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

The banner hanging in Major Eckhardt's office translates to "Whoever attacks the German Democratic Republic will be destroyed".

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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

pretty good film on the berlin wall

Made in 1962, right after the berlin wall was built. Tells the story of east-siders' attempts to escape to free market west berlin. stars Don Murray and Christine Kaufmann, as Kurt and Erika, who live near the wall. So many east berliners schemed and attempted to escape to the west, but they were usually offed by the soldiers guarding the wall. according to wiki, 100,000 people attempted to escape to the west, with about 5,000 succeeding, resulting in 200 deaths. Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer in hogan's heroes) is in here as Brunner, and he's going to be a nosey troublemaker. Murray was nominated for making Bus Stop in 1956. Directed by Robert Siodmak. was also oscar nominated for The Killers. Siodmak himself had escaped europe just before WWII. Siodmak, Klemp, and Kaufmann were actually born in europe, but Murray was as american as you can get, born in hollywood, USA, to showbiz parents. Film is quite good, if a little overdone at times. it would be another 25 years before that wall came down.

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