Hell in front of us
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Hell in front of us |
| Original title | Ten seconds to hell |
| Country of production | United Kingdom United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1958 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Aldrich |
| script | Robert Aldrich Teddi Sherman |
| production | Michael Carreras |
| music |
Muir Mathieson Kenneth V. Jones Richard Farrell |
| camera | Ernest Laszlo |
| cut |
Henry Richardson James Needs |
| occupation | |
| |
Hell in front of us is a British-American drama about a bomb disposal squad from the Hammer Films production, made in Berlin in 1958 . Jack Palance , Martine Carol and Jeff Chandler , who embodied "a sneaky, greedy, German bomb defuser" played the leading roles. Robert Aldrich directed the film, the novel “ The Phoenix ”, was written by Lawrence P. Bachmann .
action
In a major German city (presumably Berlin) in the early post-war years. The reconstruction has already progressed, but there are still gaps everywhere and numerous building ruins determine the cityscape. In order to make the cities safe and, above all, habitable again, a professional group of inestimable value is proving to be a cinematic monument with this story: the bomb defusers. At the center of this film is the life-threatening work of six of them, led by the sincere and straightforward but also disaffected Erich Körtner. His colleagues are Hans Globke, Peter Tillig, Wolfgang Sulke, Franz Löffler and Karl Wirtz. Wirtz is Körtner's antagonist, an unscrupulous unsympathetic man who is always only concerned with his own benefit. Day after day, the six men are brought in by the occupiers in the form of the British Major Haven in order to defuse Allied aerial bombs from 1939 to 1945 that did not explode. And some of their colleagues have already lost their lives in the process.
The ice-cold cynic Karl Wirtz, who lost in the election for the post of squad leader Erich, makes the morbid bet with Erich Körtner that he will surely survive him in this job. Incidentally, all the bomb defusers agree that half of their bomb wages should go to those colleagues who would have survived this explosive job in the next three months. All six have found accommodation in the guesthouse of the attractive French widow of a German soldier, Margot Hofer, which Karl Wirtz - to Körtner's great annoyance - tries very hard to find. With the greatest care, the highly sensitive explosive devices are now rendered harmless day after day until one day one goes into the air. It is a British 1000 pound bomb, which Globke literally rips apart when defused. Since Erich assumes that this bomb must have a double detonator, he asks his superior, the English major, for more information on the construction of this bomb.
There are now tough disputes between Körtner and Wirtz in private life too. When the latter becomes intrusive towards Margot while drunk, it is Erich who intervenes. Karl withdraws, but makes mocking remarks about Körtner's alleged motives, which are probably not entirely noble. Margot feels compelled to explain herself to Erich and makes it clear to him that she dulled the rejection from all sides - the French would despise her as a German lover, for the Germans she was from enemy territory - and that she was now every bit of luck If it even peeps around the corner, I'll hold onto it immediately. A few days later, the defusing force was called by a woman Bauer: colleague Tillig had been buried by falling ruins and a bomb would now lie on him. Since everyone else is working elsewhere, the two enemies Erich and Karl have to take over the job. Erich succeeds in defusing and a doctor who is called can examine Tillig, but he is so injured and weakened that the doctor no longer gives him any chance of survival. A little later, the rest of the ruins collapse on Tillig and the medic and kill both of them. Deeply disturbed, Erich returns to his accommodation and seeks consolation from Margot. Both broken souls get closer. The next day, Margot and Erich go on a short excursion to another part of the city. Körtner tells the French woman that he worked as an architect before the war and, given his life-threatening job, does not know today whether it would be wise to start a relationship with her when he could perish every day.
At the UK headquarters, Haven declares that he cannot get any additional information about the extremely dangerous British £ 1,000 bomb. The British have now found out that Körtner got into some trouble with the Nazis during the war because of his attitude critical of the regime and was then no longer allowed to work as an architect. He and the other bomb defusers were instead entrusted with destruction activities. Each of them only had one thing in mind: somehow surviving the war. When Wirtz realizes how Erich has to struggle with increasing fears every day, he offers him to leave the troupe and recognize the bet as lost. But Körtner refuses. During another mission to defuse a bomb with double detonators, colleague Sulke dies. The remaining men want to stick to the agreement to distribute the money from the dead defuser to the survivors of their troops, but they also consider giving something away to Sulke's widow, who is now alone with one child. Karl brusquely rejects this suggestion. He says everyone has to see where they are.
The next day, Franz Löffler was called to a bomb that had landed in a canal and had to be defused there too. He is killed when he drowns while attempting to defuse it. As a result, Margot can hardly sleep for fear and asks Körtner, wringing his hands, to give up his job in order to be able to build a future together with her. But Erich tells her that he wants to find out whether he is stronger than Karl's selfishness and greed. A few days later, Karl Wirtz is called to a bomb disposal, which is tough. Once again one of the devilish British 1,000 pound bombs has been discovered. Erich comes a little later to check and safeguard the environment. Both men discuss the best way to proceed. Karl is making good progress with defusing, but then all of a sudden calls for help because a fuse part has slipped. Erich helps him out with a pen that he could insert instead of the ignition needle. But while trying to stabilize the detonator and bomb, Erich realizes that Karl wanted to trick him so that he would blow up with the bomb. Then Körtner hits Wirtz in the face. When he gets back on his feet, he hasn't lost his cynicism. "I guess it's still my bomb," he says to Erich. "Still your bomb" replies this. Then Erich goes away. Seconds later, the 1,000-pound colossus blows up and rips Karl apart.
Production notes
Hell Before Us was shot within ten weeks of shooting in the spring of 1958 in Berlin with an almost exclusively Anglo-American cast. The film premiered in Italy on May 30, 1959. The premiere in the main producing England was on June 14, 1959, in Germany the film opened two days later.
The film structures were created by Ken Adam , the German production manager was Georg Mohr . John Hollingsworth took over the musical direction.
Reviews
“Director Robert Aldrich uses the ten-little negro method to create tension in this late-ignited rubble film, which watches a bomb clearing party in Berlin in the first post-war months until one of the initially six men remains: the virtuous, who is otherwise called Rogue actor busy playing Jack Palance. He is also awarded the woman desired by a bomb clearer rival (Jeff Chandler): the defused ex-sex bomb Martine Carol, who uses astonishing facial expressions to help herself through commonplace dialogue. In the not always plausible " Wages of Fear " story, the American actors achieve exact German country types. "
The Movie & Video Guide found that Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance were "almost credible as bomb-defusing Germans".
Halliwell's Film Guide found the film to be a "boring, brutal, meaningless melodrama" that "was constructed in such a way that probably nobody cares who blows up".
"A carefully and excitingly staged adventure film, impressive in its portrayal of a fatefully thrown together group of men who are unable to get out of their suicidal job."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal lexicon , Volume 1, Entry Chandler. Berlin 2001
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1304
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 997
- ↑ Hell Before Us in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on September 13, 2018
Web links
- Before us hell in the Internet Movie Database (English)