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1. Murderers Among Us (1946)

Not Rated | 85 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

After returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.

Director: Wolfgang Staudte | Stars: Hildegard Knef, Elly Burgmer, Erna Sellmer, Hilde Adolphi

Votes: 2,547

2. Freies Land (1946)

77 min | Drama

After the war, infinite numbers of refugees leave in search of a new home. They now stand in the hall of a large mansion, waiting to receive their deeds of ownership for sections of land ... See full summary »

Director: Milo Harbich | Stars: Ursula Voß, Fritz Wagner, Herbert Wilk, Hans Sternberg

Votes: 29

3. Irgendwo in Berlin (1946)

77 min | Drama

After WWII, Berlin lies in ruins. For Gustav, Willi and their friends the rubble provides an adventurous, dangerous playground. Especially for Gustav, it helps pass the time, as he longs ... See full summary »

Director: Gerhard Lamprecht | Stars: Charles Brauer, Harry Hindemith, Hedda Sarnow, Fritz Rasp

Votes: 163

5. Police Raid (1947)

90 min | Crime, Drama

Hauptkommissar/Chief Inspector Friedrich Naumann - played by old pro Paul Bildt, veteran actor of over 180 movies - operating in a Berlin still reeling from the immediate devastation WWII ... See full summary »

Director: Werner Klingler | Stars: Paul Bildt, Elly Burgmer, Agathe Poschmann, Friedhelm von Petersson

Votes: 43

6. Marriage in the Shadows (1947)

105 min | Drama

In Nazi Germany actor Hans refuses to divorce his Jewish wife Elisabeth. He is threatened to be drafted and sent to the front while she will be deported to a concentration camp. Desperate, Hans decides that suicide is their only way out.

Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Paul Klinger, Ilse Steppat, Alfred Balthoff, Claus Holm

Votes: 196

7. Wozzeck (1947)

98 min | Drama

The body of Franz Wozzeck lies on a table in an anatomy lecture of a small German university. Whereas the doctor in charge of dissecting the cadaver can only see the murdered corpse lying ... See full summary »

Director: Georg C. Klaren | Stars: Max Eckard, Kurt Meisel, Helga Zülch, Paul Henckels

Votes: 48

9. Street Acquaintances (1948)

104 min | Drama

Erika is 20 lives with her strict parents in a post-war apartment, works as a tiller in a laundry and is always hungry. In her friend Else, she sees how she should do it: Else has caught an older man who provides her with new stockings

Director: Peter Pewas | Stars: Gisela Trowe, Alice Treff, Ursula Voß, Siegmar Schneider

Votes: 37

10. Chemie und Liebe (1948)

98 min | Comedy

A chemist and his assistant make a groundbreaking discovery. They manage to make butter directly from pasture grass without having to deal with either the cow or the use of dairy products. An industrialist attempts to seize the invention.

Director: Arthur Maria Rabenalt | Stars: Hans Nielsen, Tilly Lauenstein, Arno Ebert, Ann Höling

Votes: 15

11. Grube Morgenrot (1948)

88 min

During the global economic crisis, the pit "Morgenrot" is due to be closed due to unprofitable results. With the use of a machine forbidden for security reasons, the mates try to work more effectively and thus save their jobs.

Directors: Erich Freund, Wolfgang Schleif | Stars: Claus Holm, Maria Rouvel, Hans Klering, Gisela Trowe

12. One, Two, Three: Corona (1948)

86 min | Crime, Drama

Post-war Germany 1945: Two rival gangs of uprooted boys fight each other in the ruins of Berlin, whose business is the black market out of necessity in order to survive. Their respective ... See full summary »

Director: Hans Müller | Stars: Eva Ingeborg Scholz, Lutz Moik, Piet Clausen, Ralph Siewert

Votes: 31

13. Und wieder 48 (1948)

102 min

1948: Students from Berlin University take part as extras in the shooting of a film about the 1848 Revolution. Students form two camps, which fight each other violently about the historical events, commanded by Elsa and Heinz.

