Alice in the Cities (Alice in den Städten) was the first of German director Wim Wenders' films to be lensed in part in the United States. Phillip (Rüdiger Vogler) is a roving German reporter who, after a chance encounter with an elusive American woman, reluctantly accepts temporary custody of little Alice (Yella Rottländer). Phillip takes Alice in hand on a trek across Germany to locate the girl's grandmother. The plot takes second place to Wenders' fascination with the contrast between the neon-and-billboard ambience of the U.S. and the rolling hills and industrial pockets of Deutschland. Alice in the Cities was the first of Wenders' "road trilogy"; the follow-ups were Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976), both also starring Rüdiger Vogler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi