Girl You Know It's True (5 Stars)

This is the second musical biopic I've watched today. The film is called "Girl you know it's true", which was the title of Milli Vanilli's first single, but that's ironic. None of it was true. It was a fake group created by the German music producer Frank Farian. He recorded a song with session musicians who were talented, but not sexy enough to appear on MTV, so he needed two front men to perform. One single became a whole album. They went on tour lip-syncing to their hits. Before you say that lip-syncing is common in the music industry, this was different. Other singers lip-sync to recordings of their own voices, but Milli Vanilli lip-synced to recordings of other musicians.

Maybe Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan could have continued the illusion if they'd remained more modest. As it was, they indulged in drug abuse (mostly cocaine) and forgot who they were. In an interview they described themselves as bigger than Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Pride comes before a fall. Their lip-syncing became apparent when the tape skipped during a concert, and their fans turned against them. They became outcasts. They went from being millionaires to practically broke. Rob was imprisoned for stealing a car, and shortly afterwards he died of a drug overdose. Fab was working as a waiter, unrecognised by his former fans.

I like the way the film is structured. It continually breaks the fourth wall. Rob and Fab are the narrators, speaking to the audience even after Rob's death. Franks also takes time to speak to the audience. He explains the truth behind the lie.

It's a tragic story. Other musical biopics like "Better Man" show how musicians start poor and soar to the heights, overcoming adversities. "Girl you know it's true" shows how two young men start poor, then rise up and hover before crashing down, lower than they were when they started out. Shed a tear for Milli Vanilli.

Night Train (5 Stars)

This is my Christmas tradition. Other people like to watch "Die Hard" every year for Christmas. I watch "Night Train". It would have been best to start watching it later in the evening. The film starts some time in the evening on December 24th and ends early on Christmas Day. I was impatient and had to start earlier.

The conductor starts his work on the train surrounded by gaudy Christmas lights. He ends it dying in the snow.

It's 2:12 am. First he checks the time, then he spends his last seconds looking at his wife.

It's a wonderful film, despite a few clumsy editing errors in a couple of scenes. I ignore them as best I can.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Night Train (5 Stars)

Is my memory deteriorating as I get older? I told my son that we need to watch "Night Train", because I watch it at Christmas every year. It's a perfect film for Christmas, because it starts on 24th December and ends shortly after midnight. Then I checked my blog, and I saw that although I've watched it nine times, I've only watched it at Christmas once, in 2021. Never mind, it's a film in my top 100 films list, currently in 39th place. I say "currently", because my list isn't fixed. I keep changing my mind and making adjustments, mostly at the bottom of the list. The last time I changed my top 10 was a few years ago, but anything is possible. I actually have a top 200 list on my computer, but the places 101 to 200 aren't ordered. They're just 100 films that I think ought to be in my top 100, but they don't fit.

An unnamed passenger brings a present that will change everyone's lives. If you can call it a present. The other passengers rip it from his hands when he dies. They all want it, and they're willing to kill to get it.

The film is tarnished by some blunders. which become more apparent every time I watch it. The two Japanese businessmen are playing Go, and when the camera changes angles the pieces are arranged differently. A woman is shot in the head, and a few seconds later the wound is missing. I don't know how the director could possibly have missed things like that. He must have noticed it when he watched the completed film in post production.

Nevertheless, it's still a brilliant film. It deserves its place in my top 100.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Girl You Know It's True (5 Stars)

A true story about a fake music group. In 1988 the German producer Frank Farian met the two dancers Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan and promised to make them stars. They didn't need to waste their time with things like recording music. Frank had professional singers for things like that. All the two boys had to do was lip sync.

Released in June 1988, the pair’s first single, "Girl You Know It's True", went to the top of the charts in several European countries. Their success lured the ears of Arista Records. As Farian worked away at a record for the company, Rob and Fab made nothing more than photo-op appearances at the studio.

After their first album was released in America, success rushed in. Everyone kept their mouths shut about the lip-syncing charade, with employees at their label signing confidentiality agreements. Rob and Fab later said they felt pressured into staying quiet. The album scored three number one US hits and sold millions of copies to fans who adored the duo, their looks and their dancing.

Stateside media was wary, with the singers' respective French and German accents seeming suspiciously thick for men who sang flawless English. At one fateful live performance on the Club MTV Tour in summer 1989, the lyrics track started to skip and repeat, with Rob running off stage in embarrassment. But since there were no smartphones or social media to instantly share that debacle with the world, the incident didn’t make it far.

