The Red Terror (film)
| The Red Terror | |
|---|---|
| GPU | |
| Directed by | Karl Ritter |
| Written by | |
| Produced by | Karl Ritter |
| Starring | See below |
| Cinematography | Igor Oberberg |
| Edited by | Conrad von Molo |
| Music by | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Deutsche Filmvertriebs |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | 1.849 million ℛℳ |
| Box office | 3.5 million ℛℳ |
The Red Terror (German: GPU) is a 1942 Nazi propaganda[1] film directed by Karl Ritter.[2]
Plot
[edit]Olga Feodorovna, a Baltic German, saw her family massacred by the GPU. She joins it in order to track down the murderers. After avenging the deaths, she commits suicide.
Cast
[edit]- Laura Solari as Olga Feodorowna
- Will Quadflieg as Peter Aßmuss
- Marina von Ditmar as Irina
- Andrews Engelmann as Nikolai Bokscha
- Karl Haubenreißer as Jakob Frunse
- Hans Stiebner as inquiry judge
- Maria Bard as head of women's league
- Helene von Schmithberg as Tante (Aunt) Ljuba
- Albert Lippert as hotel director in Kovno (Kaunas)
- Lale Andersen as singer in bar in Göteborg
- Wladimir Majer as GPU chief
- Nico Turoff as Frunse's assistant
- Theo Shall as saboteur with Bokscha
- Horst Winter as singer: 1st variation on "Limehouse Blues"
- Ivo Veit as Soviet diplomat in Helsinki
- Freddie Brocksieper with his jazz combo
- Gösta Richter
Production
[edit]Joseph Goebbels ordered UFA GmbH to start production on four anti-Soviet films in 1941. Andrews Engelmann came up with the idea for The Red Terror and wrote the script with Karl Ritter and Felix Lützkendorf. Production started in December 1941.[3] It was the first anti-Soviet film by the Nazis since the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.[4] It cost 1.849 million ℛℳ (equivalent to $8,000,000 in 2021) to produce.[5]
Release
[edit]The film was approved by the censors on 17 July 1942, and premiered in Berlin on 14 August.[6] It earned 3.5 million ℛℳ (equivalent to $15,000,000 in 2021) at the box office for a profit of 1.161 million ℛℳ (equivalent to $4,870,000 in 2021).[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Nazi anti-Soviet propaganda film - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". collections.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
- ^ "New York Times: G.P.U. (1942)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
- ^ Welch 1983, p. 214.
- ^ Welch 1983, p. 212.
- ^ a b Welch 1983, p. 270.
- ^ Welch 1983, pp. 214, 280.
Works cited
[edit]- Welch, David (1983). Propaganda and the German Cinema: 1933-1945. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781860645204.
External links
[edit]- The Red Terror at IMDb
- The Red Terror is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
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- 1942 films
- 1940s spy drama films
- German spy drama films
- Films of Nazi Germany
- 1940s German-language films
- German black-and-white films
- Nazi propaganda films
- Films set in the 1930s
- Films set in 1940
- Films set in Helsinki
- Films set in the Netherlands
- Films set in Sweden
- Films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era
- Films directed by Karl Ritter
- UFA GmbH films
- 1942 drama films
- Anti-communism in Germany
- 1940s German films
- Films scored by Norbert Schultze
- Films scored by Herbert Windt
- Nazi-era films restricted in Germany
- 1940s German film stubs