User Reviews

"Himmel ohne Sterne" (very nice and fitting title) is a German black-and-white sound film from 1955, so this one is already over 60 years old. The writer and director here is Helmut Käutner and even if it is probably not one of the most known works by this filmmaker I believe it is one of his best. It is kinda nice to see a (West) German movie from the 1950s that focuses on something other than World War II and succeeds while doing so. Of course the separation into East and West Germany is a direct consequence of this war, but still. Then again, I don't even think that the political context is really the center of it all. It is just the setting for an individual tale and story I think and this is excellent this way, right how it should be. Add to that the lead performance by Eva Kotthaus, who was pretty amazing here, like a German Eva Marie Saint, just as stunning and also very talented I think. This is mostly a story about motherhood I would say and the desperate fight of a young mother to be reunited with her son (as often as possibly). Kotthaus by the way is still alive today way into her 80s and obviously retired. I don't think the male actors are as good really and I am a bit surprised by the awards recognition, but it needs to be said that Horst Buchholz is in here, even if he doesn't have that much screen time. And fans of German films from that time will probably recognize more names and faces. And the good thing is also that the longer the film runs, the more it actually also delivers in terms of the political context. I still do not believe that this is really all what this film is about and that other aspects (the motherhood, maybe even the romance or relationship aspects and the human feelings under these difficult circumstances) are more crucial here. Anyway, I think that these 100 minutes are better than most other German movies from that era and I think you should check it out. Thumbs up and it's also always nice to see films that go for realism instead of unrealistic feel-good endings and this one here certainly did! Also the words rolling in with the credits eventually show how progressive this film is and how very much ahead of its time like I wrote in the title. Don't miss out on "Sky Without Stars".

It couldn't be true that two lovers achieved the miracle referred to by Plato in The Banquet, that they took for themselves the crown of spring announcing the outbreak of romance in new times after the two terrible wars; no, that's why Käutner blames ourselves, human beings in general, when Carl shoots Mischa, the young Russian, we sabotage our own future out of the same prejudices that we tend to disqualify the enemies we hate; no, it could not, how could it happen that Germany and Germany loved each other and were happy, that would have meant that we learned the lesson of the two wars; That miracle could not be true, because that invisible barrier of animosity between axes, and anger between the West and the East crystallized in a wall erased the natural with the atavistic insidiousness of the artificial and invented construct that could be harder; Käutner lavishes an unfortunate anecdote between Anna and Carl, of so many that had to be forged in the pale and ill-fated crucible of the cold war in the world;