While fans remained hopeful that nothing was wrong, reporters started pushing for the truth. But the rumours weren’t enough to keep Milli Vanilli from winning three American Music Awards and a Grammy Award for best new artist by February 1990. They then hit the road and performed more than 100 shows.

By November 1990, however, the tape of the Club MTV performance had leaked and their producer could no longer fend off the frenzied press. On 14th November Farian openly admitted that Rob and Fab had not sung on the album or in live shows. The disgraced performers said the men who sang on their album should get the Grammy that they'd won, but it was revoked by the Recording Academy, the only time in its history it has done so.

While nothing they had done was actually illegal, it was a scandal of immense proportions. Fans destroyed their records in the streets. Parents tried to sue the band because their children had been traumatised. It's true, lip syncing has been prevalent in the music industry for decades, but this was different. Other musicians lip synced their own songs, whereas Milli Vanilli lip synced the songs of other performers.

My praises go out to Matthias Schweighöfer, who plays the devious music producer Frank Farian. He's the film's bad guy, who clearly took advantage of the two young men, but we can't help feeling sympathy with him.

The cinema showing today was an almost-premiere. The director Simon Verhoeven has presented the film in three cities, Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart. He became involved with the film after other projects to make a film about Milli Vanilli fell through. He's glad that it fell on his shoulders, because he doesn't think that American studios would have done such a good job. I agree. Milli Vanilli were a German group, so a German is best suited to make a film about them.

I'm happy to say that the film was almost sold out. There were only a few free seats left in the first row. It's possible that it would have been completely sold out if a rail strike hadn't started today.

This is one of the best films of 2023. I strongly recommend it, whether or not you like the music.

Oppenheimer (5 Stars)

I'll watch any film made by Christopher Nolan, despite my disappointment with his last (almost) true film, "Dunkirk". Before going to see "Oppenheimer" I was tempted to read up on Robert Oppenheimer. I'd heard his name and I knew he had something to do with the first atom bomb, but I knew nothing about his life. Eventually I decided to watch the film first and inform myself later.

Imagine my shock when the film started as a courtroom drama. Almost a courtroom drama. It's repeatedly emphasised that it wasn't a court, it was a senate committee. The difference is subtle. If found guilty, Robert Oppenheimer wouldn't be sentenced to prison, but he'd lose his security clearance and his ability to work for the government.

The film shows three phases in his life: before the Second World War, during the war and after the war. They're easy to tell apart from the cinematography, with the post war scenes being shown in black and white. A slight criticism is that I only roughly know when they happen. I would have appreciated the dates, or at least the years, being flashed on the screen.

So far I've only skimmed the Wikipedia page on Oppenheimer. It's late at night. I'll read more about him tomorrow. All I'll do is give a very brief summary of his life. It's not spoilers, because people with more knowledge than me would have known it already.

Before the war Robert Oppenheimer was an internationally renowned expert in quantum mechanics. He wasn't a Communist, but he kept an open mind, and he attended informal meetings of Communists. During the war he was made the leader of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. After the war he was an adviser to the American government on the further development of atomic bombs, but his past history with the Communist party was dug up to discredit him, until he lost his security clearance and was no longer allowed as an adviser.

It's a powerful film. It's not exactly a pacifist film, although it could be interpreted that way. Oppenheimer built the bomb, and he was proud of his work, because it saved millions of lives. In 1945 America was planning to invade Japan, but every Japanese child from the age of 12 upwards had been given a rifle. It was estimated that at least nine million Japanese civilians would die in the invasion. In comparison, less than 300,000 died as a result of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, in the following years Oppenheimer had a What-Have-I-Done feeling, and he tried to persuade America not to make even bigger bombs.

Despite being shown in English, the film was almost sold out in Gloria, a cinema that has two large screens. The other screen showed "Barbie", also almost sold out. This made me happy. It's Gloria's most successful day since the Corona pandemic started in 2020. Cinema isn't dead, it just needs the right films.

Night Train (5 Stars)

I spent this evening with a small group of film fans in Korntal. Once a month one of us presents two films to the others. Today it was my turn, so we watched two films starring my favourite (ex-)actress, Leelee Sobieski. The first film was "My First Mister". The second was "Night Train", one of my favourite films. When I say "one of my favourite films", I mean that it's in my top 100 films list. Last year I did a countdown of my top 100 films and published a list, but it's impossible for me to have a rigidly fixed list. I now update my list monthly, based on my whims. "Night Train" was in 49th place in my original list, but it's moved up a few places since then.

The response from my friends was the opposite of what I expected. I thought they would find "My First Mister" lightweight and Lifetime-ish, but they liked it, despite some criticism of the last half hour. Everyone I know who's seen "Night Train" likes it, but today I stood alone in praising it. I could tell by the reactions of the man next to me that he wasn't enjoying the film, so I was keen to hear his opinion afterwards. Mostly he criticised the poor special effects in the murder scenes, something I've always accepted as part and parcel of a low budget film. In the following discussion Leelee Sobieski's lack of emotions, compared to the first film, was criticised. I agree that she shows less emotion. It's a different role, and she played it the way it was meant to be played. In "Night Train" she's an ice cold killer.

I did my best to defend the film, but I was standing alone, and I didn't manage to persuade anyone to change his mind. I was accused of only liking the film because it features my favourite actress. That would be sad if it were true. My regular readers know that I didn't hesitate to call the film "Lying" awful, despite Leelee's participation in the film. 

Curiously, my review of "Lying" is one of the most read posts on my blog, even though neither the film nor the quality of my review are outstanding. I don't understand that. I often don't understand my readers. Posts which I personally consider well written are ignored, while posts that I consider below par have thousands of hits. Sometimes the summary of Google's search terms gives me clues, but not always.

Out of curiosity, I checked online reviews of "Night Train", both by film critics and normal film fans. The critics have mixed opinions, as evidenced by the 60% score on Rotten Tomatoes. They praise the similarity with Alfred Hitchcock's films while criticising the predictability. The fan reviews are mostly positive. Opinions vary. It just seems like I was alone with my opinion tonight.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Eight Miles High (4½ Stars)

True Stories #12

Name: Uschi Obermaier

Lived: 24 September 1946 – still alive

Film dates: 1968 to 1984

Film made in 2007

First of all, I need to make an apology. I'm not consistent when I write about German films. Sometimes I use the original German title. Sometimes I use the English title, if the film was released in English speaking countries. Sometimes I use my own literal translation of the German title. This makes it difficult for anyone looking for the review of a particular film in my list.

I'll name three examples, starting with this film: the original title is "Das Wilde Leben". The literal translation is "The Wild Life". It was released in America as "Eight Miles High".

"Schulmädchen-Report" was released in America as "Confessions of a Sixth Form Girl", but I used the literal translation "Schoolgirl Report".

"Frau Wirtin hat auch eine Nichte" was released in America as "House of Pleasure". The literal translation is "The innkeeper also has a niece", but I used the original German title.

There's no system to which of the three alternatives I choose. I just pick the one that seems to be the most appropriate. 

Uschi Obermaier was a young woman who lived with her parents just outside Munich. She had a dull job and a dull family. It's the sort of life that 90% of the population has. What made her different was that she had outstanding beauty. She was discovered while dancing in a Munich discotheque. A photographer took a few candid photos of her that appeared in the magazine Twen. This was followed by nude photos, published first in Twen, then other magazines. She was on the way to becoming a famous glamour model.

Uschi left home and moved into the infamous Berlin commune, Kommune 1. She had no interest in politics, and she even had her doubts about free love, but she stayed because she fell in love with the commune's spokesman – I shouldn't say leader – Rainer Langhans. Whenever there was a demonstration, the press took photos of Uschi Obermaier, which angered the other commune members who were serious about promoting anarchy. Eventually she moved out, because she objected to Rainer having sex with other women.

The first big change in Uschi's life came when she met Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. In later years she said he was the only man she ever loved. After a brief affair with Mick Jagger, she decided Keith was the man for her. The second big change was when she met Dieter Bockhorn, a nightclub owner in Hamburg, who tirelessly pursued her.

Uschi gave up her career to go on tour with the Rolling Stones. The problem was that it was too dull for her. "Every day is the same. Concert, Limousine, Hotel". She needed excitement more than she needed love. She went back to Hamburg to see Dieter. Together they travelled in a camping bus to India, a trip that lasted for years. That was the wild life she was looking for.

