Willi Forst

Operetta (German: Operette) is a 1940 musical film directed by Willi Forst and starring Forst, Maria Holst and Dora Komar. The film was made by Wien-Film, a Vienna-based company set up after Austria had been incorporated into Greater Germany following the 1938 Anschluss. It is the first film in director Willi Forst's "Viennese Trilogy". The film portrays the life of Franz Jauner (1832-1900), a leading musical figure in the city. It is both an operetta film and a Wiener Film.

Shortly after being demobilized, Georges Duroy becomes aware of his power over women in the arms of Rachel, a young singer. Thanks to his good looks and his charming manners and his unabashed cynicism he will rapidly rise to the top by courtesy of women women (Mme Walter, Clotilde, Madeleine), from journalist to member of Parliament to cabinet minister. But it is also the fair sex that will cause his fall in the end. (imdb)

After a shady collector of paintings has been murdered, adept Dr. Sebastian Ott discovers a big organised fraud with fake paintings. His twin brother Ludwig is responsible for it, kidnaps him and locks him away in his house. He uses Otts ID and 'replaces' him...

MAZURKA tells the story of Lisa, a teen-age music conservatory student, stalked by famed concert pianist Grigorij Michailow. After a contrived meeting, Michailow charms Lisa into sneaking out of her well-to-do home to tryst the following night. He takes her to a sleazy dive, where world-weary tart Vera entertains riff-raff nightly with her warbling. During her act, Vera spots Michailow kissing Lisa and she promptly faints..... (imdb)

The political advisor to the French emperor Napoleon, and the Austrian emperor Franz I, arrange a marriage between Napoleon and the Austrian archduchess Marie-Luise in order to prevent another war. (imdb)

One autumn, Edgar, a 12 year old boy, spends a holiday with his mother at a plush hotel in Switzerland. His father, a busy lawyer, remains at the family home in Vienna. When he sees a stylish motorcar pull up at the hotel, Edgar wastes no time befriending its owner, an amiable dandy. The latter pays more attention to the boy's mother than to the boy himself, and decides to use Edgar to wheedle his way into her affections. When Edgar realises he has been used, he is far from happy...

Peter Voss, Thief of Millions (Peter Voss, der Millionendieb) is a 1932 German comedy crime film directed by Ewald André Dupont and starring Willi Forst, Alice Treff and Paul Hörbiger. It was based on the 1913 novel of the same title by Ewald Gerhard Seeliger which has been adapted into a number of films including previously in 1921 and later in 1946. It was the second to last film made by Dupont in Germany before he was forced to flee to the United States following the rise of the Nazi Party. (en.wikipedia.org)

Both the King and his son have been deposed by popular demand. The now Prinz of Arkadia certainly enjoys his new role, which without much changing his lifestyle leaves him free to concentrate on his main interest -women. Including an actress who once wrote a mocking song about him -a song that he likes to sing. (imdb)

A penniless artiste is distracted from her dreams of Hollywood stardom by two hard-up but high-spirited window cleaners, both called Willy.

This German crime drama was based on a true story. Willy Forst stars as a poverty-stricken Italian glazier who falls in love with French hotel maid Rosa Valletti. Struck by the girl's resemblance to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Forst manages to steal the painting from the Louvre in hopes of impressing his sweetheart. But when the girl proves to be a fickle sort, the crestfallen hero confesses his crime and is carted off to jail.

Das Lied ist Aus (The Song Is Ended) is a typical early-talkie German musical in every respect, save one. The story, concerning the lives and loves of show folk, ends unhappily -- and surprisingly so. The doleful denouement didn't seem to have much effect on the film's box-office appeal, since Das Lied ist Aus proved a major moneymaker. (imdb)

This 'musical burlesque' tells about a stylish young gentleman (Willi Forst) who works as a so-called 'Festredner'; an untranslatable term, it indicates a person who makes speeches at important events like marriages etc. for people who don't feel able to do it themselves. Willi lends his voice to a speech-impaired professor, but the baroness (Trude Lieske) who falls in love with Hörbiger only does so because of Willi's voice, and you can guess that this leads to all sorts of complications...

A man unknowingly falls madly in love with the fiancé of a close friend who has twice saved his life.

Toni Hofer and brothers Vicki and Nicki Mahler are working on a new operetta. Toni's reputation with women equals his fame as composer, so they keep their sister Hedi away from him. Wanting to know him, she calls at his house in the middle of the night not revealing her identity, helps him write the main waltz theme and disappears, leaving him incapable of remembering his greatest melody.

Jimmy Bolt, a singer and dancer (and occasionally as a waiter) works at a varieté. The man may be talented, but he’s not exactly a big success, and things get complicated when a young orphan girl falls in love with the voice of another singer but then mistakes Bolt for him…

Katharina Knie is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Karl Grune based on the 1928 play of the same title by Carl Zuckmayer.

The Levantine Thomas Zezi had to go to prison for a year and a half for smuggling. Now he is released back into the wild and returns to his home. But there he discovers that his old friend Manopulos has taken up residence in his apartment. To make matters worse, during Zezi's stay in prison he also became the lover of Zezi's girlfriend Jola, who has since run away. The returnee, beside himself with anger, unceremoniously throws the greasy Manopulos out of his four walls.

A dance-hall girl falls for a pickpocket. (imdb)

Die elf Teufel / The Eleven Devils was made in Berlin in the summer of 1927, in the last throes of the silent movie era. But Die elf Teufel strikes one today as a prophetic film. One of its early captions is "Football, the sport of the century ". We are shown a ball bathed in light like some sacred relic, and observe how, even in those early days, fans on the terraces wouldn't shy away from using their fists.