Karl Stepanek

Karl Stepanek

Born: October 27, 1899
Died: December 25, 1980
in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
Though born in Czechoslovakia, actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany (as Karl Stepanek) in the years before World War II. Stepanek fled to England in 1940, where, like many European refugee actors, he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains. He tried to stay away from out-and-out Nazi roles, but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepanek's screen characters. One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart; Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol (1949). Commuting between London and Hollywood, Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II, usually on the wrong side, into such '60s films as Sink the Bismarck! (1960), I Aim at the Stars (1960) and Operation Crossbow (1965).

Movies for Karl Stepanek...

The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
Title: The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
Released: October 31, 2003
Type: Movie
Over one hour of black-and-white location footage and interviews with the stars and director, all staged outdoors in manifestly frigid conditions. Mann talks about his filmmaking philosophy and the challenges of shooting in such rugged locations, and shares his insights on the Douglas-Harris feud.
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The Games
Title: The Games
Character: Kubitsek
Released: August 7, 1970
Type: Movie
From Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Australia and behind the Iron Curtain. They are the most superbly conditioned animals in the world. They are also the pawns of powerful nations, the victims of dangerous drugs and the object of many men's ambitions. Once every four years they come together... for the Olympic Games.
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The File of the Golden Goose
Title: The File of the Golden Goose
Character: Mueller
Released: October 13, 1969
Type: Movie
U.S. Secret Service agent Peter Novak goes undercover with Scotland Yard officer Thompson to halt a murderous gang of counterfeiters known as the Golden Goose. Although Peter is unsure about John's loyalties, the two infiltrate the gang and win the trust of thug Nick "The Owl" Harrison before enduring a series of double-crosses.
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Before Winter Comes
Title: Before Winter Comes
Character: Count Kerassy
Released: January 17, 1969
Type: Movie
Drama/Comedy set in a refugee camp in occupied Austria after World War II. A shrewd multi-lingual interpreter who mediates between Russian and British military brass enters into a friendly rivalry with British Major Giles Burnside, who is in charge of assigning the displaced persons into either the American or Russian zones.
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Murderers Club of Brooklyn
Title: Murderers Club of Brooklyn
Character: Dyers
Released: March 17, 1967
Type: Movie
Fifth Jerry Cotton Movie. A rich capitalist is blackmailed and threatened with the murder of his daughter.
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The Frozen Dead
Title: The Frozen Dead
Character: General Lubeck
Released: October 15, 1966
Type: Movie
A crazed scientist keeps the heads of Nazi war criminals alive until he can find appropriate bodies on which to attach them so he can revive the Third Reich.
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Sperrbezirk
Title: Sperrbezirk
Character: Inspector Wagner
Released: June 2, 1966
Type: Movie
The story of a pimp who falls in love with one of his victims, is "purified" by it, but also perishes. A colportage that vacillates between sentimentality, brutality and speculation.
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The Heroes of Telemark
Title: The Heroes of Telemark
Character: Hartmuller
Released: November 12, 1965
Type: Movie
Set in German-occupied Norway, resistance fighter Knut Straud enlists the reluctant physicist Rolf Pedersen in an effort to destroy the German heavy water production plant in rural Telemark.
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Licensed to Kill
Title: Licensed to Kill
Character: Henrik Jacobsen
Released: July 5, 1965
Type: Movie
An English spy (Tom Adams) guards a Scandinavian scientist (Karl Stepanek) who has sold an anti-gravity device to each side.
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Operation Crossbow
Title: Operation Crossbow
Character: Prof. Hoffer
Released: April 1, 1965
Type: Movie
Allied agents infiltrate the Nazi rocket complex at Peenemunde in order to obtain their secrets and sabotage the plant.The film alternates between German developments of the V-1 missile and V-2 rocket (with a German cast speaking their own language) and discovery by British Intelligence of the weapon.
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Devil Doll
Title: Devil Doll
Character: Dr. Heller
Released: September 1, 1964
Type: Movie
An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain an heiress' millions.
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Aufstand der Gehorsamen
Title: Aufstand der Gehorsamen
Character: Jawor Stranski
Released: April 20, 1963
Type: Movie
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Title: Das Kriminalmuseum
Character: Dr. Robert Großmann
Released: April 4, 1963
Type: TV
Das Kriminalmuseum was a German television series. It ran from 1963 to 1970 on ZDF and was one of its first programs. Each episode began with a tracking shot through an unspecified crime museum, stopping at one of the displays, whose story was then told. Each episode was between 60 and 75 minutes long and featured different actors as the criminal commissioner. The best known was Erik Ode, who in 1969 moved to Der Kommissar, appearing in 97 episodes. The theme music of the series was written by German composer Martin Böttcher, who also composed the complete scores for five episodes.
