Product Details

• Actors: Caroline Carver, Christopher Fulford, Danny Webb, Jake Wood, Judy Parfitt
• Directors: John Daly
• Format: Import, PAL, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Dutch
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: H.O.M. Vision
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000HKH35S
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #174,523 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Belgium released, PAL/Region 2 DVD:it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ),Dutch ( Subtitles ),WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Making Of, Production Notes, Trailer(s),SYNOPSIS: This slow, earnest picture is a minor example of what has become a major genre: the feel-good holocaust picture. Suggested by a program called the Europa Plan, in which wealthy Central European Jews traded their property for their lives and freedom, the film follows Joseph and Rachel Krauzenberg (Martin Landau and Judy Parfitt) as they prepare to leave for Switzerland. Their negotiations with Himmler and Eichmann play out alongside the terrible anxiety by the title couple, servants of the Krauzenberg's who are actually undercover members of the anti-Nazi resistance. In other hands - Alfred Hitchcock's, say, or Roman Polanski - these situations might have generated an interesting mixture of horror, absurdity and intrigue, but in spite of the valiant emoting of a dedicated cast, "The Aryan Couple" feels both inert and confused.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pay To Live, February 13, 2007

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Despite the fact that there have been many good films about the Holocaust, the Nazi manipulated genocide of the Jews in World War II, there is enough room for a new perspective to that hideous period in history to make THE COUPLE a welcome addition to the repertoire. Written by Director John Daly based on a story by Kendrew Lascelles this film reveals a little known bit of history that shows that the Nazis allowed the wealthy Jews to 'buy their freedom and lives' at enormous losses. And the key Nazi, at least in this story, is none other than Himmler.

Joseph Krauzenberg (Martin Landau) is a very wealthy German Jewish industrial tycoon whose fortune is mirrored in his palaces that are more like museums of great art. But in the year 1944 his important steel mills and other major industries are needed by the Nazis and so a plan is hatched to offer Krauzenberg, his wife Rachel (Judy Parfitt) and his considerable family the opportunity to escape death by allowing them to leave Germany for Switzerland and ultimately for Palestine. The only servants the Krauzenbergs maintain are the Vassmans - Ingrid (Caroline Carver) and Hans (Kenny Doughty) - an Aryan couple who in reality work for the Underground and are actually Jews under strong cover.

Eichmann (Steven Mackintosh) and Himmler (Danny Webb) are perpetrating the plan to gain all of the wealth and lands and homes and art of the Krauzenbergs and they attend a dinner party at the Krauzenberg palace to sign the final papers. One of the other officers Edelhein (Christopher Fulford) is the most repulsive of the group and despite the fact that Ingrid Vassman is pregnant, Edelhein pursues her as a perfect foil for implanting his precious seed in the 'Aryan beauty' to populate the new Germany. As the night of transaction occurs Krauzenberg visits his large family being held by Eichmann in the Gestapo and reassures them that all will be safe. The Vassmans love the Krauzenbergs and ultimately confess that they are Jewish and wish to escape to Palestine with the Krauzenbergs. In a fast paced finale the trials and tribulations of the final plan are worked through in a somewhat surprising way.

THE COUPLE is beautifully photographed (the film was shot in Poland despite the fact that the Krauzenberg estates were in Hungary) and the mood of evil is always present in the night scenes with the requisite searchlights penetrating the darkness. Laudau and Parfitt are strong as are Webb, Mackintosh and Fulford. Neither Caroline Carver nor Kenny Doughty is up to the task of making the Couple credible. But the overall impact of the film is the focus of the evil that drove the Nazi machine, even with this slight bit of human kindness that was bestowed on the Krauzenberg family at such an awful cost. Grady Harp, February 07