''A Time to Love and a Time to Die'' is a 1958

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

CinemaScope

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk started his career in Germany as a stage and screen director, but he left for ...

and starring

John Gavin John A. Gavin (born Juan Vincent Apablasa; April 8, 1931 – February 9, 2018) was an American actor who was the president of the Screen Actors Guild (1971–73), and the United States Ambassador to Mexico (1981–86). Among the films he appeared ...

and

Liselotte Pulver Liselotte Pulver (born 11 October 1929), sometimes credited as Lilo Pulver, is a Swiss actress. Pulver was one of the biggest stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, where she often was cast as a tomboy. She is well known for her hearty a ...

. Based on the book by German author

Erich Maria Remarque Erich Maria Remarque (, ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German-born novelist. His landmark novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during World ...

and set on the Eastern Front and in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, it tells the story of a young German soldier who is revolted by the conduct of the army in Russia and by the

National Socialist German Workers Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

in Germany.

Plot

In a German infantry unit retreating from Russia in the spring of 1944, Ernst Graeber's conscience is revolted by the execution of captured civilians. Given his first furlough for over two years, he returns to find his family home bombed and his parents gone. Calling at the house of the family doctor for information, the daughter Elizabeth tells him her father is in a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

because of an unwise remark. Allied bombing continues by day and by night. An old school friend who is now the local head of the Nazi Party offers Ernst accommodation, food, drink, and women. But he prefers to stay with fellow soldiers billeted in a hospital and to get closer to Elizabeth. The two go to the one smart restaurant still open, which is destroyed that night by bombs. Each alone in the world, they agree to an immediate marriage, but Elizabeth's family home is flattened by bombs and they take refuge in a ruined church. Elizabeth gets a summons to

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

headquarters, which Ernst intercepts and attends as her husband. He is given her father's ashes, which he secretly buries in the churchyard. Visiting his former teacher, who helps Jews on the run, he is told there is no excuse for the crimes of the German military against Russians and of the German state against its own citizens. Ernst and Elizabeth find lodgings for the rest of his leave. Returning to the front, he finds a fellow soldier who is an ardent Nazi about to shoot captured civilians. As the two are alone, he kills the other soldier and tells the civilians to flee. One of them picks up the dead man's rifle and shoots Ernst dead. He had not finished reading a letter from Elizabeth, saying that she was expecting their child.

Cast

as Ernst Graeber *

as Elizabeth Kruse, married Graeber *

Jock Mahoney Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney (February 7, 1919 – December 14, 1989), known professionally as Jock Mahoney, was an American actor and stuntman. He starred in two Action/Adventure television series, ''The Range Rider'' and ''Yancy Derringer''. He ...

as Immerman *

Don DeFore Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom ''Hazel'' from 1961 to 1965, the former of w ...

as Hermann Boettcher * Keenan Wynn as Reuter *

as Professor Pohlmann *

Dieter Borsche Albert Eugen Rollomann (25 October 1909 – 5 August 1982), better known as Dieter Borsche, was a German actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1935 and 1981. Since 1944, he suffered from muscle atrophy and had to use a wheelchair ...

as Captain Rahe *

Barbara Rütting Barbara Rütting (21 November 1927 – 28 March 2020)Thayer David Thayer David (born David Thayer Hersey; March 4, 1927 – July 17, 1978) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He was best known for his work on the ABC serial ''Dark Shadows'' (1966–1971), and as the fight promoter Miles ...

as Oscar Binding *

Charles Régnier Karl Friedrich Anton Hermann 'Charles' Regnier (Régnier)"Wedekind aus Horst Kreis Neustadt am Rübenberge in Niedersachsen". In: ''Niedersächsisches Geschlechterbuch''. (Genealogical studies). Limburg an der Lahn: Verlag C. A. Starke Volume 1 ...

as Joseph *

Dorothea Wieck Dorothea Wieck, born Dora Bertha Olavia Wieck (3 January 1908 in Davos, Switzerland – 20 February 1986 in Berlin, West Germany), was a German theatre and film actress. Early years Dorothea Wieck was born Dora Bertha Olavia Wieck and grew up ...

as Frau Lieser *

Kurt Meisel Kurt Meisel (18 August 1912 – 4 April 1994) was an Austrian actor and film director. He appeared in 65 films between 1934 and 1994. He also directed 21 films between 1949 and 1984. Meisel was married to the actress Ursula Lingen. He was born a ...