In an Indian province a priest was amazed to see that Uschi looked exactly like a statue of Kali. The severed head also looks like Dieter, although that wasn't mentioned in the film. Dieter and Uschi were invited to meet the local leader, the Maharani. When Dieter said they weren't married, the Maharani organised a wedding for them, complete with horses, elephants, an orchestra and a procession through the streets. It was a surreal fairy tale wedding, the type reserved for Indian royalty.

Things might have gone well for the couple, but when they travelled to Mexico they bumped into Keith Richards. It wasn't a coincidence. He was due to get married, and he wanted to see Uschi one last time before his wedding. Dieter was fiercely jealous. He knew that Keith was the first man in Uschi's heart. He drove away on a motorbike and crashed head on into a truck. It was suicide, although Uschi never accepted it.

It's wrong to call Uschi polyamorous. She loved one man but married another. That was her tragedy. She never married again.

"Eight Miles High" is a gloriously colourful film. Has any woman ever had such a variety of experiences? It's like she had a dozen lifetimes. It was truly a wild life.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Night Train (5 Stars)

This is my second Christmas film today. I planned it well in advance. It's a film I should watch at Christmas every year. "Rare Exports", which I watched earlier today, was a random choice, but the two films fit together very well. Both films begin on Christmas Eve and finish on Christmas Day. Actually, "Rare Exports" has a prologue three weeks earlier and an epilogue a year later, but the main action takes place on 24th and 25th December.

Leelee Sobieski shows off her skill at chopping a body into small pieces. Don't worry, he was already dead.

It's a messy job. At least she wears spectacles.

I've watched the film a lot, but today I noticed an error in the film for the first time when Steve Zahn speaks to the two Japanese businessmen playing Go.

This is what the board looks like when Steve first approaches the businessmen. He tries to give them advice, even though he has no idea how to play the game.

Then there's a close up of a businessman making a move. Most of the pieces have disappeared from the board.

Then the camera pans out, and the pieces are back again. Oops. This is what happens when a scene isn't filmed in chronological order.

That's only a minor fault. "Night Train" still deserves its place in my top 100 films. I just checked the list. It's in 49th place.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Schlussmacher (3 Stars)

The Fantasy Film Festival is over, so I can get back to watching normal films. If you can call this film normal. It's a German comedy film. Somehow Germans and comedy don't go well together. I don't understand what the problem is. They try their hardest, but they can't make me laugh.

Paul Voigt is played by Matthias Schweighöfer, who also directs the film. He works for Happy End, a separation agency in Berlin. I thought separation agencies were invented for this film, but they really do exist. Happy End helps with organisation and counselling when a relationship breaks up. It doesn't matter whether it's a marriage or just a love affair; Happy End is there to make the break up as pleasant as possible.

Interestingly, the separation agency only receives payment after the relationship has ended. That means that Paul makes no attempt to keep a couple together. It's not about marriage counselling. It's the exact opposite. If it looks like the couple are changing their minds about separating, Paul convinces them how much happier they will be when they're single. "You can find yourself a younger, prettier wife".

Paul is Happy End's most successful employee. He's assisted in the separation of almost 1000 couples. Is that something to be proud of? He's been promised to be made a partner (like in a law firm) when he reaches 1000.

One day he visits Thorsten Kuhlmann (Milan Peschel). His girlfriend Kati is too cowardly to talk to him herself, so she's hired Happy End to do the dirty work for her. She sends Paul with a message: "Thorsten, I don't want you any more. Please leave my apartment immediately, before I get home tonight". Ouch! Thorsten never expected it. He has nowhere to go at such short notice. He begs Paul to let him stay at his house. That's not part of the separation deal, but Paul has recently lost his drivers license for drunk driving, so he hires Thorsten as his driver.

That's the story's premise. The two men are thrust together by circumstances, so they have to live and work together. Normally I don't approve of remakes, but this is an exception. I'm sure that a Hollywood version with Jim Carrey, Will Smith or any other comedian would work well. They'd make me laugh. Matthias Schweighöfer and Milan Peschel don't.

Night Train (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #49

A tale of love and obsession and death.

Maybe this isn't my favourite film, but it's one of the films I've watched more often than any other in the last 10 years (since I started my blog). Something about it draws me in, so that I have to keep returning to it. It's a film that very few people know. It's a Canadian film, and as I've often said, Canadian films aren't taken seriously. But more than that, the genre isn't obvious. Is it a horror film? Not quite. Is it a supernatural film? Almost. Is it a tale of morality? That's getting closer. Everyone is prepared to kill to get what he most desires, whether it's a salesman, an ageing train conductor or a young medical student.