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Sink the Bismarck!
Title: Sink the Bismarck!
Character: Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'
Released: February 11, 1960
Type: Movie
The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.
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Our Man in Havana
Title: Our Man in Havana
Character: Dr. Braun
Released: January 27, 1960
Type: Movie
Jim Wormold is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly. He owns a vacuum cleaner shop but isn’t very successful so he accepts an offer from Hawthorne of the British Secret Service to recruit a network of agents in Cuba.
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Operation Amsterdam
Title: Operation Amsterdam
Character: Diamond Merchant
Released: January 12, 1959
Type: Movie
When Germany invades Holland in 1940, a British intelligence officer and two Dutch diamond merchants go to Amsterdam to persuade the Dutch diamond merchants to evacuate their diamond supplies to England.
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West of Suez
Title: West of Suez
Character: Langford
Released: March 1, 1957
Type: Movie
In this suspense movie, a Yankee mercenary is hired to blow up an Arab dignitary.
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The Traitor
Title: The Traitor
Character: Friederich Suderman
Released: March 1, 1957
Type: Movie
One time members of a resistance group come together every year to remember their dead leader, betrayed to and executed by the Nazis. When it seems that they might finally know the name of the traitor - and that he or she comes from within their own unit - their annual gathering becomes a deadly trial...
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Anastasia
Title: Anastasia
Character: Mikhail Vlados
Released: December 13, 1956
Type: Movie
Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her, he comes to believe that she is really Anastasia. In the end, the Empress must decide her claim.
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The Man in the Road
Title: The Man in the Road
Character: Dmitri Balinkev
Released: March 1, 1956
Type: Movie
A brilliant scientist who has lost his memory is hunted by Communist agents out to obtain a secret formula.
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The Cockleshell Heroes
Title: The Cockleshell Heroes
Character: Assistant Gestapo Officer
Released: November 16, 1955
Type: Movie
During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them.
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Secret Venture
Title: Secret Venture
Character: Zelinsky
Released: November 10, 1955
Type: Movie
An American is visiting Britain and finds himself in possession of a briefcase full of secret documents that the spies of many different countries seem determined to get.
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A Prize of Gold
Title: A Prize of Gold
Character: Dr. Zachmann
Released: October 14, 1955
Type: Movie
A U.S. sergeant, a British sergeant and a British pilot hijack gold for a German refugee's war orphans.
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Man of the Moment
Title: Man of the Moment
Character: Lom
Released: January 1, 1955
Type: Movie
Norman is a file clerk who accidentally becomes a British delegate to a diplomatic conference, befriends the queen of a remote island, and winds up a knight. Norman leaves rooms in shambles, tailors in shreds, and diplomats in bandages. Chased by gunmen and assassins of foreign powers, Norman finds himself running through active TV studio sets and interrupts various programs and performances in progress
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Dangerous Cargo
Title: Dangerous Cargo
Character: Pliny
Released: May 1, 1954
Type: Movie
Inspired by the real events of the attempted heist at Heathrow Airport in 1952, a criminal tricks an old friend into giving away the location of a shipment of gold bullion so he and his gang can steal it.
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Tale of Three Women
Title: Tale of Three Women
Character: Alfred Dykemann (segment "Final Twist' story)
Released: January 1, 1954
Type: Movie
A compilation of 3 stories, "The Wedding Gift", "The Thief of London" and "The Final Twist". Originally part of the Danziger Brothers series "Calling Scotland Yard"
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City Beneath the Sea
Title: City Beneath the Sea
Character: Dwight Trevor
Released: April 21, 1953
Type: Movie
Two adventures dive for treasure off the coast of Jamaica.
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Rough Shoot
Title: Rough Shoot
Character: Diss
Released: March 30, 1953
Type: Movie
An American military officer and his wife move to a cottage in what they think is the peaceful English countryside, only to discover the area is a hotbed of spies and secret agents.
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Never Let Me Go
Title: Never Let Me Go
Character: Commissar
Released: March 18, 1953
Type: Movie
An American reporter falls in love with a Russian ballet dancer.
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Affair in Trinidad
Title: Affair in Trinidad
Character: Walters
Released: July 29, 1952
Type: Movie
A nightclub singer enlists her brother-in-law to track down her husband's killer.
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Walk East on Beacon!
Title: Walk East on Beacon!
Character: Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders
Released: June 1, 1952
Type: Movie
An FBI agent works with a refugee scientist and the Coast Guard to crack a Soviet spy ring in Boston.
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No Highway
Title: No Highway
Released: June 28, 1951
Type: Movie
James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to a crash site to prove his theory, Honey discovers that he is aboard a plane rapidly approaching his predicted deadline.
