Betrayal of Germany
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Betrayal of Germany |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Veit Harlan |
| script | Veit Harlan, Thomas Harlan |
| production | Use Kubaschewski |
| music | Franz Grothe |
| camera | Georg Bruckbauer |
| cut | Walter von Bonhorst |
| occupation | |
| |
Betrayal of Germany is a German spy film drama directed by Veit Harlan about the real Soviet spy Richard Sorge and set in Japan during the Second World War . He is played by the Swiss actor Paul Muller , his lover plays Harlan's wife Kristina Söderbaum .
action
Japan in the spring of 1941. The German communist Richard Sorge, who is in the Soviet service, works as a newspaper correspondent in Japan. What nobody knows: He is supposed to investigate any German plans to attack the USSR and possible Japanese involvement in them on behalf of the Soviets. To do this, he set up the “Grille” spy network in Tokyo. Both his relationships with the Japanese Osaki and the German embassy are decisive for Sorge's work. In fact, through the unsuspecting embassy secretary Katharina von Werber, he gets crucial information that even includes the Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor . Richard Sorge reported these findings to Moscow at an early stage, which would be decisive for the war if Stalin were to believe this news.
The other side is meanwhile on the trail of concern, it has been found that he is investigating things that are of no interest to him, because these are state secrets. Soon two of his closest collaborators, including his buddy Klausen, are exposed and arrested by the Japanese. Sorge tried to move to China at the last moment, but eventually fell into the clutches of the Japanese. He will be tried, but his death sentence has de facto been determined beforehand. His lover Katharina is allowed to visit him in prison one last time. A passionate kiss ensues, but only serves to shove a deadly poison ampoule into Sorge's mouth - then Stalin's spy judges himself. Frau von Werber is arrested for complicity.
Historical background and cinematic freedoms
Richard Sorge , born in Russia with German roots, was a Soviet intelligence officer who worked as a German journalist for the Soviet Union in Japan during the war. In 1941 he wrote the radio message that Japan, allied with Hitler-Germany and Mussolini-Italy by the three-power pact, would not attack the Soviet Union.
The role of Kristina Söderbaum as a concern-lover is just as fiction as the cinematic ending of Sorge: In reality, the Soviet agent did not commit suicide, but was hanged by the Japanese in 1944 for high treason.
production
The film was directed by the production company KG Divina GmbH & Co. produced. The company belonged to Ilse Kubaschewski , who was also the owner of the first distributor Gloria-Film GmbH & Co. Filmverleih KG . The exterior shots were taken in the harbor district of Yoshiwara (Japan), the studio shots in the Divina studio in Baldham . Hermann Warm designed the film structures. Walter Traut was production manager, Eberhard Meichsner took over production management.
publication
The premiere took place in Munich on January 12, 1955, in Austria the film opened on April 28, 1955.
Before that, there had been considerable problems with the voluntary self-regulation (FSK) in Wiesbaden, because there was criticism that the film turned out to be too pro-Soviet and that the traitor Sorge was a hero. Also, director Harlan didn't like the misleading title. He had suggested to producer Kubaschewski that the film should be called Der Fall Sorge , the more neutral one; she thought betrayal of Germany was the more popular title.
Another film adaptation
A more believable film about worry was made in 1960/61 with the international co-production Who Are You, Dr. Worry? with Thomas Holtzmann in the title role.
Reviews
Betrayal of Germany was largely panned by the criticism. Here are three examples:
“A warmly insignificant film, a simple espionage story as it is in the threepenny booklet. No trace of political thought - what could be taken for it by particularly naive contemporaries was political rubbish ... The most exciting espionage event that the Second World War had to offer was given away ... Harlan, the romanticizing protester, would have only his past have to warn against reaching out for this highly explosive and difficult substance. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “The film is a bit opaque due to its, only hasty dialogues, plot and the like. Newsreel and Japan recordings full of sparkling atmosphere, also played credibly in less convincing roles. "
"Staged cliché, interspersed with pseudo profundity and on top of that boring."
Web links
- Betrayal of Germany in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Betrayal of Germany at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Bauer : German Feature Film Almanach, Volume 2: 1946–1955, p. 572. Munich 1981
- ↑ See on this complex: The audience should decide . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1955, pp. 34 ( online ).
- ↑ See: Harlan . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1955, pp. 36 ( online ).
- ↑ Betrayal of Germany in Paimann's film lists
- ↑ Betrayal of Germany in the Lexicon of International Films