The film was released direct-to-video in 2009. As far as I know, it was never shown on television. It's a film that deserves to be a cult film, but it still hasn't been discovered by film geeks. If you're someone who takes films seriously, please watch it, then tell all your friends about it.

The film is available on Blu-ray in Germany, but it's only available on DVD in America. I hope that it won't go out of print and simply disappear before it's even been discovered.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Friendship (4 Stars)

Friendship is good, free hugs are better. Or maybe they're both equally good, in the right context. Friendship is something that can last a lifetime, but a rightly timed hug can give a happiness boost when you need one.

This is an amazing true story. What I mean is, it's amazing that it really happened. It falls into the category that truth is stranger than fiction. There are certain changes made for the sake of dramatisation, but the main events are true. The biggest change is that in the film two friends travel from Germany to America, but in the true events it was a larger group of young men. That's an appropriate change. It means that the viewer has less characters to get used to.

The film takes place in 1990, between the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 1989) and the reunification of Germany (October 1990). It was an awkward transitional period, marked by events that I summarised in my review of "Goodbye Lenin". It might be useful for you to read through the list of events to get a rough idea of what was happening. I lived in Germany at the time, though far from Berlin. For me it was confusing. There were news reports every day, with the political situation following faster than I could follow it.

In these turbulent days the two young men Tom and Veit decide to travel to America. Their passports and their drivers licenses say they come from the DDR, and the general reaction in America is, "What's that? Is it a club?" They want to travel to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge, but they only have enough money to fly to New York and they have to hitchhike the rest of  the way. Eventually a trusting American lends them his brother's car. That's one of the things that's so hard to believe. What sort of man would let a stranger or group of strangers drive his car across America?

The boys make their experiences with the American police. Are all American policewomen this sexy? It's enough to make me want to get arrested. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like she's in the mood for a hug.

The poor boys have to be searched thoroughly. They have difficulty explaining why there's a Darth Vader helmet in their trunk. After all, they've never seen any of the Star Wars films, so they have no idea what it is. Someone else put it there! Honest!

In New Mexico they make money by selling pieces of rocks that they claim are parts of the Berlin Wall. That's easy to believe. Americans are stupid enough to fall for a con trick like that. Most Americans, anyway. I apologise to my American friends who're reading this.

The most difficult thing to believe is that they made money in Las Vegas by becoming strippers in a gay bar, wearing Russian army uniforms and dancing to the East German national anthem. In the DVD's extra features Tom Zickler, who's based the story on himself, shows photos to prove that he really did it.

It's a cute buddy movie and road movie that skates a thin line between comedy and drama. I strongly recommend the film to anyone who can speak German.

A friendship like this is worth more than hugs. But I'd rather have both.

---

P. S. Blogger annoyed me today. I wanted to write this review earlier, but there was a software update and I couldn't upload any photos. I was prepared to write this review re-using my old photos, but luckily it's been fixed now.

Eight Miles High (4½ Stars)

This is the true story of the German photo model Uschi Obermaier from 1968 to 1983. It concentrates on portraying the extravagant lifestyle that made her famous.

Of all the films I own on DVD, this is the film that I would most like to see released on Blu-ray. The bright colours throughout are spoilt by being viewed with a low resolution. The film was made in 2007, so I assume that no remastering is necessary. It's just a matter of the film studio not wanting to take a risk.

Maybe it would be a risk. Uschi Obermaier is a well known name in Germany, but is unknown in the rest of the world. Many think of her as the first German supermodel. That's not an accurate description, but she was the first German model to achieve notoriety. Her affairs with Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix were heavily reported by the German press, but hardly mentioned in Britain or America.

There were two men in her life. Dieter Bockhorn, a Hamburg strip club owner and alleged gangster, was the man she married. Keith Richards, the guitarist with the Rolling Stones, was the man she loved. In 1983 Dieter Bockhorn died in a road accident. In the same year Keith Richards married someone else. Since then she's remained single.

