The light of the black candle

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Movie
Original title The light of the black candle
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1973
length 184 minutes
Rod
Director Peter Hagen
script Peter Hagen
music Walter Kubiczeck
camera Rolf Sohre
cut Margrit Brusendorff
occupation

The Light of the Black Candle is a three-part film by Peter Hagen on television in the GDR and produced in the VEB DEFA studio for feature films . The literary model for the film was the novel of the same name by Wolfgang Held , who also wrote the scenario for the film.

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The focus of the plot is the German communist Fred Laurenz, who served in the Condor Legion on behalf of his comrades in the Spanish Civil War and there came into possession of the secret formula for the poison gas tabun . Laurenz wants to pass this formula on to the responsible authorities in the Soviet Union and has deserted the Legion for this purpose. Before he could pass on the formula, however, he was arrested by French soldiers and sentenced to death. Before that, however, he managed to assume the identity of a fallen Danish interbrigadist. So his real person remains initially undiscovered by the putschists.

Later pardoned to life imprisonment, Laurenz is imprisoned in the desert fortress El Paraiso. This is where the action of the film begins. He tries to flee from El Paraiso, but fails. In the meantime, the Gestapo and the SD have opened a case in Germany under the code name "Black Candle", which is intended to determine the whereabouts of Fred Laurenz and to prevent the formula from being passed on to unauthorized persons. The Gestapo commissioned Kriminalrat Josef Krakmeyer with the investigation. Since it is known that Laurenz was last in Spain, German authorities turned to the Spanish secret police. This in turn is interested in getting into possession of the secret formula and therefore starts a double game. Krakmeyer and the Spaniards manage to locate Laurenz in El Paraiso despite having a false identity. He is supposed to be brought to Madrid. Laurenz managed to flee on the transport.

Parts

  1. In the hell of paradise (60 min)
  2. In the glow of the sun (50 min)
  3. In the Devil's Circle (76 min)

production

The film was the first collaboration between director Peter Hagen and the composer Walter Kubiczeck, which was continued immediately afterwards in the television series The Invisible Visor and which played a major role in the popularity of both the film and later the television series.

The first broadcast of the film took place from August 7th to 10th, 1973 in the first program of the GDR television.

The light of the black candle was received with great interest by the audience and made the director popular with many television viewers. Some of the style and design elements used later in the invisible visor have already been tried out here. However, the audience response to this film should have had little influence on the design of the Invisible Visor , as the first episode of the Invisible Visor was already being finalized when the Black Candle was first broadcast .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ fernsehserien.de

Web links