Alaskan foxes

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Movie
Original title Alaskan foxes
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1964
length 105 minutes
Rod
Director Werner W. Wallroth
script Egon Günther
Gerhard Hartwig (dramaturgy)
production DEFA , KAG "Red Circle"
music Karl-Ernst Sasse
camera Otto Merz
cut Helga Emmrich
occupation

Alaskafüchse is a DEFA - Feature Film of 1964 by Werner W. Wall Roth after the story by Wolfgang Schreyer from 1959. The screenplay was written by Egon Günther . The action is set on a US Air Force base in Alaska , whose job is to monitor Soviet submarines in the Arctic Circle .

Further technical data

action

Captain Jim Leslie, who already served as a pilot in World War II and the Korean War , is transferred to a US Air Force base in Alaska, which is commanded by Colonel Reed. The task of the reconnaissance planes stationed there is to monitor the no man's land between the USA and the Soviet Union in the Arctic Circle. The main aim is to use sonar buoys to locate Soviet submarines that have never been sighted. The pilots call themselves "Alaskan Foxes" and have written the name on the back of their bomber jackets .

Leslie meets Bob Harris, an old friend with whom he has flown missions before. Both are happy to see each other again. The third man in their crew is Sergeant Hester, an excellent navigator whose skills are extremely important as the on-board compasses go crazy because of the proximity to the North Pole. However, Jim quickly realizes that his old comrade Bob has psychological problems, which are ignored by the management because they are apparently harmless.

At the base bar, Jim Leslie meets Brenda Reed, the commander's daughter, Colonel Reed. She is in the company of her fiancé Gordon Gray, a US Senator. Both fall in love straight away; there is a violent fight between Jim and the Senator. The Senator tells Colonel Reed to bring his daughter to reason, but Reed brushes the problem aside.

A Soviet radio station can also be received at the base; the speaker is called "Moscow-Molly" by the Americans. "Molly" constantly shares intimate details with Air Force members, for example about promotions, which makes it clear that the Soviets are very well informed about the conditions at the base.

One day "Molly" gives a storm warning that the Americans must pay attention to. This is ignored, however, and under pressure from Gray, Jim, Bob and Hester are ordered to work again, although their rest period has not yet expired. Gray can put pressure on the Colonel because he needs Gray to be able to move from the inhospitable base.

Meanwhile, Bob's health has continued to deteriorate. His hallucinations keep increasing; meanwhile he considers himself George Washington or Abraham Lincoln . Nevertheless, Jim, Bob and Hester fly off together, although the weather is becoming more and more dramatic.

In fact, the machine has to make an emergency landing on an ice floe . Bob seriously injured one arm while repairing the nose wheel. Now Jim finds out from his comrade, writhing in pain, what caused his illness. Bob and Hester, along with another pilot, had crashed in the ice desert and disappeared. They “ate up” their comrades, as Bob puts it. This act of cannibalism triggered Bob's psychosis .

Jim realizes that quick help is needed to save Bob. Contrary to the regulations, he sends a bearing signal so that help can be sent from the base. However, a Soviet submarine appears, the tower of which breaks through the ice in the immediate vicinity of the aircraft. Jim and Bob are taken to the submarine's doctor, who diagnoses the need to amputate the injured arm. He makes it clear to Jim that whatever he does will be wrong: If he doesn't amputate his arm, the American side will claim that he let Bob die. If he amputated, it will be claimed that he mutilated Bob. Jim gives his consent to the amputation as Bob passes out.

The submarine sailors shovel an emergency runway for the aircraft on the ice floe. Jim can take off and lands safely on the base. People there are outraged about his behavior. Brenda breaks away from him, Bob blames Jim for the amputated arm. When Jim is called to the Colonel, Bob jumps first from the roof of a base building, then Jim. It remains to be seen whether they survived the jumps they used to make out of arrogance.

Deviations from the literature

Schreyer's story Alaska Foxes was first published in 1959 in the anthology Alaska Foxes. Five reports from three continents published (pp. 5–156). The plot is much more complex than the film plot. Jim Leslie has practically been transferred to Alaska from France because he was friends with a young French communist in Paris . In the novel, Brenda doesn't turn away from Leslie, but instead leaves her fiancé and waits in Fairbanks for the military tribunal verdict on Leslie, who has been arrested. In any case, she is determined to stay with him no matter what the sentence will be.

Lore

  • A VHS or DVD edition has not yet taken place.

Trivia

  • The film was accompanied by original music with jazz elements by composer Sasse .

literature

Web links