The film is dazzling. My only criticism is that it's too short. 100 minutes isn't long enough to tell the story of the outrageous life of this amazing woman. I know enough about her to name a few important events missing from the film, while others are only mentioned in passing.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

Hotdog (4 Stars)

When I moved to Germany 18 months ago I thought I would be watching a lot of German films in the cinema. Even though I'm watching more than I did while I was in England it's not as many as I expected. More than 100 films are made in Germany every year, of which most are shown in the cinemas, so I could theoretically watch 50 to 70 German films every year. As it was, I watched exactly 12 German films in the cinema last year. I suppose one a month isn't bad.

"Hotdog" is my third German film this year, so let's see if I can keep up the pace. It's a comedy starring the two top German actors Til Schweiger and Matthias Schweighöfer, with Heino Ferch in a smaller role. German comedies are always a hit or miss affair, but this is a well made film that kept the audience in stitches.

Luke and Theo both work for a fictional elite German police squad in Berlin. Luke (Til Schweiger) is a determined hard cop who never fails in a mission, however many bad guys he has to shoot in the process. Theo (Matthias Schweighöfer) is a nerd with a photographic memory who joined the police to impress his father, but he has none of the skills needed to be a uniformed offer, so he's kept indoors in charge of the station's weapons.

Luke is disciplined after he saves hostages from a museum, but clumsily destroys millions of Euros worth of artefacts in the process. He's put on guard duty at the Bellevue Palace, the home of the German President. Theo has been begging for outside duty for months, so he's also stationed as a guard. It's a boring job, because nothing ever happens. At least, nothing usually happens. On their first day the President of Moldavia is visiting with his family, and a terrorist group kidnaps his daughter. Luke and Theo are suspended because of their failure to stop the terrorists.

Being suspended doesn't stop a determined cop like Luke from doing what's right. He sees it as his moral duty to find the president's daughter, and Theo teams up with him. With the assistance of a computer hacker they go into action.

The situation comedy is hilarious. Most of the humour is in the clash of the two buddy cops. Luke considers Theo inexperienced and incompetent, while Theo considers Luke to be a reckless rule breaker. They're both right.

German critics have slammed this film for being "too American". Why is that a problem? That's probably the reason why it's so funny. I can verify that the cinema audience loved it.

Night Train (5 Stars)

What starts as a casual Christmas tale slowly escalates into a roller coaster ride of horror from which no one will emerge alive.

This is a truly unbelievable film. Hardly any of my friends have seen it, but everyone that I've shown it to loves it. It's incomprehensible to me how it could have remained hidden from the public's eye. As you'll see -- eventually -- it will be included in the list of my top 50 favourite films.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de

The Red Baron (4½ Stars)

A few days ago I watched "Wonder Woman", in which the German army in World War One was portrayed as being made up of evil monsters. That was appropriate for the film, since the war was shown as being inspired by Ares, the God of War. "The Red Baron" shows another side. The fighter pilots were the gentlemen of the air. They shot one another's planes down, but they made no attempt to kill one another. The men were instructed, "Stop firing when your enemy is falling. We are sportsmen, not butchers". The pilots on opposite sides of the war respected one another's skills and thought of one another as friends.

This was far removed from the normal foot soldier with a rifle in his hand, where the motto was "Kill or be killed". If a German and a British pilot were shot down close to one another they would sit and chat and share a cigarette. If necessary, they would help one another if one of them was trapped in his plane. Then they would shake hands, promise to visit one another after the war, and then walk off in opposite directions. After a few days they would be sitting in their planes firing at one another again.

If the war had been decided in the air alone, Germany would have won. The German fighter pilots were the world's best. In aerial battles they were outnumbered by at least four to one, but they were always victorious. Manfred von Richthofen, nicknamed the Red Baron, was the best of the best. According to official figures he shot down 80 planes, but he claimed to have shot down more than 20 other planes, which couldn't be confirmed because they fell behind enemy lines.

Manfred was given his nickname because he painted his plane red. In France he was given the nickname "Le Diable Rouge", which I find more appropriate. The colour red was intended to strike fear into the heart of the enemy. It was also to identify himself in the German squadron, to encourage the best British pilots to engage him in battle. It was sport, not war.

The film takes place from 1917 to 1918, when the Germans were already the underdogs. The successes in the air are in stark contrast to the losses on the ground. Manfred's victories are used as propaganda to encourage the foot soldiers to fight harder, sending them to their deaths.

In the end Manfred was shot down by Roy Brown, a Canadian pilot who had volunteered to fly for the British Royal Air Force. Ironically, this was a man that Manfred had assisted after shooting him down a year earlier. Manfred used his scarf to bind Roy's wound, and Roy returned the scarf a few months later. It was all so civilised. Roy laid a wreath on Manfred's grave.

