Escape into the dark

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Movie
Original title Escape into the dark
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1939
length 80 minutes
Age rating FSK none
Rod
Director Arthur Maria Rabenalt
script Philipp Lothar Mayring
production Terra Filmkunst GmbH, Berlin
music Hans-Martin Majewski
camera Oskar Schnirch
cut Helmuth Schönnenbeck
occupation

Escape into the Dark is a 1939 German film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt . It tells the story of two friends at the time of the First World War and afterwards. The main roles are with Ernst von Klipstein , as chemist Dr. Paul Gildemeister, and Joachim Gottschalk , as his laboratory assistant Engelbrecht, occupied. Hertha Feiler plays Barbara Wrede, who stands between the two men. The film is based on Karl Unselt's novel Ghost in the Late Light .

Today it is a reserved film from the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation . It is part of the foundation's portfolio, has not been released for distribution and may only be shown with the consent and under the conditions of the foundation.

action

The chemist Dr. Gildemeister and his laboratory assistant Engelbrecht serve in World War I and meet on the French front near the town of Senlis . Both have a long friendship. In civil life, they worked for a chemical company in Berlin. Before the outbreak of war, the Laroche company in Senlis gave Gildemeister the opportunity to complete his invention, a special aluminum alloy with the tensile strength of steel. He had to leave his notes there at the time. In order to get them now, he separates himself from the troops. Engelbrecht tries to hold him back when a grenade strikes next to the men and injures him. There is no trace of Gildemeister. Since he is believed to be a deserter, he is convicted of desertion in absentia.

Engelbrecht turn comes during the campaign in Russia in captivity and is reported missing. After the end of the war, he returned to his workplace and had to experience that Dr. Wrede is to be sold abroad cheaply. He makes up his mind to forge Gildemeister's signature in order to gain access to the friend's papers and presents the bank with a corresponding authorization. He buys the work and is thus able to continue Gildemeister's work. Barbara Wrede, the sister of his former boss, who is grateful that he does not consider the man she still loves to be a deserter, believes that he did not forge his friend's signature for selfish reasons. She supports him in the work. Engelbrecht changes Gildemeister's formula decisively, which leads to the actual invention.

Gildemeister, who had made it to Senlis at the time but was arrested, arrested and then interned there, manages to escape from captivity. When he returned home, he first accused Engelbrecht of fraud, but had to realize that he had acquired the company in the name of Gildemeister and that the assets had only been mortgaged. The men continue to run the company together. Barbara, who is loved by both men, chooses Gildemeister.

Production notes

The shooting for Flucht ins Dunkel took place from March 10th to April 1939 on the open-air site in Neubabelsberg. Terra Filmkunst GmbH, Berlin (Otto Lehmann production group) acted as the production company . Otto Lehmann was also in charge of production management. The buildings are by Willi A. Herrmann and Friedrich Scheibe, the costumes by Bert Hoppmann. The military advice lay with Erich von Gomlicki, the scientific advice with Dr. Friedrich Müller-Skjold.

The first screening of the film took place on October 17, 1939 in Tauentzien-Palast in Berlin.

criticism

The film propagates the stab in the back legend of the “heroic and victorious” German soldiers of the First World War, who were “betrayed” by politics. When, in the film, a soldier reads the contents of the “ Dictation of Versailles ” from the newspaper (cession of all colonies and occupation of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine, etc.), a German colonel complains: “We win and go back!”

The Film-Kurier wrote in 1939: “[…] Until one of the guards receives a newspaper and reads out what this peace looks like. Today is war again - and we know what to expect when peace is once again dictated by the other side. "

After the end of the Second World War, all copies of the film were confiscated by the high command of the victorious Allied powers and the performance was banned. Today the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation claims the evaluation rights. The film was classified as a reserved film because of its content, which contradicts the idea of international understanding . Since then, its public performance has only been possible to a limited extent.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Escape into the Dark at filmportal.de
  2. ^ Escape into the Dark - Illustrated Film-Kurier No. 667 of October 18, 1939.