he will be going up against two local veterans: Matthias Brandt for his role as an abused husband in Jan Bonny's "Counterparts" and Ulrich Noethen for his comic turn as a husband stuck in a midlife crisis in Rainer Kaufmann's crossover hit "Runaway Horse".

Nina Hoss picked up a Lola nomination for her starring turn in "Yella", a role for which she won the best actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. Also nominated are Dutch actress Carice van Houten for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller "Black Book" (a German-Dutch co-production) and Victoria Trauttmansdorff as a husband-beating wife in "Counterparts".

"Cherry Blossoms" has been getting rave reviews from German and international critics since its debut at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Many consider it the best film in Dorrie's long career.

The 52-year-old director made her name with light comedies including "Men" (1985) and "The Fisher and His Wife" (2005). While her films were often boxoffice hits, they were usually snubbed come awards time. Dorrie has only one Lola -- or German Film Award -- to her credit: a best screenplay prize in 1985 for her script to "Men".

But this year her movie is the one to beat in what is a surprisingly diverse field.

COLOGNE, Germany -- The German Film academy handed veteran director Doris Dorrie the equivalent of a golden bouquet Friday, nominating her latest drama Cherry Blossoms for six Lolas, the German equivalent of the Oscar.

Close behind were Fatih Akin's cross-cultural drama The Edge of Heaven with five Lola nominations and Christian Petzold's cerebral mystery thriller Yella with four.

Dorrie's film -- a sweetly tragic story of a terminally ill widower who travels to Japan to fulfill a lifelong dream of his dead wife -- picked up Lola noms in most of the main categories, including best film, best director and best actor for star Elmar Wepper.

Wepper has to be considered a front runner for the best actor Lola but he will be going up against two local veterans: Matthias Brandt for his role as an abused husband in Jan Bonny's Counterparts and Ulrich Noethen for his comic turn as a husband stuck in a midlife crisis in Rainer Kaufmann's crossover hit Runaway Horse.

Nina Hoss picked up a Lola nomination for her starring turn in Yella, a role for which she won the best actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. Also nominated are Dutch actress Carice van Houten for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller Black Book (a German-Dutch co-production) and Victoria Trauttmansdorff as a husband-beating wife in Counterparts.

Cherry Blossoms has been getting rave reviews from German and international critics since its debut at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Many consider it the best film in Dorrie's long career.

The 52-year-old director made her name with light comedies including "Men" (1985) and The Fisher and His Wife (2005). While her films were often boxoffice hits, they were usually snubbed come awards time. Dorrie has only one Lola -- or German Film Award -- to her credit: a best screenplay prize in 1985 for her script to Men.

But this year her movie is the one to beat in what is a surprisingly diverse field.

MUNICH -- Actresses shut out their male colleagues to take both acting awards at this year's Munich International Film Festival. In a surprise decision, the three-man jury of cameraman Gernot Roll (Nowhere in Africa), producer Uli Putz (Beyond Silence) and actor Ulrich Noethen (Downfall) chose two women for the Foerderpries Deutscher Film, Munich's top acting award, instead of awarding one of the prizes to a male performer. Joerdis Triebel won for her performance in Emmas Glueck (Emma's Luck), a drama from director Sven Taddicken, while the second award went to Rosalie Thomass for her starring role in an episode of German police series Polizeiruf 110.

COLOGNE -- The Airlift, the big budget two-parter from German production house TeamWorx. chronicling the 1948 Soviet blockade of Berlin and the U.S. effort to break it, soared above the competition on Sunday, with the first episode drawing a 24% market share and up to 9.9 million viewers for commercial channel Sat.1. The miniseries, which stars Heino Ferch, Bettina Zimmermann and Ulrich Noethen, was a direct hit with ad-relevant viewers, with 31% of the 14-49 year-old demographic tuning in. Sat.1 stuck with the historic theme, following the airing of the first half of Airlift with the documentary The Airlift - Berlin Won't Give Up, which featured eye-witness testimonies, including U.S. air force pilot Gail Halverson. The documentary retained much of the primetime audience, scoring a 20.3% market share with 5.77 million viewers.

Variety reports that Constantin Films has cast Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) as Adolf Hitler in Der Untergang -- Hitler und das Ende des 3. Reichs (The Downfall -- Hitler and the End of the Third Reich). Focusing on the last days of the Nazi regime, the film starts shooting this summer in St. Petersburg under the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel from a screenplay by Bernd Eichinger, based on Joachim Fest's book. The film also stars Juliane Koehler (Nowhere in Africa) as Eva Braun, Corinna Harfouch as Magda Goebbels, Ulrich Noethen as Heinrich Himmler and Alexandra Maria Lara as Hitler's personal secretary.

This German import details the fascinating story of the Comedian Harmonists, the six-member vocal group (three of whom were Jewish) whose enormous popularity in Germany before World War II didn't prevent their dissolution by the Nazis as part of the party's goal to ban "degenerate art."

A moving, informative account of the Harmonists' rise and fall, the film is part of a renewed wave of interest in the legendary group, whose story is also the subject of two stage productions. Miramax should see good results from the film on the art house circuit.

Told in traditional biopic style, "The Harmonists" illustrates how the group was formed by 20-year-old drama student Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen) in 1927. Inspired by the success of an American a capella group, Frommermann placed an ad in the papers and found four other singers and a pianist to join him.

The Harmonists, who applied their intricate vocal harmonies to everything from German folk songs to American jazz standards, were an instant success in Germany and quickly achieved great popularity internationally as well. All was fine until the rise to power of the Nazis, who would allow them to continue only if they jettisoned the Jewish members. Their final performance in Germany was in 1934, and though the various members attempted to regroup over the years, the magic was never regained.

Klaus Richter's screenplay begins in amusing fashion, detailing the evolution of the group's musical style and the difficulties that resulted from the merging of such disparate personalities. Rich in incident, it wisely avoids melodrama even when it depicts their travails with the Nazis. The only area in which the film falters is in its apparently fictional depiction of the members' personal lives, including a melodramatic romantic triangle that develops between two of the singers and a beautiful young Jewish student (Meret Becker).

Director Joseph Vilsmaier otherwise handles the complicated subject matter in excellent fashion, providing a vivid sense of the period and the cultural milieu in which the Harmonists thrived. Particularly entertaining is the segment detailing the group's trip to America, where they achieved great success in New York (depicted through a combination of location shooting and period footage). One of the more moving moments comes when the group argues over whether they should stay in America or return to Germany; sadly, they made the wrong decision.

"The Harmonists", unlike the Broadway treatment, skillfully delineates the character of each of the singers in the group. Particular credit must go to the performers, who handle their own singing. Besides providing evocative portrayals, they replicate the sound of the original Harmonists with elegant precision.

THE HARMONISTS

Miramax Films

Director/executive producer: Joseph Vilsmaier

Screenwriter: Klaus Richter

Producers: Hanno Huth, Reinhard Kloos, Danny Krausz

Director of photography: Joseph Vilsmaier

Editor: Peter R. Adam

Original score: Harald Kloser

Production designer: Rolf Zehetbauer

Color/stereo

Cast:

Robert Biberti: Ben Becker

Roman Cycowski: Heino Ferch

Harry Frommermann: Ulrich Noethen

Erich A. Collin: Heinrich Schafmeister

Ari Leschnikoff: Max Tidof

Erwin Bootz: Kai Wiesinger

Erna Eggstein: Meret Becker

Running time -- 114 minutes

MPAA rating: R...