Secret archive on the Elbe

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Movie
Original title Secret archive on the Elbe
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1963
length 80 minutes
Rod
Director Kurt Jung-Alsen
script Peter Brock scenario
production DEFA , KAG "Solidarity"
music André Asriel
camera Peter Krause
cut Lotti Mehnert
occupation

Secret Archives on the Elbe is a German spy film of the DEFA of Kurt Jung-Alsen from 1963. It was created based on the novel by Alexander Nassibow .

action

Shortly before the end of the Second World War : SS-Gruppenführer Upitz knows that Germany has lost the war. He tries to gain an advantage for himself after the war and accepts an offer from the Americans. He receives impunity if, in return, he leaves them the Gestapo's secret archive , which is hidden on the Elbe in Meißen . It contains the data of all agents that the Gestapo placed in the Soviet Union and the Balkans. The Soviet defense service is also after this data, so that Upitz wants to lay the wrong track.

Upitz has the welder Max Wiesbach brought to an underground tunnel in Riesa . There he is supposed to seal a leak under water. Wiesbach is convinced that he has sealed a leak in the secret archive and passes this information on to a convinced communist who is sent to the Soviet front a short time later and overflows there to the Russians. He reports to them about the secret archive in Riesa, but the Russians believe that the secret archive is in Meissen. You want security. Together with Herbert Lange from Riesa, the Soviet communist Major Kerimow is sent to Riesa to locate the secret archive. Lange's wife believes her husband dead. When he suddenly appears at the door and announces that he will have to leave soon, Frau Lange becomes hysterical. Lange wants to get a doctor, but is shot dead in the street while apparently fleeing. Kerimov is now on his own. He receives help from staunch communists. He is hired as a driver in the factory where Max Wiesbach also works as a welder. Kerimow soon finds out that Max Wiesbach is playing wrong and that the secret archive must be in Meißen.

Upitz has meanwhile reached an agreement with the American Tedder to hand over the archive to the Americans in the next few days. Tedder informs a middleman who is supposed to organize and monitor the removal. Upitz and the middleman each receive a half-comb as a sign of identification. Kerimov manages to eavesdrop on the conversations and to get hold of the middleman. He organized a cargo plane with the communists. He got in touch with Upitz and supervised the removal of the archive files to the Soviet machine. Upitz goes on board, too, as he had arranged with Tedder. When the plane is in the air, Upitz wants to know where they are going. When Kerimov replied that the flight was going to Moscow , Upitz was initially amused and then speechless.

production

Secret archive on the Elbe was filmed in 1962. The film premiered on April 18, 1963 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . On March 20, 1964, it was broadcast for the first time on German television .

It was the last movie that Kurt Jung-Alsen made. He and production manager Adolf Fischer took on supporting roles in the film.

DVD release

On October 11, 2010, the Secret Archive on the Elbe was released on DVD. This was produced and realized by the company ICESTORM Entertainment GmbH, in cooperation with PROGRESS Film-Verleih and the DEFA Foundation.

criticism

The contemporary criticism of the GDR complained that the introduction to the film was too lengthy. The large number of characters also makes it difficult for the viewer to recognize the connections and the red thread of the plot. The film is average, but the characters remain "completely pale".

For the film service , the Secret Archives on the Elbe was “a sometimes quite exciting film with a few formal inadequacies. The exaggerated action scenes today are definitely trash quality. "

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Bauernecho , April 19, 1963, cf. Habel, p. 198.
  2. Christoph Funke in: Tomorrow , April 26, 1963.
  3. ^ Secret archive on the Elbe. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used