Ein Mann will nach oben

This classic miniseries portrays Berlin during the "age of founders" when ambitious men were establishing the businesses that would dominate a world-class economy. It pits loyalty and friendship against ambition and greed as a charming threesome thrown together by their poverty are split apart by their differing measures of "success". The production, featuring young actors who have themselves been very successful subsequently, is as apt now in the Internet age as when it was filmed 20 years ago, or when Fallada wrote it a century ago.