World on a Wire 

Somewhere in the future there is a computer project called Simulacron one of which is able to simulate a full featured reality, when suddenly project leader Henry Vollmer dies. His ... See full summary »

Stars:

Klaus Löwitsch, Barbara Valentin, Mascha Rabben

1 win.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Klaus Löwitsch	...	Fred Stiller unknown episodes

Storyline

Somewhere in the future there is a computer project called Simulacron one of which is able to simulate a full featured reality, when suddenly project leader Henry Vollmer dies. His successor Dr. Fred Stiller experiences odd phenomena. A good friend, Guenther Lause, disappears in the middle of a conversation and a week later nobody has ever heard of him. And those fits of dizzyness - Stiller cannot believe himself to be fool. There has to be an explanation for all this. Could Simulacron have something to do with it?

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Plot Keywords:

future | computer | mysterious death | cybernetics | research institute | 

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German English

Release Date:

14 October 1973 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

World on a Wire

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM950,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

205 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hanna Schygulla was offered the role of Eva Vollmer but she declined.

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Goofs

When Stiller drops Eva off at her home and then goes in after her after a change of heart he goes into the living room looking for her, then he runs into the swimming pool area. As the camera pans to follow him around the pool you see the reflection of a camera man in the glass at the middle right of the screen.

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Quotes

Fred Stiller: How can a real person love someone who's not?

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Connections

Referenced in The Matrix (1999)

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Soundtracks

Kinderszenen Op. 15, No. 1 Von Fremden Ländern Und Menschen
(uncredited)
Music by Robert Schumann

User Reviews

Ahead of its time, to say the least!

In these days of ultra-fast processors and the Internet, coming up with a movie like "The Matrix" may seem merely the next step from coining the term 'cyberspace', but do you remember what computers were like in 1974? Right. To come up with the notion of virtual reality back then is truly an amazing feat of the imagination. Fassbinder's movie, of course, has none of the massive gunslinging and pyrotechnics, and a lot of 'artsy' elements instead, but the atmosphere it creates is intense and poses the question how we can know what is real in a dark and gripping manner, making this a chiller and a thriller for the mind. It also takes it up a notch on more recent VR stories: if you get out of one cyberspace, can you be sure you didn't just emerge into another level of virtual reality?