Screenplay: Karl May

Top movies, series, and documentaries with a screenplay by Karl May. Explore the titles that showcase an exceptional writing.


Apache Gold (Winnetou I)

1963 · Movie · 101 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Harald Reinl

Cast Lex Barker · Pierre Brice · Marie Versini · Mario Adorf

Plot When violent conflict breaks out between greedy railroaders and a tribe of Mescalero Apaches, only two men, destined to be blood brothers, can prevent all-out war: chief's son Winnetou and...

5.2

124 votes

5.2

124 votes

Winnetou: The Desperado Trail

1965 · Movie · 93 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Harald Reinl

Cast Lex Barker · Pierre Brice · Rik Battaglia · Ralf Wolter

Plot After the Civil War, desperadoes led by a renegade named Rollins, following the settlers moving westward, try to drive a wedge in the friendship between the whites and the Indians....

5.1

28 votes

5.1

28 votes

Winnetou: The Red Gentleman

1964 · Movie · 94 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

5.1

115 votes

5.1

115 votes

In the Valley of Death

1968 · Movie · 89 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

4.9

90 votes

4.9

90 votes

Half-Breed

1966 · Movie · 90 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

4.8

46 votes

4.8

46 votes

Flaming Frontier

1965 · Movie · 90 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

4.8

98 votes

4.8

98 votes

Frontier Hellcat

1964 · Movie · 98 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Alfred Vohrer

Cast Stewart Granger · Pierre Brice · Elke Sommer · Renato Baldini

Plot Old Surehand and Winnetou investigate the murders of a mother and daughter. The surviving husband believes that his wife and daughter were murdered by Indians, but Old Surehand suspects that...

4.8

84 votes

4.8

84 votes

The Treasure of the Silver Lake

1962 · Movie · 111 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Harald Reinl

Cast Lex Barker · Herbert Lom · Pierre Brice · Götz

Plot In their first cinematic adventure, Apache chief Winnetou and mountain man Old Shatterhand pursue a gang of murderous outlaws who will stop at nothing to find the legendary treasure of...

4.7

92 votes

4.7

92 votes

Old Shatterhand

1964 · Movie · 122 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Hugo Fregonese

Cast Lex Barker · Guy Madison · Pierre Brice · Daliah Lavi

Plot Renegades trying to get the army to abandon their fort get the Indians addicted to whiskey, then convince them to attack and drive out the soldiers.

4.5

74 votes

4.5

74 votes

Rampage at Apache Wells

1965 · Movie · 89 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Harald Philipp

Cast Stewart Granger · Pierre Brice · Harald Leipnitz · Macha Méril

Plot 'The Oilprince' is an unscrupulous businessman. He looks forward to a lucrative deal with the "Western Arizona Bank'. He sells the bank oil wells at Shelly Lake that do actually...

4.3

47 votes

4.3

47 votes

Der Löwe von Babylon

1959 · Movie · 120 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Johannes Kai · Ramón Torrado

Cast Fernando Sancho · Georg Thomalla · Helmuth Schneider · Mara Cruz

Plot A band of smugglers lives in the ruins of Bis Nim Rub, in Babylon. Kara Ben Nemsi arrives there with his faithful friend. One night, when camping, they surprise three...

Not rated

Not rated

Wild Kurdistan

1965 · Movie · 122 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Franz Josef Gottlieb

Cast Lex Barker · Marie Versini · Ralf Wolter · Djordje Nenadovic

Plot After dealing with the Shut in the Balkans, Kara Ben-Nemsi ('Karl the German') receives a firman (precious passport) from the padishah (Ottoman sultan) before he continues his travels through Kurdistan....

Not rated

Not rated

Winnetou & Old Shatterhand

2016 · Movie · 117 min. · Germany

Direction Philipp Stölzl

Cast Nik Xhelilaj · Wotan Wilke Möhring · Jürgen Vogel · Milan Peschel

Plot Apache chief Winnetou forms a friendship with a German immigrant named Old Shatterhand.

Not rated

Not rated

Die Sklavenkarawane

1958 · Movie · 99 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Not rated

Not rated

Winnetou - Der letzte Kampf

2016 · Movie · 123 min. · Germany

Direction Philipp Stölzl

Cast Nik Xhelilaj · Wotan Wilke Möhring · Iazua Larios · Milan Peschel

Plot Winnetou and Old Shatterhand are close to establish peace between settlers and natives, only to come across more obstacles. A dark secret lies beneath Apache land threatening its future.

Not rated

Not rated

The Caravan of Death

1920 · Movie · min. · Germany

Direction Josef Stein

Cast Carl de Vogt · Meinhart Maur · Erwin Baron · Gustav Kirchberg

Plot Subtitled, “A film of the southern sun in six chapters”, the film featured Bela Lugosi playing an Arab Sheik pitted against European travellers in an adventure story set in the...

Not rated

Not rated

Pyramid of the Sun God

1965 · Movie · 102 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Robert Siodmak

Cast Lex Barker · Gerard Barray · Rik Battaglia · Michèle Girardon

Plot Mexico, 1864. The country is divided by the struggle against the French occupation and emperor Maximilian. The German doctor Karl Sternau and his friend Andreas Hasenpfeffer come to love the...

Not rated

Not rated

The Young Chief Winnetou

2022 · Movie · 103 min. · Germany

Direction Mike Marzuk

Cast Mika Ullritz · Milo Haaf · Lola Linnéa Padotzke · Mehmet Kurtulus

Plot Winnetou's tribe is in dire straits. There is a threat of famine as the all-important buffalo herds are now failing. As the headman's son, young Winnetou wants to prove to...

Not rated

Not rated

Attack of the Kurds

1965 · Movie · 95 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Franz Josef Gottlieb

Cast Lex Barker · Marie Versini · Ralf Wolter · Dieter Borsche

Plot Kara Ben-Nemsi, friends and rescuees set out to free a young relative of the guardian of the treasure of the Chaldaeans 'Christian sect), who is captured for that fabulous ransom....

Not rated

Not rated

Yellow Devil

1964 · Movie · 118 min. · Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Direction Robert Siodmak

Cast Lex Barker · Marie Versini · Ralf Wolter · Rik Battaglia

Plot On his adventurous travels trough the Ottoman empire, Kara ben-Nemsi (the Turkish-Arabic name means 'black(bearded) German', so author Karl May, whose alter-ego he is, would consider shaved blond Lex Barker...

Not rated

Not rated