The fox of Paris

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Movie
Original title The fox of Paris
The fox of paris.svg
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1957
length 98 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Paul May
script Herbert Reinecker
production Kurt Ulrich for Kurt Ulrich Film (Berlin)
music Hans-Martin Majewski
camera Georg Bruckbauer
cut Klaus Eckstein
occupation

The Fox of Paris is playing in occupied France in 1944, German feature film in 1957. Directed by Paul May play Martin Held and Hardy Krüger the lead roles.

action

Second World War 1944, in Paris occupied by the German Wehrmacht , just before the Allies landed in Normandy . General Quade and Generaloberst von der Heinitz discussed the military situation at the German headquarters . Both men expect the Allies to land on the French coast shortly. Hitler's order to fight to the last drop of blood and to senselessly sacrifice the lives of German soldiers in the process arouses more and more the will to resist in the two responsible officers. Quade's nephew, Captain Fürstenwerth, bursts into this situation. He has just returned from his deployment on the Eastern Front in Russia. Quade quickly revealed his nephew after he had also recognized the hopelessness of a final battle in the event of an American-British landing in France. The fourth confidante in the league is General Quade's subordinate major of the Abwehr, Wedekind. The arming Colonel Toller has arrived from Berlin, who is supposed to supervise the execution of Hitler's orders.

Fürstenwerth would like to use the time in Paris to relax a little and to forget the terrible events on the Eastern Front. While walking in civilian clothes in the palace gardens of Versailles , he saves a small child from drowning. The pretty French girl Yvonne is watching the incident and they get to know each other. Soaking wet from top to bottom, the young man is taken by Yvonne to her father's house so that he can dry himself off there. In spite of all reservations towards the German officer, one treats Fürstenwerth politely. François, a brother of Yvonne's, can hardly hide his deep-seated dislike for the German. Yvonne gives Fürstenwerth the suit of her other brother who died in the war. When the young captain leaves the house, he sees a man he has recently met. It's André, who heads the local resistance group. André discusses the situation with Yvonne, her father and François and asks Yvonne to keep in touch with Fürstenwerth, as he might still be of use to them. While Yvonne flirts with Captain Fürstenwerth from now on, he has no idea that he has long since become the plaything of the interests of the French Resistance .

Meanwhile, Quade and his confidante made a decision for which contact with the French resistance makes perfect sense. One wants to send the absurd defense plans of the OKW to the Allies in order to force their change in the Fuehrer's headquarters . Quade knows about Fürstenwerth's contact with Yvonne and decides to use his nephew for his plan. He puts a folder with the plans in his hand, hoping that he will fall into the clutches of the Resistance at the next opportunity. And so it happens. While Yvonne is strolling in the park with the uniformed Fürstenwerth, François and André copy the plans stolen from the folder. In fact, the men forward the documents to their UK liaison, CIC Officer Col. Robbins. When Fürstenwerth and Yvonne, who are beginning to fall in love, come to her home one evening, André and François are already waiting there with their revolvers drawn. They take Fürstenwerth to a secret hiding place, a remote farm where Robbins is already waiting for him.

The opposing side puts Fürstenwerth under massive pressure to procure further important material. Something unexpected happens. The German defense has been bugging the Resistance's secret radio communications for some time and wants to pick up the resistance fighters in a raid . The farm is surrounded and there is a shooting. With a well-aimed shot, Fürstenwerth switches off the searchlights of his own people and saves the wounded François. The gratitude of the British and the French is limited, because now they threaten Fürstenwerth with betraying him to his own people because of this action if he should not help the resistance any further. Quade, instructed by Fürstenwerth, persuades his nephew to hold out for a few more days, and then his plan will work out. He even wanted to get the map that François had asked of him, Fürstenwerth.

Unfortunately for Fürstenwerth, he has been under surveillance for some time and at the crucial moment he is arrested by two SD henchmen, Biener and Däubele, on the street when he is about to hand over the bag with the map to Yvonne in a café. After endless interrogations , Fürstenwerth bravely waits for relief from his uncle in his prison cell . But he cannot intervene if he does not want to completely ruin his overarching plan. And so General Quade has to sacrifice Hauptmann Fürstenwerth, especially since Major Wedekind announces the bad news that the Führer Headquarters only wants to change the troop plans in nuances. In the morning hours, Captain Fürstenwerth was shot in the prison yard . Yvonne hears the gunfire just a few streets away.

Production notes

The external shoots for The Fox of Paris took place in Paris and Versailles , the studio recordings were made in the UFA studio in Berlin-Tempelhof . The world premiere was on November 14, 1957.

The buildings were designed by Hanns H. Kuhnert and Wilhelm Vorwerg , the costumes were designed by Walter Salemann. Heinz Garbowski provided the sound. Colonel a. D. Burkhard Hering was employed as a military advisor.

Reviews

“This film by the '08/15' director Paul May does not deviate from the practice of the German film industry, preferably showing the recent past in atypical stories that the viewer can watch painlessly. A Russian warrior (Hardy Krüger), right-angled in body and soul, is transferred to Paris, and Uncle General (Martin Held) consumes him on a mission with which the high-ranking occupation officers hope to thwart foolish plans at the Führer Headquarters in order to make unnecessary human sacrifices, according to the script avoid. The shaky story is supported by the reference to 'secret documents'. Screenplay writer Reinecker ('Canaris', Der Stern von Afrika) made sure that the war was condemned and that Franco-German reconciliation was targeted. "

- Der Spiegel , No. 49 of December 4, 1957

Paimann's film lists summed up: "An act held in the manner of a report film, the oppressive, timely processing of which does not allow the awareness of improbabilities, has selected interpreters as well as real-looking environmental labels ..."

"Upmarket spy film, not always credible, but with respectable approaches to a high treason tragedy."

The film's large lexicon of characters called May's staging a "pathetic, solemn resistance drama".

"Straightforward and excitingly staged."

- Cinema online

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The Fox of Paris in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / old.filmarchiv.at
  2. The Fox of Paris. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 5: L - N. Rudolf Lettinger - Lloyd Nolan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 355.