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The Third Visitor
Title: The Third Visitor
Character: Richard Carling
Released: January 31, 1951
Type: Movie
Suave supercilious Carling (Karel Stepanek) receives several callers to his isolated house, all of whom hold a grudge against him. Next morning a corpse is found, and later identified as his by one of the visitors.
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State Secret
Title: State Secret
Character: Dr. Revo
Released: September 11, 1950
Type: Movie
Visiting in England, an American surgeon Doctor John Marlowe is decoyed to a middle European country, and discovers the operation he is to perform is on the Vosnian dictator. When the latter dies, he is replaced by a look-alike, but Marlowe then becomes the object of a shoot-to-kill, vicious pursuit by the secret police of Vosnia since it is vital to Vosnia that the dictator's death does not become known. Fleeing, he seeks help from an actress, Lisa Robinson, and the two are harried across the countryside.
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Cairo Road
Title: Cairo Road
Character: Edouardo Pavlis
Released: June 21, 1950
Type: Movie
In colonial Egypt, a British police officer sets out on a daring hunt for drug smuggling gangs operating along the notorious Cairo Road.
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Golden Arrow
Title: Golden Arrow
Character: Schroeder
Released: December 31, 1949
Type: Movie
On a journey from Paris to London, a Briton, a Frenchman and an American bond with each other and indulge in a romantic fantasy about a girl they see.
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Give Us This Day
Title: Give Us This Day
Character: Jaroslav
Released: October 14, 1949
Type: Movie
Exiled from Hollywood due to the blacklist, director Edward Dmytryk briefly operated in England in the late 1940s. Though filmed in its entirety in London, Dmytryk's Give Us This Day is set in New York during the depression. Fellow blacklistee Sam Wanamaker is starred as the head of an Italian immigrant family struggling to survive the economic crisis.
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The Third Man
Title: The Third Man
Character: Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
Released: August 31, 1949
Type: Movie
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
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Conspirator
Title: Conspirator
Character: Radek
Released: July 28, 1949
Type: Movie
A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy.
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The Fallen Idol
Title: The Fallen Idol
Character: First Secretary
Released: September 30, 1948
Type: Movie
Phillipe, the son of an ambassador in London, idolizes Baines, his father's butler, a kind of hero in the eyes of the child, whose perception changes when he accidentally discovers the secret that Baines keeps and witnesses the consequences that adults' lies can cause.
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Counterblast
Title: Counterblast
Character: Professor Inman
Released: May 18, 1948
Type: Movie
An escaped World War 2 Nazi doctor impersonates a murdered English doctor so he can work on a vaccination to protect the Germans in their planned germ warfare.
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Broken Journey
Title: Broken Journey
Character: Swiss Officer (uncredited)
Released: April 14, 1948
Type: Movie
A plane flying over the Swiss Alps develops engine trouble and is forced to crash-land on a glacier. Unable to radio for help because of damaged batteries and with limited food supplies, the survivors must come to a decision -- whether to stay and wait for help they believe is coming or to leave the shelter of the wrecked plane and set out in bad weather to try to reach civilization.
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The Captive Heart
Title: The Captive Heart
Character: Forster
Released: April 29, 1946
Type: Movie
A series of stories about the lives and loves of nine men in a Prisoner of War Camp over five years. Location shooting in the British occupied part of Germany adds believability. The main story is of Hasek (Redgrave) a Czech soldier who needs to keep his identity a secret from the Nazis, to do this he poses as a dead English Officer and corresponds with the man's wife. Upon liberation they meet and decide to continue their lives together. The other inmates' stories are revealed episodically.
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Escape to Danger
Title: Escape to Danger
Character: Franz von Brinkman
Released: October 18, 1943
Type: Movie
During the Second World War a British schoolteacher working in Denmark is caught up when the Germans invade.
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They Met in the Dark
Title: They Met in the Dark
Character: Riccardo
Released: August 11, 1943
Type: Movie
A Royal navy Commander is tricked by a pretty girl who is working for the Nazis. She tricks him into revealing some military secrets and he is court martial. He vows to track her and her accomplices down.
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Tomorrow We Live
Title: Tomorrow We Live
Character: Seitz
Released: April 5, 1943
Type: Movie
British World War II film set in occupied France, portraying the activities of members of the French Resistance and the Nazi tactic of taking and shooting innocent hostages in reprisal for acts of sabotage. The opening credits acknowledge "the official co-operation of General de Gaulle and the French National Committee". It was released as "At Dawn We Die" in the US.
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Secret Mission
Title: Secret Mission
Character: Major Lang
Released: October 5, 1942
Type: Movie
World War II drama in which a member of the French Resistance and three British agents undertake a hazardous mission to infiltrate a German HQ in search of vital information that could lead to the overthrow of the Nazis.
