Brainwashed (1960)

In 1938 Austria shortly after the Nazi occupation, a prominent Viennese intellectual, Werner von Basil, is arrested for smuggling art treatures out of the country and imprisoned by the ... See full summary »

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

Stefan Zweig (novel), Harold Medford (screenplay)

Stars:

Curd Jürgens, Claire Bloom, Hansjörg Felmy

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Curd Jürgens	...	Werner von Basil
Claire Bloom	...	Irene Andreny
Hansjörg Felmy	...	Hans Berger
Mario Adorf	...	Mirko Centowic
Albert Bessler	...	Scientist
Rudolf Forster	...	Hotel Manager
Alan Gifford	...	Mac Iver
Jan Hendriks	...	First Officer
Albert Lieven	...	Hartmann
Harald Maresch	...	Ballet Master
Dietmar Schönherr	...	Rabbi
Karel Stepanek	...	Baranow
Wolfgang Wahl	...	Moonface
Hans Söhnker	...	Bishop Ambrosse

Storyline

In 1938 Austria shortly after the Nazi occupation, a prominent Viennese intellectual, Werner von Basil, is arrested for smuggling art treatures out of the country and imprisoned by the Gestapo in a hotel room without any mental sustence of any kind to break him down to make him talk while a young ballerina, named Irene Adreny whom is the lover of the SS officer Berger playing mind games on von Basil, tries to intervene and help the poor intellectual keep his mind intact.

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Plot Keywords:

chess | based on novel | pre world war two | year 1938 | nazi occupied austria | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

25 June 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Brainwashed

Filming Locations:

UFA Studios, Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roxy Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Klangfilm Eurocord)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)

User Reviews

Excellent drama with excellent actors

This movie is based on the novel by Stefan Zweig and takes place during the second world war in Austria. A rather wealthy, good situated citizen of Vienna gets in conflict with the Nazis (- he organizes the rescue if important art -) and gets imprisoned. As he is a very intellectual and intelligent man he is "tortured" by the lack of books, music, words or other "food for brain". Nearly becoming insane, he is able to steel one book. First he is very disappointed because there are no words in it: it is a book full of check-games. But this book saves his life...