Under hot skies (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Under hot skies
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1936
length 101 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Gustav Ucicky
script Gerhard Menzel
production Albers- Ukicky production for Ufa
music Theo Mackeben
camera Fritz Arno Wagner
cut Herbert B. Fredersdorf
occupation

Under Hot Skies is a German adventure film and political thriller from 1936. The main role was played by Hans Albers , who was also directly involved in the production together with director Gustav Ucicky .

action

Eastern Mediterranean . On board a German cargo ship , the ship's engineer Groppi is ill with severe appendicitis and is in mortal danger. Captain Kellersperg, who is good friends with Groppi, tries by all means to get a doctor. Finally, the port doctor meets Dr. Negruzzi, who turns out to be a seedy drunkard . Negruzzi, unable to conduct an investigation, falsely diagnosed cholera and immediately quarantined the ship in an attempt to save Europe , as he said, from the epidemic . Kellersperg breaks the quarantine with the ship in order to reach another doctor, but is stopped by the port authorities. As Groppi continues to be denied treatment, the ship's engineer dies. Kellersperg's patent as a ship officer is revoked. He is a broken man, but wants to keep his promise to Groppi to take care of his partner Rosa and their child.

Rosa works as a dancer in a dubious pub in Piraeus . Ellersperg, who is now constantly drunk, tries to convince her to pursue a middle-class profession and to live with his mother in Blankenese , but she refuses in order to realize herself as an artist. In the restaurant the captain meets the shady Ghazarian. Ghazarian puts Ellersperg in contact with Consul Calfa, who is unclear for which country he works. Calfa assures Kellersperg help.

In fact, Calfa gives the captain a new command on the steamer "Gorbuduc", which is supposed to call at Arab waters. In addition to the cargo, the freighter also transports passengers. Ghazirian is also on board on behalf of Calfa. After Calfa and Rosa, who is sponsored by Calfa, disembarked in Jeddah , passengers discover that the 200 boxes of pianos transported on the “Gobuduc” actually contain machine guns . Kellersperg learns that the Mg are to be delivered to Arab revolutionaries on behalf of Calfas, who is actually a Soviet secret agent . An argument with Rosa seriously injures Calfa. As a result of the accident, the local police track down the conspirators, but cannot clarify the background of the agent's activities.

In order to cover up the smuggling of arms and the attempt at revolution, Calfa's agents try to sink the "Gorbuduc" with an explosive charge. Panic breaks out, but Kellersperg succeeds in installing a leak sail , which seals the leak and rescues the ship. Although the agents also destroyed the radio system on the steamer, the radio system of a destroyed aircraft belonging to the passenger Altamont can be used to contact British authorities, who come to the aid of the steamer with several seaplanes . The first officer of the steamer takes over Kellersperg's position and trusts him and Rosa. Kellersperg is extensively rehabilitated in a fast-food court held on board.

Production background

The film fable is apparently based on Albert Daudistel 's novel Der Bananenkreuzer , published in 1935 , in which the falcon affair of 1929 in Venezuela was fictionalized, which at the time caused an international sensation. Screenwriter Menzel had already written the template for the 1933 submarine film Morgenrot .

The shooting took place in the Ufa -Ateliers Neubabelsberg , today's Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam . The location was shot in Santorini on the Aegean Sea in Greece . The first performance took place on December 23, 1936 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin.

criticism

The Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda , Joseph Goebbels , took a rather critical attitude towards the production. In his diary entry of December 7, 1936, he noted:

… Overloaded, a somewhat greasy environment , the plot too broad and incomprehensible, no hit. Albers also seems too mannered .

Quoted from Moeller, Der Filmminister , p. 67, note 30.

Lore

Although the film was broadcast by ARD in the 1980s or 1990s , it has so far not been edited on VHS or DVD , although it is not one of the so-called “ reserved films ”.

literature

  • Felix Moeller: The film minister. Goebbels and the film in the Third Reich. Berlin 1998. ISBN 3-89487-298-5
  • Ekhart Berckenhagen: Shipping in world literature. A panorama from five millennia , Hamburg (Kabel) 1995, p. 258. ISBN 3-8225-0338-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Michael Bock and Michael Töteberg: "The Ufa Book - Art and Crises, Stars and Directors, Economy and Politics (The International History of Germany's Largest Film Group)" . Verlag Zweausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 338.
  2. ↑ Filmportal: "Under hot sky" filmportal.de, accessed April 1, 2019