Password: heron

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Movie
Original title Password: heron
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1964
length 97 minutes
Age rating FSK from 12
Rod
Director Rudolf Jugert
script Herbert Reinecker
production Franz Seitz junior
music Rolf Alexander Wilhelm
camera Wolf Wirth , Hans Jura
cut Heidi Genée
occupation

Keyword: Reiher is a war film drama directed by Rudolf Jugert, shot in the winter of 1963/64 with Peter van Eyck , Marie Versini and Fritz Wepper in the leading roles. It premiered on March 27, 1964.

action

Belgium and France in the penultimate winter of the war in 1944: the American fighter pilot Philip Sturgess was shot down over German-occupied Western Europe. If he is lucky, a local resistance group called the "River Line" takes him under his wing and hides him. Sturgess is not the only Allied soldier whom the resistance have taken in. They also hide Sturgess' compatriot Frewers. The British Major Barton, who operates under the code name "The Heron", joins them later.

The central contact person for the resistance group is the French Marie, a petite, serious young woman who, among other things, organizes the various rural hiding spots - farms and isolated houses - for the three men. Your goal is to smuggle the three men into neutral Spain. But soon a terrible suspicion arises. One of the three Allied soldiers is said to be a Nazi spy.

The suspicion finally falls on the level-headed and experienced Barton, who claims to have escaped from a German prisoner-of-war camp. He is secretly judged, voted, and concluded that he should be executed, even if there is no solid evidence. The danger is too great, it is believed, that the actions of the “River Line” could be betrayed to the opponent. Major Barton is stabbed to death, but when new allies flee to join the resistance group that Barton knew from before, this execution turns out to be a terrible mistake.

Production notes

Keyword: Reiher , which initially had the working title Company Heron , was Rudolf Jugert's last film production.

After his participation in Die Brücke , Fritz Wepper played here again in a moving anti-war film.

For Marie Versini, this role was a rare opportunity to show her skills in Germany outside of the Karl May film series . It was to be the most compelling and demanding screen role of her entire career.

Ina Stein designed the costumes, and Wolf Englert designed the buildings with the help of Bruno Monden . Petrus Schloemp and Rüdiger Meichsner , later two well-known cameramen, assisted Wolf Wirth and Hans Jura here , who captured impressive snowy landscapes for Keyword: Heron .

The film is based on a Charles Morgan novel , The River Line .

In non-German-speaking countries, Keyword: Reiher found no rental despite good reviews.

Reviews

“... this is how the showpiece at hand exudes that brilliance of authenticity that is Talmi's own. The resistance against Hitler in France takes place in the attic of a professors' house, the horrors of war are far away, instead there is German stubbornness and German narrow-mindedness, angry pathos and mendacious sentimentality, what looks out is the bottom line. Peter van Eyck straddles himself as a multilingual war philosopher à la Jünger with sentences such as 'Responsibility is the hard bread that you have to eat with sour wine'; Walter Rilla, a well-educated professor of literature, quotes a monologue from the 'Prince of Homburg' in the mild glow of real beeswax candles and does not come to terms with his French soul; the underground folk from the moth box fabricates lyricisms about war, honor, death and freedom, and Marie Versini, who has turned from Winnetou's sister to an elementary school teacher, shows sweater and skirt fashions and a few tears towards the end. Wolf Wirth, as usual, strolls nimbly through the underbrush with his camera and teasingly targets a shot down US Air Force lieutenant from the perspective of the small game hunter. There is no trace of seriousness, tendency towards enlightenment or criticism of prejudice. "

- The time of July 17, 1964

In the biography of Rudolf Jugert in Das Großes Personenlexikon des Films you can read about his final theatrical production: “In his 16 years in the cinema, especially his debut work and his last feature film are of greater importance. (...) "Keyword: Heron" tells in sober, clear winter pictures of a British major who was suspected of being a Nazi spy by the French resistance during the Second World War and then shot - a dramatic story of Insecurity and suspicion at a time when mere suspicion can have fatal consequences. "

“Without a doubt, this is an exciting film about the Resistance in France and Belgium. The fate of the refugees and escape helpers in the areas occupied by German troops provided a gripping framework. Enough for a film from 1963. Beyond mere tension and good characterization of the actors, there was actually no further statement. The war was not so neutral in value that the desperate struggle of the resistance groups could be played as an artificial guessing game about the real identity of a British major (brilliantly embodied by Peter van Eyck). The film should have started right where the story ended ... "

- Hamburger Abendblatt of March 17, 1972 on the occasion of a television broadcast

In the lexicon of the international film it says: "Notable German attempt to depict the reversal of order by the war in various forms."

Cinema magazine comments on the film: "Exciting fable from the resistance."

Awards

Although not a particularly great success at the box office, Keyword: Reiher has received numerous awards, including the German Film Prize several times .

The gold film tape went to Keyword Reiher in the categories full-length feature film (producer Franz Seitz junior ), best film architecture (Wolf Englert), best camera work (Wolf Wirth and Hans Jura) and best young actor (Fritz Wepper).

In 1964 he received the title valuable from the FBW .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dt. Ed .: Charles Morgan: The Heron. Novel ("The River Line", 1949). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1991, ISBN 3-499-12618-4 (EA Stuttgart 1954).
  2. ↑ 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 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 261.
  3. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexicon of International Films, Vol. 4 . Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1987, p. 1998, ISBN 3-634-43209-8 (1 CD-ROM).
  4. ^ Criticism in cinema.de

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