Director: Gustav von Wangenheim | Stars: Inge von Wangenheim, Wilhelm Borchert, Viktoria von Ballasko, Josef Sieber

Votes: 7

14. The Affair Blum (1948)

109 min | Drama, Crime

This early postwar suspense story, based on a well-known 1926 murder trial with Dreyfus-like overtones also represents an East German reflection on Nazism. Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer ... See full summary »

Director: Erich Engel | Stars: Hans Christian Blech, Ernst Waldow, Paul Bildt, Karin Evans

Votes: 73

17. Die Brücke (1949)

85 min | Drama

After the end of WWII, a group resettlers reaches a small village in central Germany, which has been spared from destruction. The new arrivals, who live in a resettlement camp separated by ... See full summary »

Director: Arthur Pohl | Stars: Karl Hellmer, Fritz Wagner, Arno Paulsen, Steffie Spira

Votes: 142

18. Und wenn's nur einer wär' (1949)

84 min

Karli is sentenced to a juvenile camp after stealing a car. The commandant was later replaced by a strict disciplinarian, who believes in barbed wire, hard labour, and punishment by deprivation of food; thus causing some boys to flee.

Director: Wolfgang Schleif | Stars: Edelweiß Malchin, Siegfried Dornbusch, Axel Monjé, Lutz Moik

Votes: 8

21. Die Buntkarierten (1949)

100 min | Drama

Family drama spanning three generations and almost 70 years of German history, from the Wilhelmine period through the end of WWII.

Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Camilla Spira, Werner Hinz, Liselotte Lieck, Friedrich Gnaß

Votes: 72

22. Rotation (1949)

80 min | Drama, History

The life of the worker Hans Behnke and his family from 1925 to 1945 in Berlin. Hans ultimately does join the Nazi party, but still shows signs of disagreement with their ideology.

Director: Wolfgang Staudte | Stars: Paul Esser, Irene Korb, Karl Heinz Deickert, Reinhold Bernt

Votes: 385

23. Der Biberpelz (1949)

97 min | Comedy, Crime

An adaptation of the play by Gerhart Hauptmann about a washerwoman who exposes the secrets of the supposedly respectable citizens of the area.

Director: Erich Engel | Stars: Käthe Haack, Werner Hinz, Fita Benkhoff, Friedrich Gnaß

Votes: 16

24. Our Daily Bread (1949)

99 min | Drama

A story about a family after the Second World War. The petty bourgeois cashier Karl Weber of Berlin observes from a distance how his son Ernst participates in the building of a new ... See full summary »

Director: Slatan Dudow | Stars: Viktoria von Ballasko, Paul Bildt, Harry Hindemith, Paul Edwin Roth

Votes: 58

25. The Marriage of Figaro (1949)

95 min | Musical, Romance

Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production... See full summary »

Director: Georg Wildhagen | Stars: Angelika Hauff, Willy Domgraf-Fassbaender, Sabine Peters, Mathieu Ahlersmeyer

Votes: 24

26. The Blue Swords (1949)

99 min | Drama

A biography of Johann Friedrich Böttger, who in 1709 invented the first white porcelain in Europe. The apprentice apothecary and assistant to a "gold producer" fled from the Prussian King -... See full summary »

Director: Wolfgang Schleif | Stars: Hans Quest, Ilse Steppat, Alexander Engel, Herbert Hübner

Votes: 13

29. Bürgermeister Anna (1950)

88 min | Comedy

A novelty in German post-war history: a young woman (Eva Rimski) becomes mayor in a village. She is efficient and enjoys respect, but soon enough two villagers disagree with her work. In ... See full summary »

Director: Hans Müller | Stars: Eva Rimski, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Catja Görna, Klaus Becker

Votes: 19

30. Der Rat der Götter (1950)

105 min | History

Based on the 1947 book "I.G. Farben", by American author Richard Sasuly, and records from the Nuremberg Trial of the chemical giant I.G. Farben, Council of the Gods is a story about the ... See full summary »

Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Paul Bildt, Fritz Tillmann, Willy A. Kleinau, Hans-Georg Rudolph

Votes: 149

35. Das kalte Herz (1950)

106 min | Family, Fantasy, Romance

Peter Munk, a poor charcoal burner, lives with his mother in The Black Forest. Poverty prevents him from marrying Lisbeth, the girl he loves. When he comes across the Little Glass Man, the ... See full summary »

Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Lutz Moik, Hanna Rucker, Paul Bildt, Paul Esser

Votes: 674

36. The Merry Wives of Windsor (1950)

92 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

For the corpulent nobleman, Sir John Falstaff, the inn in the small English town of Windsor is the best of all places. Here he can indulge in excessive dining and intemperate drinking, as ... See full summary »

Director: Georg Wildhagen | Stars: Sonja Ziemann, Rita Streich, Camilla Spira, Martha Mödl

Votes: 23

37. Die Sonnenbrucks (1951)

98 min

In 1943, a Göttingen university professor celebrates 30 years teaching. A son with the SS in Norway is expected as well as a daughter, a pianist in occupied France.But a former colleague , escaped from a camp,also comes, and asks for help.

Director: Georg C. Klaren | Stars: Käte Alving, Ursula Burg, Maly Delschaft, Rudolf Fleck

39. The Axe of Wandsbek (1950)

110 min | Drama

After a crime is committed during the Nazi era in the Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, the aspiring local leader, a ship owner, needs to find an executioner to kill the perpetrators and turns to a butcher.

Director: Falk Harnack | Stars: Erwin Geschonneck, Käthe Braun, Gefion Helmke, Willy A. Kleinau

Votes: 187

40. Modell Bianka (1951)

85 min | Comedy

The dispute over a dress model spoils Jochen and Gerd's holiday mood. It could be so nice, because the two unlawful "carriers" of the model, Ursel and Hilde, like them. They belong to the ... See full summary »

Director: Richard Groschopp | Stars: Gerda Falk, Fritz Wagner, Werner Peters, Margit Schaumäker

Votes: 13

42. Der Untertan (1951)

109 min | Comedy, Drama

Diederich Heßling is scared of everything and everyone. But as he grows up, he comes to realize that he has to offer his services to the powers-that-be if he wants to wield power himself. ... See full summary »

Director: Wolfgang Staudte | Stars: Werner Peters, Paul Esser, Renate Fischer, Ernst Legal

Votes: 946

43. Corinna Schmidt (1951)

97 min | Drama

Late 19th Century Berlin. The stately house of the commerce councillor Jenny Treibel has done something to Corinna, a destitute professor's daughter. Therefore, she conveniently falls into ... See full summary »

Director: Arthur Pohl | Stars: Trude Hesterberg, Willy Kleinoschegg, Ingrid Rentsch, Joseph Noerden

Votes: 10

45. Story of a Young Couple (1952)

102 min | Drama

A young married couple-both actors-work in Cold War Berlin before the Wall is built. Agnes is on location in East Berlin, and Jochen, her husband, works at the Westend Theater in West ... See full summary »

Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Yvonne Merin, Hans-Peter Thielen, Willy A. Kleinau, Hilde Sessak

Votes: 31

46. Karriere in Paris (1952)

96 min | Drama

Frankreich um 1820. Den mittellosen Landedelmann Rastignac zieht es zum Studieren nach Paris, wo er in einer armseligen Pension Quartier macht. Dort ist auch Vater Goriot untergekommen, den... See full summary »

Directors: Georg C. Klaren, Hans-Georg Rudolph | Stars: Günther Ballier, Helmut Bautzmann, Richard Bellach, Herbert Bendey

Votes: 9

47. Das verurteilte Dorf (1952)

107 min | Drama

"The condemned Village". After years in Soviet Captivity, farmer Heinz Weizmann returns to his village in West Germany. His joy of returning home is clouded by news the U.S. occupation ... See full summary »

