White Shadows (1951)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | White shadows |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 82 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Helmut Käutner |
| script | Helmut Käutner Maria von der Osten-Sacken based on an idea by Maria von der Osten-Sacken and Walter Forster |
| production | Dornas-Film GmbH, Munich Hans Tost -Production, Munich |
| music | Bernhard Eichhorn |
| camera | Helmuth Ashley |
| cut | Irene Tomschik |
| occupation | |
| |
White Shadows is a German drama film from 1951 directed by Helmut Käutner . Hilde Krahl and Hans Söhnker play the leading roles .
action
The story takes place in the Alps in the early 1950s.
There engineer Richard finds an unconscious woman lying in the snow and takes her to the nearest mountain hut. A feral shepherd dog, which is prowling around the hut, shows him the way to a higher hut the next day. There Richard comes across a dead woman. The woman he rescued, who introduces herself to him as Ruth and claims to be a doctor, explains to him that it is her friend Hella. Ruth begins to tell: She and Hella had recently set off on a hiking tour in the mountains when Hella admitted with scornful undertones that she was having an affair with Ruth's fiancé. Deeply hit, Ruth wanted to poison herself and poured cyanide into a cup of coffee. But Hella took this in an unnoticed moment and then died a little later.
Richard wonders if he can believe Ruth this hair-raising story and decides to trust Ruth, who he likes. He removes all traces in the second hut, the poisonous ones as well as the corpse. When two policemen suddenly appear in the seclusion, the attempt to cover up threatens to be exposed, especially since the stray German shepherd threatens to bring the two law enforcement officers onto Richard and Ruth's trail. Only now does the doctor realize that she has to face the truth and report herself to the police in order to explain the incident and her behavior.
Production notes
White Shadows is one of the most unknown Käutner productions and was created during the stage of the director's spectacular box office and critic flops (1948 to 1953). Filming began on January 8, 1951 and ended on February 24, 1951. The film was filmed in the Thiersee Passion Play House, which served as a studio, and at locations in Elmau, Wilder Kaiser, Kitzbühel and Kufstein. Fritz Mögle designed the film structures, Horst Hächler was Käutner's assistant director. Production management was in the hands of Victor Eisenbach .
In the middle of the shooting (February 1951) the production company Dornas Film of Fedor Janas got into massive difficulties, whereupon Hans Tost and his production company had to help in order to be able to finish the film. The film premiered on September 28, 1951 in Wiesbaden.
Reviews
“Psychological cat and mouse game on a ski hut between a man (Hans Söhnker) and a would-be suicide (Hilde Krahl) who accidentally murdered her companion with the potassium cyanide intended for herself. Asphalt nerve study in the mountainous environment. Director Käutner draws on the compound interest of his pictorial symbolism of 'romance in minor'. "
“Helmut Käutner's haunting chamber play from 1951 deals with the question of guilt and personal responsibility of the individual and thus joins the list of his great post-war films such as B. ' In those days ' (1946/47) or ' The Last Bridge ' (1953). "
"A chamber play, excellently staged entertainment film that fans out the emotional 'landscape' with psychological sensitivity."
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Bauer : German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , pp. 235 f.
- ↑ "Pure Wild West". Report in Der Spiegel , issue 8/1951 from February 21, 1951
- ↑ Short review on deutsches-filminstitut.de
- ↑ White shadows. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
Web links
- White Shadows in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- White shadows at filmportal.de