Viktor de Kowa, Curd Jürgens, and Hans Möller in The Devil's General (1955)

George Sanders and Ella Raines in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Blossoms in the Dust (1941)

Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux in Mayerling (1936)

Catherine Deneuve in Scene of the Crime (1986)

Heidemarie Hatheyer, Curd Jürgens, and Maria Schell in The Rats (1955)

Heidemarie Hatheyer and Curd Jürgens in The Rats (1955)

Gustav Knuth and Heidemarie Hatheyer in The Rats (1955)

Heidemarie Hatheyer and Maria Schell in The Rats (1955)

Curd Jürgens and Maria Schell in The Rats (1955)

Maria Schell

Curd Jürgens

Heidemarie Hatheyer

Jochen Huth

Gerhart Hauptmann

In the early Fifties Pauline Karka (Maria Schell) comes to Berlin. She is pregnant and totally penniless. She meets the laundry owner Anna John (Heidemarie Hatheyer) who always yearned to become a mother but hasn&apos;t been able to. P...

Robert Siodmak

Die Ratten

After the fall and before the wall.

Immediate background: After &quot;the crimson pirate&quot; and a -failed-remake of Feyder&apos;s &quot;Le Grand Jeu&quot; in France,Robert Siodmak was back in Germany.He did not direct in his native land for more than twenty years,since &quot;Brennendes Geheimnis&quot; .In between,he made brilliant movies ,some of them are among the classics of film noir.

Siodmak finds back a humiliated country .He came in blaring in 1929 with &quot;Menschen am Sonntag&quot; and with &quot;die Ratten&quot; came back the same way.He was helped by two of the most talented German thespians of the era: Maria Schell and Cürd Jurgens plus a fine supporting cast including Gustav Knuth people outside Germany know essentially as Sissi&apos;s father in the famous Marischka saga.

The prologue sets the tone: a distraught frenzied Schell tries to get to Berlin West.When the soldiers stop her,they discover she&apos;s holding a rag doll.The film is a long flashback.

Siodmak depicts a murky atmosphere ,with mean characters ,the rats.The subject is that of the great melodramas of the forties ,but the director displays a gutsy realism which is more European.

Memorable scenes: The bric a brac in M.John&apos;s house where his brother-in-law is doing bad things behind his back and where Pauline gives birth to her child.

The baptism and the funeral of two children,two scenes which recall Abel Gance&apos;s &quot;Venus Aveugle&quot;(1942) The walk through the Christmas market(Siodmak often uses the pom-pom of the fairground music ,notably during the cast and credits) where Pauline buys a teddy bear.

The ball of the new year&apos;s eve when a Singerin is bawling out a horrible ditty about having fun.

Siodmak seems to remember his earlier films such as &quot;Voruntersuchung&quot; ( a contrast between the tragedy and the fair and the fireworks where people rejoice) and &quot;Stürme der Leidenschaft&quot; aka&quot; Tumultes&quot; (the knife).

Like this? try These....

&quot;The old maid&quot; Edmund Goulding 1939

&quot;The great lie&quot; EDmund Goulding 1941 

&quot;To each his own&quot; Mitchell Leisen 1946 

&quot;La voleuse&quot; Jean Chapot 1966 (starring Romy Schneider)

Immediate background: After "the crimson pirate" and a -failed-remake of Feyder's "Le Grand Jeu" in France,Robert Siodmak was back in Germany.He did not direct in his native land for more than twenty years,since "Brennendes Geheimnis" .In between,he made brilliant movies ,some of them are among the classics of film noir.

Siodmak finds back a humiliated country .He came in blaring in 1929 with "Menschen am Sonntag" and with "die Ratten" came back the same way.He was helped by two of the most talented German thespians of the era: Maria Schell and Cürd Jurgens plus a fine supporting cast including Gustav Knuth people outside Germany know essentially as Sissi's father in the famous Marischka saga.

The prologue sets the tone: a distraught frenzied Schell tries to get to Berlin West.When the soldiers stop her,they discover she's holding a rag doll.The film is a long flashback.

Siodmak depicts a murky atmosphere ,with mean characters ,the rats.The subject is that of the great melodramas of the forties ,but the director displays a gutsy realism which is more European.

Memorable scenes: The bric a brac in M.John's house where his brother-in-law is doing bad things behind his back and where Pauline gives birth to her child.

The baptism and the funeral of two children,two scenes which recall Abel Gance's "Venus Aveugle"(1942) The walk through the Christmas market(Siodmak often uses the pom-pom of the fairground music ,notably during the cast and credits) where Pauline buys a teddy bear.

The ball of the new year's eve when a Singerin is bawling out a horrible ditty about having fun.

Siodmak seems to remember his earlier films such as "Voruntersuchung" ( a contrast between the tragedy and the fair and the fireworks where people rejoice) and "Stürme der Leidenschaft" aka" Tumultes" (the knife).

Like this? try These....

"The old maid" Edmund Goulding 1939

"The great lie" EDmund Goulding 1941 

"To each his own" Mitchell Leisen 1946 

"La voleuse" Jean Chapot 1966 (starring Romy Schneider)

In the early Fifties Pauline Karka (Maria Schell) comes to Berlin. She is pregnant and totally penniless. She meets the laundry owner Anna John (Heidemarie Hatheyer) who always yearned to become a mother but hasn't been able to. Paulines child is born and the two women agree that Anna John will keep the newborn as her own baby. As Pauline is going to move to West Germany, she wants to see her child once again for the last time but Anna John refuses. Pauline panics and kidnaps by mistake the terminally ill kid of the neighbor woman. Meanwhile Anna John instructs her brother Bruno (Curd Jürgens) to get rid of Pauline but Bruno stumbles and kills himself with his own knife before he could find Pauline.

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