| 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 | UFA |
| 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 film directed by Karl Ritter.
Plot
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
- 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
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. It was the first anti-Soviet film by the Nazis since the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. It cost 1.849 million ℛℳ (equivalent to $8,000,000 in 2021) to produce.
Release
The film was approved by the censors on 17 July 1942, and premiered in Berlin on 14 August. 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).
References
- "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.
- ^ Welch 1983, p. 270.
- Welch 1983, pp. 214, 280.
Works cited
- Welch, David (1983). Propaganda and the German Cinema: 1933-1945. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781860645204.
External links
- 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