Lili Marleen (1981)

Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer, Karl-Heinz von Hassel, Christine Kaufmann ... see more  , Hark Bohm , Karin Baal , Udo Kier , Erik Schumann , Gottfried John , Elisabeth Volkmann , Barbara Valentin , Helen Vita , Adrian Hoven , Willy Harlander , Rainer Will , Lilo Pempeit , Alexander Allerson , Rudolf Lenz , Herb Andress , Harry Baer , Franz Buchrieser , Peter Chatel , Roger Fritz , Dirk Galuba , Irm Hermann , Brigitte Mira , Sonja Neudorfer , Herbert Steinmetz , Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Michael McLernon , Daniel Schmid , Raul Giménez , Juergen Draeger , Toni Netzle

Inspired a song that was extremely popular with the German soldiers during WW II, this fictional story begins in 1938 while Wilkie Bunterberg (Hanna Schygulla), a third-tier cabaret singer, performs i... read more n a Zurich nightclub. It is her boyfriend, a Swiss Jew who also turns out to be a resistance fighter who pens her the famous song Lili Marleen. She sings it in Germany and it becomes a hit with the German troops. As a result, Hitler himself invites her to perform for him. This does not set well with the songwriter's powerful who, upon learning that Marleen has become a famed singer in Germany, seek to have her barred from Switzerland. This does not stop the songwriter from loving her though and desperate to see her one last time, he sneaks into Berlin for a tryst. Unfortuantely he is arrested and she gets blacklisted. They do not see each other again until after the war. By this time, their lives have changed considerably. This is not considered among the best of Fassbinder's best films. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi