Fire in the ocean
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Fire in the ocean |
| Country of production | German Empire |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Günther Rittau |
| script |
Werner Eplinius Richard Billinger based on an idea by Werner P. Zibaso |
| production | Ernst Kruger |
| music | Lothar Bruhne |
| camera | Ekkehard Kyrath |
| cut | Wolfgang Wehrum |
| occupation | |
| |
Brand im Ozean is a German adventure film from 1939 by the famous cameraman Günther Rittau , who made his directorial debut here. The main roles are played by Hans Söhnker , René Deltgen and Winnie Markus .
action
The President of the Caribbean Oil Company McCowan is drilling for oil off the Central American coast. After a long search, diver Tom Finberg finds Asphalt, which is a sign of oil deposits. Tom's best friend Nick Dorland, an experienced tank diver and demolition expert, is brought in to carry out the necessary blasting operations in order to mine the assumed oil reserves. McGowan and his partner Pedro de Alvarado are already looking forward to the much-needed profit that beckons. Don Pedro also runs his own hacienda with his daughter Juana, but Pedro would like to lend it to finance further oil drilling. This goes completely against the grain of Juana, since the farm is everything to her. There is a heated argument.
Things get complicated when both Tom and Nick fall in love with Juana. The brisk Nick doesn't want to wait as long as his thoughtful friend Tom, who is much more cautious when it comes to advertising for Juana's heart, and wants to take Juana's heart by storm. Soliciting for one and the same woman doesn’t make the cooperation between the two buddies any easier and puts a significant strain on both friendships. Both men speak out and Nick decides after his demolition work is finished to leave again in order not to stand in the way of a happiness between Tom and Juana. Juana, who loves Nick and not Tom, hears about it, rushes to Nick and confesses that she loves him too. Tom overhears in the next room and then disappears without a trace.
Nick remembers the weird Captain Gold, who is so called because he once raved about a huge pot of gold in a wreck on the ocean floor. This wreck should be located exactly in the oil production area. Nick actually located a wreck during his dives and originally planned to recover the suspected treasure together with Tom. Since he has now withdrawn from the Oil Company team, De Alvarado, who got wind of the matter, senses big business for himself and persuades Tom to lift the supposedly valuable wreck with him instead of Nick. Nick, according to Pedro's plans, should be booted out. In the meantime the company has hired him to seal a defective oil line. Meanwhile, the recovery ship arrives with Alvarado and Tom to attend to the wreck. This is chained to the salvage ship. Since the wreck is in the immediate vicinity of the broken oil pipeline, the two ex-friends Tom and Nick face another confrontation.
Then it comes to a catastrophe: the lowered anchor of the salvage ship completely tears off the oil pipeline when it is being hauled in, so that huge amounts of the “black gold” flow into the Caribbean Sea. The connection to Nick's diving tank has also been cut so that Dorland can no longer be pulled up. Captain Gold, who is coming from the mainland, tries to get to the rescue ship by boat, as he suspects that de Alvarado is cheating on him and is trying to recover the gold without involving him. De Alvarado shoots the strange sailor as it gets dark, whereupon the captain throws the lantern, which offers him orientation in the dark, into the water so as not to be hit. Little does he know that the sea is now completely covered by an oil slick. The flame ignites the surface of the water, and then the eponymous fire occurs in the ocean.
Juana, who is on the company's special oil ship, asks Tom to help Nick and see that he can rise from the depths. Nick realizes that de Alvarado only used it as a means to an end, he remembers the old friendship and then cuts the chain connection between the rescue ship and the gold wreck. Meanwhile, Captain Gold has reached the rescue ship and wants to settle accounts with de Alvarado. A life-and-death duel ensues in which both men fall into the burning sea and perish in the process. A little later, helpers arrive on site and fight the fire with foam extinguishers. Now Tom can bring Nick back to the sea surface unharmed. There is a reconciliation between the two men. Nick and Juana can now plan their future together.
Production notes
The shooting of Brand im Ozean began on July 4, 1939 with the outdoor shots (Flensburg, Vilm near Rügen and Greifswalder Bodden), which were completed at the end of August of the same year. Immediately afterwards, from the end of August to mid-September 1939, the studio photographs were taken in the UFA city of Babelsberg. The premiere took place on December 19, 1939 in Bremen. The Berlin premiere took place on April 11, 1940 in the Capitol cinema.
After In the Name of the People , Rudolf Fernau once again played a determined villain here.
The production costs amounted to 1.008 million Reichsmarks. By February 1941 the total income amounted to 1.338 million RM. Fire in the ocean was therefore only a moderate box-office success. Production group leader Ernst Krüger also acted as production manager. Carl L. Kirmse and Wilhelm Vorwerg designed the film buildings. The costumes come from Elfriede Gampe. Walter Rühland was responsible for the sound, Conny Carstennsen took over the recording management.
reception
Boguslaw Drewniak summed up: “The film featured plenty of boxing matches, shootouts, and scuffles; It was of course also about love and happiness (Winnie Markus), but above all about oil. "
“One of the last German sensational adventure films that were shot before the outbreak of the war. His underwater shots and the cast did not bring about anything exciting. "
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus: German sound films, 10th year 1939. P. 31 f. (010.39), Berlin 1999
- ^ Boguslaw Drewniak: The German Film 1938–1945 . A complete overview. Düsseldorf 1987, p. 298
- ^ Fire in the Ocean in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed April 1, 2019
Web links
- Fire in the ocean in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fire in the ocean at filmportal.de