The star of Africa

Movie
Original title	The star of Africa
Country of production	Germany , Spain
original language	German
Publishing year	1957
length	99 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Alfred Weidenmann
script	Herbert Reinecker
production	Rüdiger von Hirschberg
music	Hans-Martin Majewski
camera	Helmuth Ashley
cut	Carl Otto Bartning
occupation
	Joachim Hansen : Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Marseille ; Marianne Koch : Brigitte; Hansjörg Felmy : Robert Franke; Horst Frank : Albin Droste; Peer Schmidt : Answald Sommer; Lore Hartling : Marianne Franke; Carl Lange : Captain Krusenberg; Werner Bruhns : Werner Heydenreich; Alexander Kerst : Major Niemeyer; Albert Hehn : Major Schliemann; Johannes Grossmann : Sergeant Weiss; Gisela von Collande : mother Marseille; Arno Paulsen : Father Marseille; Ursula Krieg : Aunt Irene; Christian Doermer : Sergeant Klein; Siegfried Schürenberg : Rector; Erich Ponto : billiard player; Roberto Blanco : Mathias;

The Star of Africa (alternative title: Captain Marseille ) is a German war film directed by Alfred Weidenmann as a black-and-white film and about the biographical stages of the life of the German fighter pilot Hans-Joachim “Jochen” Marseille and his missions in World War II . The film premiered on August 13, 1957 in Hanover.

The feature film was very successful in the cinemas, although the film reviews were largely cautious. For some of the actors, including Joachim Hansen , Hansjörg Felmy and Horst Frank , this film was the breakthrough to a successful acting career.

action

Shortly before the start of the war, Ensign Jochen Marseille is in an Air Force war school in Berlin, where he attracts negative attention from his superiors due to daring flights and undisciplined behavior and is only spared from harsher punishments with the help of his friend and comrade Robert Franke . After the outbreak of World War II, his squadron is relocated to France. In the Battle of Britain , Marseille also had to experience the brutality of the air war when his friend Robert was missing for a short time after being shot down. But after the happy return of his comrade, the carefree world of aviation is all right again for Jochen. The thoughtful conversation with a French civilian only touches him and his fellow pilots briefly. A little later his unit was assigned to the Africa Corps in North Africa . There, Marseille quickly developed into the most successful fighter pilot thanks to his outstanding flying talent.

With increasing duration of his deployment in Africa, Jochen loses more and more comrades in the aerial combat against the Royal Air Force . In particular, the death of the inexperienced Sergeant Klein during his first aerial battle and a conversation with the rescue officer Krusenberg raise doubts about the usefulness of his missions. After his 100th enemy kill, Marseille was ordered to Berlin, where he was awarded the Knight's Cross with Swords . After a propaganda event in his former school, Jochen Marseille met the math teacher Brigitte and fell in love with her. He takes her to Rome, where Marseille receives another award at the invitation of the Italian high command. The two experience a few carefree days in Italy. The desperate Brigitte tries to persuade him to desert , but out of a sense of duty Jochen returns to his squadron in North Africa. The dogfights continue there. During a reconnaissance flight over Egypt, his fighter plane had an engine failure and it was difficult for him to escape into the airspace controlled by Germans. When trying to jump from the crashing plane, the Marseille parachute does not open. He is later found dead in the desert. His girlfriend Brigitte receives the news of his death during her class in front of a school class and collapses.

production

The German production company for the film was Neue Münchner Lichtspielkunst GmbH - Neue Emelka . To finance the film, the production company submitted a loan application to the Berliner Revisions- und Treuhand Aktiengesellschaft . The film was advertised to Treuhand as a kind of counter-film to Helmut Käutner's film Des Teufels General . In contrast to Käutner's film, The Star of Africa , according to the “Neue Emelka”, is essential for the “military preparedness” of the largely war-weary German population. However, after consulting with the Federal Ministry of Defense and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, both of whom were not convinced by the first version of the script, the loan application was rejected. Nevertheless, the producers managed to raise the production costs for the film in the amount of DM 1.3 million themselves. This was also achieved through the support of the Spanish Air Force, which provided the necessary aircraft, pilots, ground personnel and other military material for the shoot.

useful information

The film was a co-production of “Neue Emelka” from Munich and the Spanish “Ariel Film” from Madrid.
The outdoor shots were filmed in Berlin , Munich , Rome , Seville and the Canary Islands .
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft depicted in the film were mostly Spanish license productions and were made available by the Spanish Air Force .
Pop singer Roberto Blanco (mentioned in the opening credits as Roberto Zerquera ) appeared for the first time in a supporting role as Mathias's kitchen help .

The premiere ceremony took place in West Berlin in the presence of the 70-year-old mother of the late fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille.

Fighter pilots Eduard Neumann and Rolf Seitz, who were comrades of Hans-Joachim Marseille in Jagdgeschwader 27 during the war , provided technical advice .

It was Erich Pontos ( Die Feuerzangenbowle , The Third Man ) last feature film.

criticism

Against the background of the Bundeswehr's new air force, which had only been set up a year earlier, in 1956, some film critics saw a reference to an expressive propaganda film.
“It's dangerous, it's restorative, it's neo-Nazi.” - Forward
“Clever mixture of heroic epic, combat report and half-hearted anti-war phrases.” - Lexicon of international film
... The Dioskuren couple of the " Canaris " film, director Alfred Weidenmann and author Herbert Reinecker, struggles in vain in this film about the German fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille, with sprinkled newsreel recordings and dialogue sentences the difference between the hero's death for the freedom to offer money to the death of a hero for Hitler. The Air Force Siegfried - the film newcomer Joachim Hansen quite novices way plays - white as a credo nothing to stammer more than "flying and firing" of his life and Conclusion. The war is repeatedly condemned in halting words, but its tragedies are only hinted at: through broken curses and distant smoke. ( Der Spiegel , No. 36, September 4, 1957)

literature

Stefan Bartmann: The Star of Africa . In: Flugzeug Classic . No. 09 , 2010, ISSN 1617-0725 , p. 68-71 .
Fritz Dettmann: My friend Marseille , John Jahr home library, Berlin 1944

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Tobias Temming: Resistance in German and Dutch feature films. Historical images and culture of remembrance (1943–1963) . De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-045631-8 , pp. 452, cf. here p. 70 .
↑ Der Tagesspiegel, September 17, 2007, p. 11.
↑ See film leader
^ Post-war films from the 1950s on cinemusic.de
↑ HG Sellenthin: Are Heldenflieger film heroes? To a new UFA-style film. In: Vorwärts , September 13, 1957.
↑ The Star of Africa. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .

[1] Tobias Temming: Resistance in German and Dutch feature films. Historical images and culture of remembrance (1943–1963) . De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-045631-8 , pp. 452, cf. here p. 70 .

[2] Der Tagesspiegel, September 17, 2007, p. 11.

[3] See film leader

[4] Post-war films from the 1950s on cinemusic.de

[5] HG Sellenthin: Are Heldenflieger film heroes? To a new UFA-style film. In: Vorwärts , September 13, 1957.

[6] The Star of Africa. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .