The Big Number

The Big Number
Directed by	Karl Anton
Written by	Karl Anton Erwin Biswanger Alexander Lix Harry Piel Felix von Eckardt
Produced by	Karl Anton
Starring	Leny Marenbach Maly Delschaft Paul Hoffmann
Cinematography	Georg Bruckbauer Walter Roßkopf
Edited by	Elise Lustig
Music by	Friedrich Schröder
Production company	Tobis Film
Distributed by	Deutsche Filmvertriebs
Release date	8 January 1943 (1943-01-08)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German

The Big Number or The Big Act (German: Die große Nummer) is a 1943 German drama film directed by Karl Anton and starring Leny Marenbach, Maly Delschaft and Paul Hoffmann. A circus film, it was originally intended to star Harry Piel but due to delays on Panic he withdrew from the project, although he had contributed to the screenplay. Location shooting took place at the Circus Sarrasani in Dresden. The film's sets were designed by the art director Willy Schiller. It was one of three entertainment-focused films playing in Berlin at the time of the Sportpalast speech by Joseph Goebbels calling for total war.

Cast

• Leny Marenbach as Helga Wallner
• Maly Delschaft as Marion Wallner
• Paul Hoffmann as Heinrich Wallner
• Rudolf Prack as Peter Stoll
• Paul Kemp as Otto Gellert
• Charlott Daudert as Mariettchen
• Marina Ried as Bianca
• Karl Günther as Direktor Kroll
• Maria Horstweg as Frau Roselli
• Walter Janssen as Zeller
• Heinz Klingenberg as Dr. Buchner
• Rose Rauch as Singer
• Hans Adalbert Schlettow as Basto-Bastelmeyer

Bibliography

• Echternkamp, Jörg. Germany and the Second World War Volume IX/II: German Wartime Society 1939-1945: Exploitation, Interpretations. OUP, 2014.
• Skopal, Pavel & Winkel, Roel Vande (ed.) Film Professionals in Nazi-Occupied Europe: Mediation Between the National-Socialist Cultural “New Order” and Local Structures. Springer Nature, 2021.

External links

• The Big Number at IMDb