Colonel Redl

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Colonel Redl ★★★★ 1984 (R)

Absorbing, intricately rendered psychological study of an ambitious officer's rise and fall in preWWI Austria. Brandauer is excellent as the vain, insecure homosexual ultimately undone by his own ambition and his superior officer's smug loathing. MullerStahl and Landgrebe are particularly distinguished among the supporting players. The second in the Szabo/Brandauer trilogy, after “Mephisto” and before “Hanussen.” In German with English subtitles. 142m/C VHS, DVD . GE HU Klaus Maria Brandauer, Armin MuellerStahl, Gudrun Landgrebe, Jan Niklas, HansChristian Blech, Laszlo Mensaros, Andras Balint; D: Laszlo Szabo; W: Laszlo Szabo, Peter Dobai; C: Lajos Koltai; M: Zdenko Tamassy. British Acad. '85: Foreign Film; Cannes '85: Special Jury Prize.