The best Dimitris Papamichael’s romance movies

An American scholar in Greece sets about improving the prostitute with whom he is infatuated.

Madalena is a tough seventeen-year-old who is forced to take on her father's ferry business after he dies. She has her many brothers and sisters to support, and there is no one else to do the job. So she rallies her defenses and sets out to give her rival in the ferry business a run for his money. But at the same time, the rival's handsome son is starting to look better and better. Madalena refuses to acknowledge her feelings for him -- though how long she can sustain that denial is the question.

Katerina, a poor girl, finds a job as a secretary and falls in love with her boss on a trip to Rome.

An usherette in a theatre, where a distinguished and popular actor performs, gets her big break when the leading actress has an accident. The director decides to take advantage of the heretofore unexploited talent of the girl and asks her to replace the leading actress. This unexpected opportunity transforms her from a humble usherette into a shining star. Later on, she wins the heart of the leading actor with whom she was secretly in love. However, her sudden rise to theatrical-musical stardom creates complications in their love affair, as her companion sinks into disappointment and drowns himself in drink, abandoning his career. Nevertheless, the usherette/leading actress doesn't give up; She looks for him, finds him and supports him, psychologically and morally, until he makes a comeback to the stage and their love nest.

Fourtounakis’ daughter, Katerinio, is forced to get engaged with a brutal Cretan, Skandalakis. But the return of Manousos Vrontakis from Athens and his flirtation with the girl leads to a great romance, without them knowing that they belong to families who are longstanding enemies.

Rena’s father insists on marrying her off to the son of a shipowner. Rena, however, doesn’t even want to hear about it, so she runs away and disguises herself as a boy named Pipis. As such, she meets a poor fisherman, Lefteris, and helps him on his way to Ioannina.

Lisa is a student, pretending the sick not to go to school. Her parents are worried about her health and call the doctor to examine her. He realizes her lies but he covers her. Soon, they fall in love and eventually get married. However, after the honeymoon she begins to yearn school and her classmates and she returns to it without saying anything to her husband. Soon, her husband begins to suspect her because of her frequent absences from home and her secret meetings with the professor seem to confirm his suspicions.

This immensely successful remake of the 1929 foustanella classic was directed by Dinos Dimopoulos and quickly established its stars (Dimitris Papamichael and the beautiful Aliki Vouyouklaki) as the Greek cinema's top box-office draws. The story itself rigidly follows the conventions of its subgenre, although because Greek filmmakers were still churning out foustanellas for decades afterward, it hardly seems more dated than the original. Once again, it tells the tale of Mitros (Titos Vandis), a wealthy herd owner with a foster daughter named Astero (Vouyouklaki) whom he marries off to another herd owner, despite the fact that she and his son Thimios (Papamichael) are desperately in love. The other herd owner dies and Astero loses her mind a bit (although she doesn't wig out quite as spectacularly as Aliki Theodoridou in the silent original), but Mitros finally comes to the right decision and allows the children to marry.

A popular and honest man, Dimitris (Dimitris Papamichael), who works at the Perama yards, sings at a local tavern in the evenings. One day, his revered brother proposes to break a villa, and to prove to him that these things do not need any special capacity, he accepts the challenge. The noise they do, however, awakens the daughter of the owner, Zoitsa (Zoe Laskari). The two invaders are surprise. Zoitsa, who understands that Dimitris is not a villain, asks her not to hand him over to the police and is listening. Shortly thereafter, the girl visits the owner of the shipyards in which Dimitris works. The two young men are reunited.