‘Deathmaker’ Kicks Off ‘Films From Germany’

The American Cinematheque’s sixth annual “New Films From Germany,” always an outstanding event, commences Friday at 7 p.m. at the Directors Guild with Romuald Karmakar’s “The Deathmaker,” a grueling, highly theatrical dramatization of the 1924 interrogation of accused serial killer Ernst Schultze (Gotz George), the Jeffrey Dahmer of his day. It is followed at 9:30 by Fosco and Donatello Dubini’s beautiful, bemused “Ludwig 1881,” a superb companion film to Viscont’s “Ludwig,” in which Helmut Berger reprises his great role as the “mad” king of Bavaria, for whom nature was nothing and transformation--i.e., art--everything. With a wise, gentle sense of humor the Dubini’s follow Ludwig’s futile quest for an artificial paradise as the monarch has his favorite actor--and secret love--Josef Kainz (Max Tidof) recite Schiller’s “William Tell” on actual Lake Lucerne locales.

The latest of R. W. Fassbinder’s TV movies to surface, “Martha” (1973), which screens Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5:30 p.m., is yet another example of how the prodigious Fassbinder made no distinction in regard to quality between his work for TV and films. “Martha” is an intimate gem, a contemporary drama of psychological suspense in the tradition of “Gaslight” and “The Seventh Veil.” Before Martha (Margit Carstensen, best known as the star of Fassbinder’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant”), can pull herself together in the wake of her dominating father’s sudden death, she is swept up into a marriage with a suave jealous monster (Karlheinz Bohm, just as creepy as he was in “Peeping Tom”). He swiftly reduces her to a slave, subjected to his increasingly sadistic lovemaking (which takes place off-screen and is all the more ominous as a result). Fassbinder’s trenchant wit and style, aided by superlative acting and lush but oppressive settings, turns soap opera into social comment.

Lars Becker’s “The Break” (Saturday at 7 p.m.) is not as complex as his “Shadow Boxing” of last year but is a satisfying prison escape thriller--taut, crisp and, at its expertly staged finish, more poignant than one might have thought possible. Peter Lohmeyer stars.

One of the highlights of the series, Joseph Vilsmaier’s “Brothers of Sleep” (Saturday at 9:30 p.m.), is a great mystical 19th century epic centering on a peasant youth (Andre Eisermann, star of the recent and also formidable “Kaspar Hauser”) who is blessed--but also cursed--by a supernaturally acute sense of hearing that allows him to hear myriad sounds simultaneously and transform them into enthralling music. Not surprisingly, such a gift of genius does not instantly make life easier for a desperately poor farm boy, but the determining factor in his fate is the obsessive love his boyhood friend (Ben Becker) has for him and his music.

Information: (213) 466-FILM.

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The Goethe Institute, which is co-sponsoring “New Films From Germany” with the German Film Export Union, is also joining forces with the Silent Society in presenting on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. throughout January “Before Weimar.” This Tuesday’s opening program at the Institute features the work of Asta Nielsen, one of the international cinema’s earliest superstars, famed for her restrained acting style.

Meanwhile, the Silent Movie will screen Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. a rare 1919 Mary Pickford, “Heart o’ the Hills,” a Kentucky backwoods melodrama in which Little Mary stands up to the bad guys out to exploit the region’s natural resources. Pickford is a delight, but it’s one of her more dated pictures; look for a skinny John Gilbert in a small role.

Information: (213) 653-2389.

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Sara Driver’s “When Pigs Fly” (Sunset 5, Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m.) is an overly precious piece of whimsy in which ghosts (Marianne Faithfull, Rachel Bella) seeking vengeance--Seymour Cassel is the villain--end up renewing the life of a burned-out musician (Alfred Molina). It’s a waste of a distinctive cast.

Information: (213) 848-3500.