The best Angelika Hauff’s movies

In 1912, in Austria, the painter Egon Schiele is sent to jail accused of pornography with the nymphet Tatjana in his erotic paints. His mate, the model Vally, gets help from a famous lawyer to release him. Then he leaves Vally, marries with another woman and goes to the war.

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 of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.

This movie takes place during the premiere of Mozart's Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute). Not really depicting his entire life and loves, much of this is fictionalized scatology. Although not without basis in fact, Mozart has attained a somewhat colorful reputation and this is really just more of the same. The music is a joy, but the movie bogs down in titillation. Mozart's last days were lived in poverty and disgrace--stemming chiefly from his embracing of the Freemason stance, which was essentially a heresy in Austria and the rest of Europe at that time. None of this is depicted and even a satyr could not sustain the lifestyle Mozart has been portrayed as having here. Still, this is an interesting movie and worth a listen to.

Mr. Rossi and Mr. Capelli, co-owners of a successful traveling circus, have a rivalry over the affections of the lovely Dolores. That's all settled after Rossi is mauled to death by a lion. Years later a series of accidents, attacks and mysterious deaths plague the circus.

At a French military outpost, a group of lackadaisical servicemen find plenty of time to make trouble, enjoy nature and pursue beautiful women.

A story of love and power on a farm in the interior of São Paulo. The plot focuses on the conflict between a small farmer and a powerful industry, which has an interest in his property.

During an archeological expedition in the Amazon, a group of explorers -- including a father and a son -- finds a beautiful golden statue. The party is attacked by remnants of a lost civilization, and the son is rescued by Indians. Years later, living in the city, he discovers in a magazine article photographic evidence of the golden god in the jungle. Willing to find his father, he quits his job and travels to the Amazon.

Nora and Stefan fall in love with one another after an accident takes place, but then end up losing sight of one another later on. Stefan ends up saving the life of young Christine and becomes her fiancée. Christine, however, is Nora’s daughter (can’t see where this is heading, huh?). When Christine finds out that mom and her hubby-to-be had a rather intimate history, she takes a boat ride on a stormy lake. But the prophecy of disaster associated with the bronze figure “Melusine” does not come to pass: Stefan looks for Christine, finds her in one piece and stays with her. Nora, for her part, decides incest might be a bad thing and gives up Stefan forever to go back to the man she divorced (hey, way to feel wanted!). For some reason, the Nazis didn’t like the plot’s moral message and banned it after its completion.