This is a spectacular film that includes dazzling air battles. It's a German film, but it was filmed in English to make it accessible to the international market. In Germany itself the film was a flop, but it was a box office success abroad. The Germans consider it to be bad taste to celebrate their war heroes. The film has also been criticised for highlighting Manfred's romance with the nurse Käte Otersdorf, because in real they were probably nothing more than friends. As a nobleman he wouldn't have embarked on a serious relationship with a commoner. This isn't a problem for me. I understand cinema. In order to make a good film it's necessary to include elements such as romance to balance out the action, so I consider it acceptable to embellish a story by adding details that might have happened.

I find it strange that the film ends without showing Manfred's final battle. After having seen his successes in the air I would have liked to see his death. Maybe it's because there's lack of clarity about what happened. Manfred was shot down during an air battle with Roy Brown, and Roy was officially given the credit, but it's possible that the killing shot was fired by someone on the ground. That's very probable. Roy would have tried to avoid killing Manfred by aiming at the plane, not the man.

Manfred von Richthofen
2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

TV Series: You are wanted

The last two days I've watched the whole of the TV series "You are wanted". It was so gripping, I couldn't stop. I would have watched it all in one day if I hadn't eventually fallen asleep.

"You are wanted" is an Amazon original series. It's made in Germany and stars the brilliant German actor Matthias Schweighöfer, who would have become world famous years ago if not for his unpronounceable name. If I were his manager I'd be begging him to adopt a stage name. What's wrong with Matt Swift? That would be an ideal choice for American audiences.

The main character is Lukas Franke, a hotel manager in Berlin. During a conference in his hotel there's a city-wide power cut. The next day a hacker group calling itself Antipode claims responsibility for the blackout. Shockingly, Lukas is accused of being the leader of this group. His computer and his mobile phone have evidence of contact with the group, even though he claims to know nothing about it. Lukas says he's been hacked, but nobody believes him, especially not the police.

Lukas finds himself at the centre of an international conspiracy. A major terror attack is being planned in Berlin, and those responsible are framing Lukas to direct attention away from themselves. He goes on the run, hiding from the police while trying to solve the mystery. On the way he meets a mysterious woman, played by Karoline Herfurth. She says that she's innocent and is being blackmailed to work for the hackers, but can he trust her?

As I've said before, I find Karoline Herfurth stunningly beautiful. It's not the typical Hollywood beauty look, tall, blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a dark, haunting beauty. It's the sort of face that you see once and never forget.

At this time the series is still exclusive to Amazon. It can't be bought on disc, but it can be watched by subscribers to Amazon's streaming video service. It was filmed in German, but it's available for English speaking customers either dubbed or with subtitles.

Night Train (5 Stars)

Christmas eve. A train. Five passengers. Two conductors.

This is the 27th film starring Leelee Sobieski, made in 2009. If you only watch one film with Leelee Sobieski this has to be it. "Night Train" is a masterpiece that I've watched repeatedly but can never grow tired of. It's amazing that it was never shown in cinemas and went straight to video. Or maybe it's not so amazing. It's a Canadian film, and nobody takes Canadian films seriously, do they? Nobody except for me. This is one of my favourite films.

Leelee Sobieski plays the quiet medical student who changes into a psychopath.

Danny Glover plays the old conductor who decides to give up the job he loves.

Matthias Schweighöfer plays the young conductor who turns against his friend.

Steve Zahn plays the drunk salesman who becomes sober within minutes.

Richard O'Brien plays the old woman who turns into a man.

The two Japanese businessmen wait to reveal their true natures.

The dog is innocent. Or is he? Anybody or anything can change. The train has a driver, but he's lost control of the train. It's driving onwards, out of control, while everyone aboard fools himself into believing he's in control of his own destiny.

There are a few kisses in the film. The scene in the train's sleeping car is so brief that I didn't want to mention it at first, but I feel that I ought to, to be fair to Leelee who claims that there is too much sexual stuff in films. Whether the kisses in this film are passionate or not is a matter of opinion, but let's say they are. That brings the total to one film that contains a simulated sex scene and six films with passionate kisses. That makes the percentage of films in her career so far to 3% with sex scenes and 26% with passionate kisses.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.de