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Our Film
Title: Our Film
Character: Soviet Visitor
Released: August 3, 1942
Type: Movie
A British factory is inefficient because of pre-war rules and red tape. A Soviet trades union representative shows workers and management the value of unity.
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The Leghorn Hat
Title: The Leghorn Hat
Character: Felix, Diener bei Farina
Released: April 4, 1939
Type: Movie
Der Florentiner Hut (The Leghorn Hat), a 1939 German film directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner
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Hotel Sacher
Title: Hotel Sacher
Character: Franz
Released: March 15, 1939
Type: Movie
Vienna is celebrating New Year’s Eve 1913/14. It is the year, which will see the outbreak of the First World War. In Hotel Sacher, the mood is excellent; and although the political atmosphere is charged, there’s an undercurrent of hate and intolerance in the air. It is with this background that Nadja, a Russian spy, meets the Austrian civil servant Stefan. He loves her, but comes under suspicion of being an agent because of this love.
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War es der im 3. Stock?
Title: War es der im 3. Stock?
Character: Georg Kilby
Released: January 6, 1939
Type: Movie
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Narren im Schnee
Title: Narren im Schnee
Character: Rolf Pinkenkötter
Released: August 16, 1938
Type: Movie
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Klatovští dragouni
Title: Klatovští dragouni
Released: February 25, 1938
Type: Movie
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Die Fledermaus
Title: Die Fledermaus
Character: Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
Released: October 30, 1937
Type: Movie
The delightful Johann Strauss comic opera Die Fledermaus was mercilessly lampooned in this truly bizarre production. For starters, a framing device has been added: After appearing in 300 consecutive appearances of Fledermaus (which translates as The Bat) the lead tenor (Georg Alexander) imagines that he's seeing bats everywhere. Driven a bit over the edge by all this, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about the opera, with a group of non-singers cast in the leading roles. The original libretto about romantic assignations, political imprisonments and mistaken identity is burlesqued to the hilt: at one point, the hero finds out that his prison cell is surrounded by rubber tubes!
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The Unknown
Title: The Unknown
Character: Manager at Regina's
Released: November 12, 1936
Type: Movie
The body of an unknown beautiful woman is fished out of the river and leaves the policemen wondering what drove the girl to such a grisly fate. The film then flashes back to months before, showing the torrid love affair between a young cabaret singer and a rich playboy that ultimately results in tragedy for the girl.
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Der Außenseiter
Title: Der Außenseiter
Character: Otto Burian
Released: November 14, 1935
Type: Movie
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Pozdní láska
Title: Pozdní láska
Released: June 7, 1935
Type: Movie
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Na růžích ustláno
Title: Na růžích ustláno
Released: January 25, 1935
Type: Movie
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Hermine and the Seven Upright Men
Title: Hermine and the Seven Upright Men
Character: Ruckstuhl
Released: January 11, 1935
Type: Movie
Seven men in peaceful Switzerland swear lifelong friendship while the rest of the world is at strife. A conflict arises when the daughter of one falls in love with the son of another.
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Waltz War
Title: Waltz War
Character: Kellner Leopold
Released: October 3, 1933
Type: Movie
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A Song for You
Title: A Song for You
Character: Theo Bruckner
Released: April 14, 1933
Type: Movie
During a concert tour, famous tenor Riccardo Gatti meets Lixie at an Aida rehearsal and takes her for a ballet dancer. She is in fact trying to get a position for her boyfriend, so she accepts Gatti's date for supper. When she runs away he publishes a newspaper ad offering to give a concert anywhere she chooses if she shows up. She chooses a swimming pool hoping to discourage him, but he accepts.
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Spione im Savoy-Hotel
Title: Spione im Savoy-Hotel
Character: Jackson
Released: November 4, 1932
Type: Movie
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Five from the Jazzband
Title: Five from the Jazzband
Character: Jean
Released: March 19, 1932
Type: Movie
By pure chance, Jessie and his four jazz musicians are hired to play at the cabaret theatre “Trocadero”. Unfortunately, she knows nothing about music and it doesn’t help that all four musicians are in love with her. Jessie doesn’t reciprocate their feelings, because she has a thing for Martin. Unfortunately, Martin believes that Jessie stole his car … and so, right before the premiere at the cabaret, she ends up in jail.
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Here's Berlin
Title: Here's Berlin
Character: Max
Released: March 14, 1932
Type: Movie
Story of a rendezvous in Paris which is prepared through telephone calls between a Berlin telephonist and his female colleague in Paris.
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Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf
Title: Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf
Released: October 7, 1931
Type: Movie
Franz Biberkopf has served four years in prison. His return to normal life is not successful.