Max Werner Lenz

Musik ist Trumpf

A biographical drama directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb.

The Shadows Grow Longer

The Shadows Grow Longer (German: Die Schatten werden länger) is a 1961 Swiss drama film directed by Ladislao Vajda. The film was selected as the Swiss entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 34th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

The Devil May Well Laugh

Three bums get played by the devil.

Café Odeon

A "milieustudie" about a girl going to the famous Cafe Odeon and trying to make ends meet.

The Cheese Factory in the Hamlet

The farmers of a village decide to postpone the construction of a new school in profit of a concentration to cheese production. From a novel by Jeremias Gotthelf.

It Happened in Broad Daylight

The search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession.

The Zürrer Bakery

Widowed baker Zürrer has to raise his three children, who all turn out to be disappointments to him in various ways.

Madness Rules

If any one man is responsible for the rejuvenation of the postwar Swiss film industry, that man was director Leopold Lindtberg. Matto Regiert (Madness Rules) was co-adapted for the screen by Lindtberg from a novel by Friedrich Glauser. Heinrich Gretler stars as Police Constable Studer, the hero of several of Glauser's most popular works. This time, Studer must solve the murder of the director of an insane asylum -- and it's not (surprise, surprise) the most likely suspect, manic-depressive patient Herbert Caplaun. For box-office purposes, Matto Regiert stresses a romantic subplot involving Caplaun and nurse Irma Wasem.

Verena Stadler

Venice Film Festival 1940