as Heini *

Agnes Windeck Agnes Windeck (; 27 March 1888 – 28 September 1975) was a German theatre and film actress. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1939 and 1973. She was born in Hamburg and started her career at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in 1904. S ...

as Frau Witte *

Clancy Cooper Clancy Cooper (July 23, 1906 – June 14, 1975) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1938 and 1962. He also guest-starred on numerous TV series, such as ''The Rifleman'', '' Lawman'', '' Wanted: Dead or Alive'', ...

as Sauer *

John van Dreelen John van Dreelen (born Jacques Theodore van Drielen Gimberg; 5 May 1922 – 4 September 1992) was a Dutch actor, who frequently performed on television from the 1960s to the 1980s. Early years Van Dreelen was born in Amsterdam, the son of Dutch ...

as Political Officer * Klaus Kinski as Gestapo Lieutenant *

Alice Treff Alice Martha Treff (4 June 1906 – 8 February 2003) was a German film actress. She appeared in more than 120 films between 1932 and 2001. She was born and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * '' Peter Voss, Thief of Millions'' ...

as Frau Langer *

Alexander Engel Alexander Engel, birth name: Kurt Engel (4 June 1902 – 25 July 1968) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1932 and 1968. He was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Saarbrücken, West Germany. He chose the sta ...

as Mad Air Raid Warden *

Jim Hutton Dana James Hutton (May 31, 1934 – June 2, 1979) was an American actor in film and television best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name, and his screen partnership with Paula Prentiss in four films, ...

as Hirschland (as Dana J. Hutton) * Bengt Lindström as Steinbrenner

Production

Remarque met Sirk in 1954 and the director persuaded the writer to adapt his own novel for the screen. ("I found him an extraordinarily understanding and capable man", said Remarque. "He knew what he wanted to do with my book.") Sirk's own son, actor Klaus Detlef Sierck (1925–1944), died in the Ukraine as a soldier of the Panzer-Grenadier-Division Großdeutschland when he was 18 years old. Universal decided to cast two relative unknowns in the lead. As studio executive Al Daff said: At one stage

Ann Harding Ann Harding (born Dorothy Walton Gatley; August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was ...

was going to play a role. Filming took place in West Berlin, which Sirk had fled over 20 years before and the

US Army Europe United States Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) /Theater Army responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICO ...

training area at Grafenwöhr. Interiors were shot at CCC Film's

Spandau Studios The Spandau Studios or CCC Studios were film and television studios located in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin. They were established in 1949 following the Second World War by the producer Artur Brauner controller of CCC Films, on the site of a form ...

in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art directors

Alexander Golitzen Prince Alexander Golitzen (Golitsyn), (Moscow, February 28, 1908San Diego, July 26, 2005) was a Russian-born American production designer who oversaw art direction on more than 300 movies. Born in Moscow in the princely Golitsyn family, Alexande ...

and Alfred Sweeney. Gavin was accompanied by his wife who he had just married and they used the movie as an opportunity to honeymoon. The musical score was composed by

Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...

on loanout from

M-G-M Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

, where he had been the primary composer for over a decade. Universal sent a screen test of Gavin to critics in advance of the film's release.

Hedda Hopper Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry; May 2, 1885February 1, 1966) was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committ ...

saw a preview and predicted that Gavin will "take the public by storm and so will the picture, which should also put its co-star, Lilo Pulver in the top ten." Universal publicly claimed that the film cost $5 million but Universal president

Milton Rackmil Milton R. Rackmil (1906-1992) was the co-founder of Decca Records and head of Universal Pictures and Vice-Charman of MCA Inc. Early life and education Rackmil was born to a Jewish family on the Lower East Side of New York City and grew up in Bro ...

denied that they had ever spent that amount on a film.

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' said the film wasn't as good as ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' but was "vivid, sometimes brutally shocking and, less often, emotionally moving." The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: * 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated

Box office

The film was expected to be Universal's biggest film of the year and was, with

theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is freq ...

s of $1.6 million in the United States and Canada. The film was one of the most popular of the year in France. ''Kinematograph Weekly'' listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958.

Awards

;Nominated *

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

: Best Sound Recording ( Leslie I. Carey) (1959) * Berlin Film Festival:

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

(1958)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Time To Love And A Time To Die, A 1958 films 1958 drama films 1950s war drama films American war drama films Films directed by Douglas Sirk Films based on works by Erich Maria Remarque Films scored by Miklós Rózsa Films set in 1944 Films about Nazi Germany Films based on German novels Films shot at Spandau Studios Anti-war films about World War II Eastern Front of World War II films Universal Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films