Duped Till Doomsday
Encyclopedia
Duped Till Doomsday is a 1957
East German
drama film
directed by Kurt Jung-Alsen
. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival
.
, near the German-Soviet border. During June 1941, while on vacation, they walk near a river and spot a movement in the bush. Believing it to be a bird, they shoot in its direction and discover that they have killed Angelika, their captain's daughter. The three throw her corpse to a swamp and proceed as if nothing happened. Lick tells of the incident to his father, a Waffen-SS general, who decides to use the corpse for propaganda purposes: on 22 June, the day of the invasion to the Soviet Union
, he exhumes Angelika's remains and claims she was killed by Soviet marauders. Her father orders to shoot Latvian civilians in response. Paulun tries to tell the truth, but Lick claims he is insane; Wagner remains silent. When Paulun tries to escape arrest, he is killed by Lick. Wagner does nothing and continues to behave as usual.
. Fühmann himself was excluded from participating in the production. The picture was the first of the "army epics", a new East German genre that reformed the classic German style of portraying military comradeship, replacing the typical soldiery friendship with plots centered on moral dilemmas facing the servicemen. In addition, the picture was intended as a response to the war films produced in the West at those years.
and Der Teufelskreis
were screened outside the competition. Although the picture had no chance of winning due to political considerations, it was nominated for the Palme d'Or
.
The film was DEFA's most successful project since the 1946 Murderers Among Us
. It was well received abroad. The Punch
magazine's reviewer wrote that it was "very worth seeing... mostly admirable, flowed in the end." The East German media called it "the first DEFA war film" and praised it. Fühmann's work received considerable attention due to the film, and his books were re-printed.
1957 in film
The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
East German
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Kurt Jung-Alsen
Kurt Jung-Alsen
Kurt Jung-Alsen was a German film director and screenwriter. He directed 24 films between 1954 and 1976.-External links:...
. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival
1957 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*André Maurois *Jean Cocteau *Maurice Genevoix *Georges Huisman *Maurice Lehmann *Marcel Pagnol *Michael Powell *Jules Romains...
.
Plot
Soldiers Wagner, Paulun and Lick are three friends and the best sharpshooters in their division, that is stationed in LatviaLatvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, near the German-Soviet border. During June 1941, while on vacation, they walk near a river and spot a movement in the bush. Believing it to be a bird, they shoot in its direction and discover that they have killed Angelika, their captain's daughter. The three throw her corpse to a swamp and proceed as if nothing happened. Lick tells of the incident to his father, a Waffen-SS general, who decides to use the corpse for propaganda purposes: on 22 June, the day of the invasion to the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, he exhumes Angelika's remains and claims she was killed by Soviet marauders. Her father orders to shoot Latvian civilians in response. Paulun tries to tell the truth, but Lick claims he is insane; Wagner remains silent. When Paulun tries to escape arrest, he is killed by Lick. Wagner does nothing and continues to behave as usual.
Cast
- Rudolf UlrichRudolf UlrichRudolf Ulrich was a German film actor. He appeared in 67 films between 1954 and 1986.-Selected filmography:* Duped Till Doomsday * Brücke zwischen gestern und morgen * The Rabbit Is Me...
- Wagner - Wolfgang KielingWolfgang KielingWolfgang Kieling was a German actor. In films since childhood in his native Germany, Kieling also occasionally appeared in English-language films, most notably in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain , where he played an East German agent brutally slain by Paul Newman...
- Lick - Hans-Joachim Martens - Paulun
- Walther Süssenguth - captain
- Renate Küster - Angelika
- Peter Kiwitt - Waffen-SS General Lick
- Hermann Dieckhoff - division commander
- Kurt UlrichKurt UlrichKurt Ulrich was a German film producer. He produced 143 films between 1933 and 1964.He was born in Berlin, Germany.-Selected filmography:* The Avenger * Das Kunstseidene Mädchen...
- lieutenant - Erich Brauer - staff sergeant
- Hannes Fischer - kitchen sergeant
- Wolfgang LippertWolfgang LippertWolfgang Lippert is a German entertainer and actor. He was one of the most popular entertainers of the GDR. After working as an auto mechanic and photographer Lippert "Lippi" came into the show business as a tv show host and singer.-Life:From 1978 to 1980 as the son of a Kapellmeister he completed...
- Voss - Helga Raumer - innkeeper's daughter
- Fritz DiezFritz DiezNot to be confused with the West German industrialist Fritz Dietz.Fritz Diez was a German actor, producer, director and theater manager.-Early life:...
- uncredited role - Horst GieseHorst GieseHorst Fritz Otto Giese was an East German actor.-Biography:In 1945, Giese made his debut on stage at his native Neuruppin, then in the Soviet occupation zone. Later he appeared on television. His first role in a movie was at the 1954 Alarm in the Circus...
- uncredited role
Production
The script was adapted from the 1955-published novel Kameradem by Franz FühmannFranz Fühmann
Franz Fühmann was a German writer. He lived and worked as a short story writer, essayist and children's book author in East Germany...
. Fühmann himself was excluded from participating in the production. The picture was the first of the "army epics", a new East German genre that reformed the classic German style of portraying military comradeship, replacing the typical soldiery friendship with plots centered on moral dilemmas facing the servicemen. In addition, the picture was intended as a response to the war films produced in the West at those years.
Reception
Betrogen bis zum jüngsten Tag was the first East German film to be entered into the Cannes Film Festival; a year earlier, at 1956, Zar und ZimmermannZar und Zimmermann
Zar und Zimmermann is an opera in three acts, music by Albert Lortzing, libretto by the composer after Georg Christian Römer's Der Bürgermeister on Saarlem, oder Die zwei Peter, itself based on a French work entitled Le Bourgesmestre de Sardam, ou Les deux Pierres by Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier...
and Der Teufelskreis
Der Teufelskreis
Der Teufelskreis is an East German film. It was released in 1956....
were screened outside the competition. Although the picture had no chance of winning due to political considerations, it was nominated for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
.
The film was DEFA's most successful project since the 1946 Murderers Among Us
Murderers Among Us
Die Mörder sind unter uns German title was one of the first post-World War II German film and the first Trümmerfilm. It was produced in 1945 and 1946 in the Althoff-Atelier in Babelsberg and in Jofa-Ateliers in Johannisthal...
. It was well received abroad. The Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
magazine's reviewer wrote that it was "very worth seeing... mostly admirable, flowed in the end." The East German media called it "the first DEFA war film" and praised it. Fühmann's work received considerable attention due to the film, and his books were re-printed.
External links
- Betrogen bis zum jüngsten Tag on PROGRESS' website.