Director: Martin Hellberg | Stars: Helga Göring, Günther Simon, Eduard von Winterstein, Albert Garbe

Votes: 16

49. Frauenschicksale (1952)

102 min | Drama

Berlin, seven years after WWII. Four women are looking for happiness and a good man in the divided city. Their destinies are loosely connected through one person: the West Berlin dandy and ... See full summary »

Director: Slatan Dudow | Stars: Sonja Sutter, Lotte Loebinger, Anneliese Book, Susanne Düllmann

Votes: 48

55. Die Störenfriede (1953)

92 min | Family

Franz and Schorsch are the horror of all teachers. Constantly in the mood for mischief, they disrupt the class. The rest of the class just watches. Only the new classmate Vera is appalled and tries to talk the boy into conscience.

Director: Wolfgang Schleif | Stars: Edgar Bennert, Sonja Haacker, Charlotte Küter, Erich Mirek

Votes: 19

57. Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck (1953)

100 min | Family, Fantasy

An old man living in an oriental city tells the story of his life to a group of kids: He too was once a young boy by the name of Little Muck - much like them, but with better manners and a ... See full summary »

Director: Wolfgang Staudte | Stars: Thomas Schmidt, Johannes Maus, Friedrich Richter, Trude Hesterberg

Votes: 799

58. Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse (1954)

124 min | Biography, Drama, War

This historical-biographical film begins in the first days of November 1918 on the western front. News comes to the soldiers of a revolutionary uprising in Kiel. Young Thälmann, a soldier ... See full summary »

Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Günther Simon, Hans-Peter Minetti, Erich Franz, Erika Dunkelmann

Votes: 145

59. Kein Hüsung (1954)

94 min | Drama

Autumn 1847: A couple, unmarried but awaiting a child is trying to survive the East German social stigma. Church and government will play their roles to make this movie a feast for the eyes and senses.

Director: Arthur Pohl | Stars: Fredy Barten, Ilse Bastubbe, Maria Besendahl, Otto Blumenthal

Votes: 15

61. Das geheimnisvolle Wrack (1954)

79 min | Adventure, Crime, Family

Several children find out what's the matter with a wreck offshore, which puts them into jeopardy.

Director: Herbert Ballmann | Stars: Kurt Ulrich, Wilfried Ortmann, Hans-Hasso Steube, Horst Naumann

Votes: 26

62. Alarm at the Circus (1954)

75 min | Crime, Drama

Two boys from West Berlin, Klaus and Max, live in poverty. Their dream is a career in boxing, and they save every penny in order to buy boxing gloves with which to train. Nevertheless, it ... See full summary »

Director: Gerhard Klein | Stars: Erwin Geschonneck, Uwe-Jens Pape, Karl Kendzia, Ulrich Thein

Votes: 24

64. Stärker als die Nacht (1954)

117 min | Drama

The story of a resistance fighter in the Nazi era: Communist Hans Löning was arrested in 1933, imprisoned in the concentration camp and tortured. The Gestapo plans to smash the resistance group around Löning so they make him disappear.

Director: Slatan Dudow | Stars: Wilhelm Koch-Hooge, Helga Göring, Kurt Oligmüller, Rita Gödikmeier

Votes: 20

65. Der Fall Dr. Wagner (1954)

90 min

Dr. Wagner is a scientist currently working on an experiment for the Asta plant in East Berlin. If the experiment succeeds its a brilliant new invention. The company will be able to make the expensive material copper independent.

Director: Harald Mannl | Stars: Harald Mannl, Johanna Endemann, Brigitte Hecht, Dieter Heusinger

68. Pole Poppenspäler (1954)

88 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy

19th century story about a woodcutter in Frisia who becomes famous for making puppets.

