Gerd E. Schäfer

The show was meant to compete with those on West German television. To this end it was fairly successful even attracting a following in parts of West Germany which could receive Eastern TV. Its production values were high. Apart from song and dance numbers and appearances from East German celebrities, almost every broadcast featured well-known stars from the west, often after their popularity had peaked in their home countries.

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Drei reizende Schwestern is a German television series.

Poor weavers Hans und Kumpan try to enter a town surrounded by a tall, impenetrable wall, where everyone is apparently very happy. When they finally make it inside, the tyrannical Emperor Max demands they make him new clothes that would "bring all creatures to their knees." Hans and Kumpan claim only intelligent people can see the robe, and in order to prove himself clever, the emperor haughtily displays himself before his subjects wearing his new invisible regalia.

Peter is unwilling to learn the multiplication tables at school. He would rather work as an acrobat at the circus, just like his friend Susanne. When the class plans a trip to the circus, Peter is supposed to buy the tickets. Since he miscounts and buys one ticket less than needed, he cannot join his schoolmates. Susanne, however, comes up with an idea and lets him work in the circus arena where he is supposed to check on the arithmetic problems of a numerate donkey. When Peter fails to control the donkey, he feels deeply ashamed and has to assess that math is needed in all parts of life.

On the Faroe Islands, people eke out a meagre existence by catching birds. Merchant Brause pays them little and does a good business. This comes under threat when Dr. Sten Horn suspects that the dangerous annual plague, which kills dozens of inhabitants, is transmitted by birds. Brause forces the people to work anyway and conceals the telegram from the Copenhagen research institute that confirms Horn's suspicions. Horn, supported by his cousin Arne, enlightens the islanders and the greedy Brause can only flee.

A farmer receives land from the king and discovers a buried golden mortar. He decides to give it to the king out of gratitude, but his clever daughter warns him that the king will surely want him to bring a corresponding pestle as well. When the king throws the farmer into jail for fraud, he bemoans the fact that he did not listen to his daughter.

Carolin lives in the East and works in a West Berlin bar. After the building of the wall she tries to persuade Georg, a soldier of the border regiment, to let her cross over. He falls in love with her and defends her against a West German pimp with a punch to the jaw.

A fairy-tale about a beautiful but very haughty princess Anna who cruelly mocks each of her suitors. Finally she is forced by the king to marry a beggar. The poor life, hard work and love teach the princess a lesson and turn her into a loving and kind person.

This comedic musical tells the story of Gabi, a young hairdresser from the Baltic coast who desperately wants to be a jockey. One day, she packs her bags, drives to Hoppegarten, and is soundly rejected by the head coach. Gabi doesn't want to give up, and in order to at least have a roof over her head, she rushes into a marriage with the seemingly nice Freddie. However, this marriage soon proves to be her second rejection, as Freddie openly dislikes the fact that she wants to be a jockey.

Klaus lives with his two brothers Kunz and Franz in a little village. Together, they ply their trade as cobblers in a small workshop. But the workload rests mainly on the shoulders of ill-treated Klaus. When Kunz and Franz go off into the forest to chop wood for fuel they run into an old woman who asks them for some wine and bread. Rudely and gruffly, they refuse her request and return home without any wood. Klaus then has to set out and he meets the old woman as well. He gladly offers her his frugal meal which is suddenly turned into pancakes and good wine. In addition, he receives a golden goose for his kindness. The bird possesses a an unusual characteristic: all those who are prying, nosy, envious and rapacious get stuck to it and become glued to one another.

1945: Buchenwald concentration camp shortly before liberation: Polish inmate Janowski rescues a small child hidden in a suitcase. A child in the world of death means hope and danger at the same time. When his fellow inmates and members of the secret resistance group discover the boy, they are faced with a difficult decision. But in the end, humanity prevails. The original and first German feature film about life and death in a concentration camp based on an authentic story.

A story about a family after the Second World War. The petty bourgeois cashier Karl Weber of Berlin observes from a distance how his son Ernst participates in the building of a new socialist society. Karl does not understand Ernst's visions, instead he confides in his other son Harry. However, Harry becomes involved in illicit business and Karl quickly realizes that it would be best to join his son Ernst in the citizen-owned factory.

Kasper Mai, an export merchant and comrade with a “clean” record, discovers he is the prince of Hohenlohe-Liebenstein. His royal grandmother designates him as the heir to her estate. A private trip to her reveals that she does not want a NATO airbase built on her land. The GDR and his grandmother thus find a common interest, and a clever lawyer from the East works against other family members looking to settle their debts with the estate money.

Brigitte is caught between two men: on the one hand there is the ambitious Klaus, the father of her young daughter, and on the other the sensitive Wolfgang, her flatmate, to whom she feels attracted. With the active help of the housemates, especially her mother Klucke, she finds out who her heart really beats for.

After many years away, development aid worker Peter Kessel returns to his home town of Gutenbach in 1982. He is astonished to discover that a lot has changed there. Cashless payments are used everywhere and facilities such as screen journals and video telephones have become a matter of course. Kessel tries to adapt to the changed circumstances and encounters difficulties in the process.

Berlin landlady Mrs. Klucke looks after the residents of Florentiner Strasse 73 like a mother, who could do with her help. When pregnant Brigitte is looking for a furnished room, she ends up with Mrs. Klucke. However, she has to make do with a spare room. At first Brigitte is quite disappointed that all sorts of residents and their guests regularly pass through the room, but over time she gets used to this situation. She soon comes to love the idiosyncrasies of the other residents of Florentine 73 and the motherly care of her landlady.

During the Thirty Years' War, the camp-follower Anna Fierling, called "Mother Courage", travels the length and breadth of Europe with her covered wagon. She does not care if it's Catholics or Protestants she trades with as long as business thrives. She loses her three children as a result of the war: bold and spirited Eilif, sincere and upright Swiss Cheese and mute Katrin, who saves the children of Halle by beating a drum on a farmstead roof In wartime, the Fierling children's virtues prove to be deadly. Yet, Mother Courage, remains incorrigible. She will not have anyone "spoil the war" for her and so sets out once more after the soldiers with her wagon.

Wolfgang is a bully, but overall he‘s not a bad guy. However, not everyone in Thuringia, where he goes to school, is sympathetic to him and his buddies. His daring adventures often go too far - up to and including stealing three bottles of liquor. Meanwhile, the new head of the boarding school knows how to use the undisputed skills of hooligans for the common good. Together with them he founds the "Cabaret of Debaucheries". With sharp jokes and music, they now pounce on slackers, slackers and drunks - and in the process slowly change for the better.