Escape from East Berlin

19621962
(Banned)(Banned)
1h 34m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

563

YOUR RATING

Christine Kaufmann and Don Murray in Escape from East Berlin (1962)

Drama History Thriller

In 1962, a group of East Berliners escapes to West Berlin through a tunnel dug from the basement of a house located near the Berlin Wall.In 1962, a group of East Berliners escapes to West Berlin through a tunnel dug from the basement of a house located near the Berlin Wall.In 1962, a group of East Berliners escapes to West Berlin through a tunnel dug from the basement of a house located near the Berlin Wall.

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

563

YOUR RATING

Director
- Robert Siodmak
Writers
- Gabrielle Upton(story)
- Peter Berneis(story)
- Millard Lampell
Stars

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Photos24

Christine Kaufmann in Escape from East Berlin (1962)

Ingrid van Bergen in Escape from East Berlin (1962)

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
East German police on patrol boats tried to disrupt filming by shining searchlights at the cameras. Director Robert Siodmak assembled a decoy crew to distract the East Germans and filmed the scene along the canal a short distance away.

Goofs
When Kurt first meets Walter at the garage, there is a moving shadow of the boom microphone on a wall cabinet in the background.

Quotes
Uncle Albrecht: Off to band practice. We are marching in the celebration parade. I don't know what we're celebrating, but we are marching.

Connections
Referenced in Der Tunnel (1999)

User reviews18

Review

Featured review

Another brick off the wall

Robert Siodmak had nothing to prove when he made "Escape from East Berlin".Maybe his film ,although inspired by real facts ,looks more like fiction,but he knew what he was talking about: Driven away from his land by Goebbels after "Brennendes Geheimnis " in 1933, he took refuge in France where he made at least two classics ("Mollenard" and "Piège" ),then in America where he reached peaks of films noirs ("cry of the city" "spiral staircase" "criss cross" ....).When he returned to Germany ,he depicted his country after the war ("die Ratten" ) without indulgence.Another movie made in France ("L'Affaire Nina B") dealt with Nazi criminals .

Siomak's genius as a film noir past master can still be felt in "escape...." ,notably in the first scenes where the characters seem to be buried alive in walls of stone and barbed wire.A short prologue with a voice over tells us so: "these men and women have done nothing and they are prisoners..."Don Murray looks too American but it's not a big problem.Since 1989,the Wall of shame has fortunately become a thing of the past.Siomak's movie was one of the first thrusts.

helpful•12