Five cartridge cases

Movie
Original title	Five cartridge cases
Country of production	GDR
original language	German
Publishing year	1960
length	88 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Frank Beyer
script	Walter Gorrish
production	DEFA
music	Joachim Werzlau
camera	Günter Marczinkowsky
cut	Evelyn Carow
occupation
Erwin Geschonneck : Commissioner Heinrich Witting Ulrich Thein : Radio operator Wasja Edwin Marian : José Martinez Ernst-Georg Schwill : Willi Seifert Armin Mueller-Stahl : Pierre Gireau Manfred Krug : Oleg Zalewski Günter Naumann : Dimitri Pandorow Fritz Diez : Major Bolanos Johannes Maus : Karl Jochen Diestelmann : Jerri Harald Jopt : Sanchez Fritz-Ernst Fechner : Jirka Dom de Beern : Otto Hans Finohr : Pedro Walter Schramm : Juan Ralf Bregazzi Fred Düren Adolf Peter Hoffmann Fred Ludwig Arno Wyzniewski Ezard Haussmann Christian Ebel

Five cartridge cases is a war drama by Frank Beyer . The film describes the deployment of six communist militiamen from the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War .

action

With a few volunteers, Commissioner Witting is supposed to cover the battalion's withdrawal during the war in Spain . Although the unit manages to secure the withdrawal of the troops, it is surrounded by enemy units while fleeing and the radio operator Wasja is separated from the others. When Witting is looking for him, he is badly wounded. Shortly before his death, he tears up a message that is meaningless in itself and claims that it is a secret drawing by the enemy that must be handed over to his own people in any case. He has them distributed over five cartridge cases and gives one to each of his troops to motivate them.

Wasja found his way back to the troops, but sacrificed himself and stopped the enemy with the help of a hand grenade. Without a drop of water, the soldiers have to make their way through the mountains in the heat of Spain. Carried solely by the will to fulfill their mission, they fight their way forward. But with every hour it gets harder and harder and the cohesion of the troops becomes more fragile.

background

Director Frank Beyer, composer Joachim Werzlau, cameraman Günter Marczinkowsky and film architect Alfred Hirschmeier at the award ceremony for the Heinrich Greif Prize for the film.

The film was shot in Bulgaria and in the Harz near Quedlinburg . Rocks from the Devil's Wall in Harz were splattered with white paint to simulate the Sierra Nevada. While Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ernst-Georg Schwill and Ulrich Thein really did without water in order to appear dried out, Erwin Geschonneck, Edwin Marian, Günter Naumann and Manfred Krug drank ice-cold “Metschka” (lemonade).

Author Walter Gorrish , who fought in Spain himself and was a comrade , processed many of his experiences in the film.

At the beginning of the film you can hear the song "Am Río Jarama" by Ernst Busch about the battle of the Jarama .

The film was awarded the Heinrich Greif First Class Prize.

Ulrich Thein bought one of the emaciated film donkeys, which he then had flown into the GDR by plane. The Ministry of State Security created files for the donkey, which Thein baptized “Charlie Brown” .

criticism

The lexicon of international films ruled that the film was a “gripping” and “unusually carefully crafted civil war drama”.

DVD release

The film was released in multiple editions and in various boxes by Icestorm Entertainment . In addition to the biographies and filmographies of Beyer, Mueller-Stahl, Krug and Geschonneck, various "eyewitness" reports and the film We are the last - ask us , in which the Spanish fighter Kurt Goldstein reports on his fight in the international brigades, are bonus material .

literature

• Ingrid Poss, Peter Warnecke (Eds.): Trace of Films - Contemporary Witnesses on DEFA , Ch. Links Verlag , Berlin 2006, p. 153 ff.
• Manfred Krug: MK picture book - a hodgepodge. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2012, pp. 39–45.
• Ernst-Georg Schwill: Isn't there a question - memories of an actor. Das Neue Berlin , Berlin 2008, p. 128 ff.
• Erwin Geschonneck: My restless years. Aufbau-Verlag , Berlin 1995, p. 197 f.

Web links

• Five Cartridges in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Five cartridge cases at filmportal.de
• Five cartridge cases at www.defa-sternstunden.de
• Five cartridge cases at the DEFA Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Erwin Geschonneck: My restless years. Aufbau-Verlag , Berlin 1995, p. 197 f.
2. ↑ Manfred Krug: MK picture book - a hodgepodge. , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2012, p. 41.
3. ↑ Helmut Pelzer: Ulrich Thein - Others about him. East Berlin 1962, p. 26 f.
4. ↑ Armin Mueller-Stahl: Ulrich Thein - A man for America. in: Ulrich Thein, Archiv-Blätter 7 , Berlin 2003, pp. 34–37.
5. ↑ Five cartridge cases. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 6, 2016 .