The Beacon

Dec 3, 1954

1h 35m

★ 6.0

Overview

On a barren and stormy island, fishing families eke out a meager existence on what they can catch during summer, and what washes ashore during winter. But little has been washing ashore of late, and their situation worsens. Elders recall how twenty years ago, when the lighthouse keeper’s beacon went dark, a cargo ship broke apart on the cliffs. It proved a bountiful accident for the fishermen. Today people on the island view the conscientious lighthouse keepers with evil hungry eyes...

Genres

Drama

Production Companies

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme

Pandora-Film Stockholm

The Beacon Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Leuchtturmwärter

Leonhard Ritter

Mastfischer

Horst Naumann

Mastfischer's Frau

Waltraut Kramm

Masträuber

Jochen Thomas

Masträuber's Frau

Ursula Kempert

Alter Mann mit Prothese

Friedrich Gnaß

Kaufmann

Hans Klering

Schnapsfischer

Ulrich von der Trenck

Frau des Schnapsfischers

Maria Wendt

Fischer

Kurt Oligmüller

Junge Mutter

Barbara Adolph

Fischer

Martin Angermann

The film tells the story of Russian emigree and the only survivor from ship crash Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of 19th century. When Yanko enters a farm sick and hungry after the shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy, who is very kind and helps him. Soon he becomes like a son for Dr. James Kennedy and romance between Yanko and Amy follows.

8.1

La Dolce Vita

Feb 5, 1960

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

0.0

Queen of Serpents

Jan 1, 2003

Animation without dialogue, set with excerpts from Lithuanian folk songs, which tells a traditional Lithuanian tale in black and white images. After bathing with her two sisters, Egle goes to get dressed and discovers a snake in her clothes. Not caring about her promise, she agrees to marry the snake in exchange for the return of the clothes.

7.0

Pauline at the Beach

Mar 23, 1983

Marion is about to divorce from her husband and takes her 15-year-old niece, Pauline, on a vacation to Granville. There, she meets an old love...

6.0

Blue Crush

Aug 16, 2002

Nothing gets between Anne Marie and her board. Living in a beach shack with three roommates, she is up before dawn every morning to conquer the waves and count the days until the Pipe Masters competition. Having transplanted herself to Hawaii with no one's blessing but her own, Anne Marie finds all she needs in the adrenaline-charged surf scene - until pro quarterback Matt Tollman comes along...

6.0

Titanic

Sep 24, 1943

In 1912, the Titanic embarks on its inevitable collision course with history. In the wake of the over-spending required to build the largest luxury ship in the world, White Star Line executive Sir Bruce Ismay schemes to reverse the direction of his company's plummeting stock value. Onboard the Titanic, brave German 1st Officer Petersen struggles to convince his self-important British superiors not to overexert the ship's engines.

5.2

Red Zora

Jan 23, 2008

In this sun soaked adventure for the entire family, a group of five orphaned children form their own makeshift family while attempting to operate outside the rules of society. Though they must sometimes steal to survive, their loyalty to one another means that they will always have a brother or sister to count on.

No Image Available

0.0

Hasan Everywhere

Feb 1, 2010

Hasan Everywhere is an animation which broaches the subtlety of a relationship between a man and a woman who bear the passports of enemies, to sympathetically deal with the subjects of death, grief, lost opportunity; but mostly it seeks to demonstrate the possibility of friendship triumphing over the deepest of rifts between two people. In that regard it is most unusual among the standard fare of animated shorts.

7.7

Fireworks

Oct 30, 1997

Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.

6.5

The Old Man and the Sea

Oct 7, 1958

Santiago is an aging, down-on-his-luck, Cuban fisherman who, after catching nothing for nearly 3 months, hooks a huge Marlin and struggles to land it far out in the Gulf Stream.

6.3

Le radeau de la Méduse

Jul 15, 1998

Iranian Iradj Azimi directed this French historical drama re-creating events depicted in the famous 1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa by Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault (1791-1824). The ill-fated voyage of the frigate Medusa begins when it departs Rochefort for Senegal in 1816. After striking a sandbar off the African coast, 150 civilians row safely to shore, but Captain Chaumareys (Jean Yanne) orders 140 soldiers and sailors onto a raft (minus supplies) and has it cut loose. Only 14 survive from the 140, creating a scandal back in France. Gericault (Laurent Terzieff) later talks to three of the survivors while researching his painting. Work on this film began in 1987, but sets destroyed by Hurricane Hugo caused delays, so the film was not completed until 1990. However, it then remained undistributed until an incident in which writer-director Azimi slashed his wrists in front of French Ministry of Culture officials.

4.5

The Hook

Jun 21, 1976

An adulterous woman and her lover plot to murder her husband Kostas and make it look like a yachting accident. However, unknown to them, Kostas has hired a private detective to follow them and knows of their plans in advance. A deadly game of double-crossing begins and propels all three of them towards tragedy.

7.1

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Feb 3, 1991

Kansas, 1910. Widowed farmer Jacob Witting finds that taking care of both his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. John takes out an ad in a newspaper for a mail-order bride, to which the "plain and tall" Sarah Wheaton answers, soon traveling from Maine to Kansas to become John's wife. Despite the love that grows between Sarah and the family, Sarah finds herself homesick, and she must ultimately choose whether or not to stay.

6.9

The Cruel Sea

Feb 24, 1953

At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer

6.7

The Secret of Roan Inish

May 14, 1994

Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.

7.4

Lifeboat

Jan 28, 1944

During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

6.0

December Boys

Sep 14, 2007

For many years, four teenage orphans at an Australian outback convent have watched their younger comrades find new parents, and realize that they may never be adopted. The Reverend Mother sends the four boys away on a seaside vacation, where they meet Teresa and Fearless, a couple who would make perfect parents. The youths compete with one another to be the one Teresa and Fearless decide to adopt.

7.4

Berlin am Meer

Oct 1, 2007

Tom and Malte are best friends; they make music together, DJ in Berlin clubs, dream of a career together, party until they drop, wait tables at a casting service and yet they are very different: Tom struggles with himself, his life and the future. When one day Mavie, Mitsch's "little" sister from Munich, moves into the Berlin flat share, Tom's emotional rollercoaster begins. Daredevil Malte, on the other hand, seems to have his luck in his pocket: Everything he touches succeeds. Tom sees no other way out than to escape: out of the city and into another life. His friends try to stop him, but even they know: Tom has to make this decision himself if he doesn't want to stand in the way of his happiness forever.

6.4

The Buccaneer

Dec 11, 1958

During the War of 1812 against Britain: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes - and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win.

8.0

The Naked Island

Nov 23, 1960

A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.