Escape from East Berlin (1962)

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.

Director:

Robert Siodmak

Writers:

Gabrielle Upton (story), Peter Berneis (story)

Stars:

Don Murray, Christine Kaufmann, Werner Klemperer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Don Murray	...	Kurt Schröder
Christine Kaufmann	...	Erika Jurgens
Werner Klemperer	...	Walter Brunner
Ingrid van Bergen	...	Ingeborg Schröder
Carl Schell	...	Major Eckhardt
Edith Schultze-Westrum	...	Mother Schröder
Bruno Fritz	...	Uncle Albrecht
Maria Tober	...	Marga
Horst Janson	...	Günther Jurgens
Kai Fischer	...	Heidi Eckhardt
Alfred Balthoff	...	Klussendorf - a Neighbor
Anita Kupsch	...	Bambi
Kurt Waitzmann	...	Prof. Thomas Jurgens
Helma Seitz	...	Frau Jürgens
Ronald Dehne	...	Helmut Schröder

Storyline

In January of 1962, 29 East Berliners escaped to West Berlin via a tunnel they had dug beneath the Berlin Wall, led by Erwin Becker, a chauffeur in the car pool of the East Germany Parliament, who served as technical adviser on this film. The film opens with Karl Schroeder (Don Murray), chauffeur to an East German Major, seeing a friend killed as he tried to drive his truck through the wall, He is persuaded by the friend's sister, Erika Jurgens (Christine Kaufmann), and his own family to engineer an attempt to make an escape to the Western sector of the city by digging a tunnel under the wall which is close to their home. Their efforts to evade the suspicions of the East German police, their fear of betrayal by inquisitive neighbors and the exhaustion of the digging are only a few of the difficulties faced by the group.

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Plot Keywords:

brother sister relationship | chauffeur | suspected adultery | fondling | auto shop | 

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Taglines:

Headline Hot! Filmed Where It Happened!

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Genres:

Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Producer Walter Wood was denounced as a "Hollywood war-monger" and a "capitalist" in the official Soviet newspaper Pravda.

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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.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: August 13th, 1961, concrete and barbed wire divide Berlin. Against all treaties and agreements with the West, the Communist build a barrier closing off the eastern section of the city. More than one and one-half million men, women and children, imprisoned without benefit of trial. They have committed no crime. Sentence: life. Freedom is gained only at the risk of sudden death at the hands of machine-gun bearing border guards. The weak links on the barrier offer the last small ...

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Connections

Referenced in Der Tunnel (1999)

User Reviews

I thought this was an interesting as well as entertaining film. This is based on a true story, which made it compelling for me.

I remember seeing this film in the theatre when I was a child and always remembered it. I wish it was available on video/DVD. The black and white film highlights the starkness of life behind the wall. Although this is an old film, I think it has an important message for us to appreciate and safeguard our freedoms.

Details

Country:

West Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escape from East Berlin

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walter Wood Productions, Hans Albin Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1