Willi Forst – MRQE

Bel Ami

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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.

Atlantic

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

German-language version. “Atlantic” is a drama film based on the sinking of the RMS “Titanic” and set aboard a fictional ship, called the “Atlantic”. The main plotline revolves around a man who has a shipboard affair with a fellow passenger, which is eventually discovered by his wife. The ship also has aboard an elderly couple, Heinrich and Anna Thomas, who are on their anniversary cruise. Midway across the Atlantic Ocean, the “Atlantic” strikes an iceberg and is damaged to the point where it is sinking into the Atlantic. The German version was filmed at the same time as the British version, with each scene first being filmed in English for the British version, then the same scene being filmed in German by a German cast, using the same sets.

Mazurka

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A woman is put on trial for murdering a musician who ruined her marriage.

Operette

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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” followed by Vienna Blood (1942) and Viennese Girls (1945). The film portrays the life of Franz Jauner (18321900), a leading musical figure in the city. It is both an operetta film and a Wiener Film.

Brennendes Geheimnis

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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 boys 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…

So ein Mädel vergißt man nicht

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A GIRL YOU DON’T FORGET can be thought of as a backstage musical that treats the whole world as backstage. Melodies seem to be buzzing through the air, available to anyone in the right state of mind. Willi Forst always is, and he is also an actor who can transform any space into a stage. Fritz Kortner, one of the defining personalities of the German theatre scene of the 1920s, makes the most of his stars talent in an intricately constructed romantic comedy that believes in the truth of artifice. Forst plays Paul Hartwig, a wannabe actor who is reduced to selling books in the cold streets of Berlin. While pursuing his big break, he meets Lisa Brandes (Dolly Haas), another victim of the global financial crisis who has just learned a new trick: cheating horny old men out of their money by selling promises she does not intend to keep. Dedicated theatre man Paul decides to win her over by putting on an act, but a misplaced slap leads to unintended consequences. – Lukas Foerster

Der Raub der Mona Lisa

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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. Unwilling to admit that he’d been led astray by a woman, Forst claims that he stole the Mona Lisa to restore it to his native Italy, and as a result is hailed as a national hero! Raub der Mona Lisa was distributed in the U.S. by RKO Radio, under the title The Theft of the Mona Lisa.

Die lustigen Weiber von Wien

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A dance teacher helps his ten well-bred student sisters when they leave home as a protest against their father’s intended wedding. They form a café group called Die lustigen Weiber aus Wien (The merry Viennese girls).

Der Herr auf Bestellung

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

“Der Herr auf Bestellung” has the Weimar dream team of Walter Reisch as scriptwriter, Geza von Bolvary as director and most importantly, the incomparable Willi Forst as main actor. 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 (Paul Hörbiger), 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

Das Lied ist aus

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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.