Director: Arthur Pohl | Stars: Heliane Bei, Heinz Höpner, Willy Kleinoschegg, Paula Braend

Votes: 14

74. Der Teufel vom Mühlenberg (1955)

87 min | Adventure

According to a legend from the Harz region, sometime in the Middle Ages the brutal, greedy owner of the windmill farm set fire to a forest mill together with the castle bailiff and the ... See full summary »

Director: Herbert Ballmann | Stars: Eva Kotthaus, Hans-Peter Minetti, Willy A. Kleinau, Werner Peters

Votes: 64

77. Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1955)

99 min | Crime, Drama

Several men have been murdered lately, mostly rich lovers on their way to meet their mistresses with gifts of fine jewelry. To fight this scourge, King Louis XIV decides to create a special... See full summary »

Director: Eugen York | Stars: Henny Porten, Willy A. Kleinau, Anne Vernon, Roland Alexandre

Votes: 30

78. Star mit fremden Federn (1955)

94 min | Comedy

A hairdresser is mistaken for a film actor.

Director: Harald Mannl | Stars: Werner Peters, Sonja Sutter, Robert Trösch, Christina Huth

79. Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse (1955)

140 min | Biography, Drama, History

The second part of the Ernst Thälmann films encompasses the time period between 1930 and Thälmann's murder in 1944. It shows Thälmann's battle to achieve a united front with all German ... See full summary »

Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Günther Simon, Hans-Peter Minetti, Karla Runkehl, Paul R. Henker

Votes: 135

82. Der Teufelskreis (1956)

103 min

Shortly after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor at the beginning of 1933, preparations were made to silence the Socialist and Communist parties.

Director: Carl Balhaus | Stars: Jochen Brockmann, Kurt Steingraf, Erika Dunkelmann, Horst Naumann

Votes: 17

83. Heimliche Ehen (1956)

93 min

At Eschenhöhe the buildings are collapsing. But at the institute for construction in Berlin the plans for rebuilding the village are thwarted by the chief architect. He would like to shine in the competition with his "New City" design.

Director: Gustav von Wangenheim | Stars: Paul Heidemann, Gerd Michael Henneberg, Siegfried Hömke, Helga Jordan

84. Genesung (1956)

105 min | Drama, Romance, War

Two young idealists aiding fugitives in 1941 are separated by the war and reunite after, but circumstances have complicated their relations.

Director: Konrad Wolf | Stars: Karla Runkehl, Wolfgang Kieling, Wilhelm Koch-Hooge, Eduard von Winterstein

Votes: 44

90. Eine Berliner Romanze (1956)

81 min | Drama, Romance

Die 16-jährige Ostberlinerin Uschi (Annekathrin Bürger) lernt im HO-Bekeidungswarenhaus am Alexanderplatz den Beruf einer Verkäuferin. Als sie bei einer Modenschau Kleider vorführen darf, ... See full summary »

Director: Gerhard Klein | Stars: Annekathrin Bürger, Ulrich Thein, Uwe-Jens Pape, Erika Dunkelmann

Votes: 85

92. Zar und Zimmermann (1956)

101 min | Comedy, Drama, Music

Who is the real Czar? Marie sees before her an impossible task. A comic opera about Czar Peter I of Russia and Peter the carpenter in the small Dutch town of Saardam.

Director: Hans Müller | Stars: Willy A. Kleinau, Bert Fortell, Lore Frisch, Günther Haack

Votes: 19

97. Das tapfere Schneiderlein (1956)

83 min | Fantasy, Family

Screen version of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm "The Brave Little Tailor"

Director: Helmut Spieß | Stars: Kurt Schmidtchen, Christel Bodenstein, Horst Drinda, Fred Kronström

Votes: 138

98. Der Hauptmann von Köln (1956)

118 min | Comedy

Albert Hauptmann is an out of work waiter in Cologne who is often confused with a former Captain of the Nazi Army. Albert uses this to his advantage and becomes the Director of the Montan ... See full summary »

Director: Slatan Dudow | Stars: Rolf Ludwig, Erwin Geschonneck, Else Wolz, Christel Bodenstein

Votes: 37



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