Wilfried Seyferth — Actor (5)
The Star of Rio (1940) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB
Stern von Rio
director: Karl Anton actor: La Jana / Gustav Diessl
other title: Stern von Rio / Étoile de Rio
Concha flies from his natal Rio to Germany to help his loved one, who has been caught after finding some diamonds in a mine already registered by a company. Amongst them is the impressive one which thanks to her will be known as The Star from Rio. She finds herself staying at the manager's home hired as a dancer to present the diamond at a fashion show. Then the lights go suddenly out.
The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1969) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Die fliegenden Ärzte von Ostafrika
director: Werner Herzog actor: Wilfried Seyferth / Dr. Michael Woods
other title: 东非的飞行医生们 / Die fliegenden Ärzte von Ostafrika
Here Herzog sets out to document a small group of British physicians who provide medical supplies and aid to the vast undeveloped interior of tribal eastern Africa.
Werner's fascination with these "flying doctors" seems genuine though comes across as exploitive and poorly realized. He focuses primarily on the indigenous tribes' primitive conditions and quirky cultural differences largely avoiding focusing on the actual doctors the film is named after. Their backgrounds - their motivations - their passion for helping these people through great adversity is hardly touched upon leaving behind a sheen but hollow "National Geographic" short.
It certainly doesn't help that the film's English dialog is spoken over by German narration often without the benefits of English subtitles. And when subtitles are present, they are blocked and very poorly translated.
Still, there are good scenes providing reflection on culture, adaptation to environment and the nature of health care.