''Die gefrorenen Blitze'' (''Frozen Lightning''; English-language title: Frozen Flashes; French-language title: Et l'Angleterre sera détruite, ''England Shall Be Destroyed'') is a two-part 1967 East-German film. The plot revolves around the history of the resistance movement in
Peenemünde during the Second World War and its attempt to sabotage the
V-2
The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed ...
program.
Plot
Part 1: Target Peenemünde
on 5 November 1939, the British consulate in Norway receives the
Oslo Report The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on 1 and 2 November 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several G ...
, but the Military Intelligence doubts its veracity. The German research in Peenemünde goes undisturbed from the British. In spite of this, various resistance groups gather information about the site and attempt to hinder the missiles' development, taking great risks.
Part 2: Password Paperclip
After an Allied bombing wreaks great damage in Peenemünde, the local resistance manages to smuggle V-2 parts to Britain, where they would be analyzed by the Allies' technical intelligence. The Allies decide that the genius of the rockets' creator must be exploited by them. As the end of the war looms near, Peenemünde is abandoned. In
Los Alamos, a new, deadlier weapon is being developed.
Cast
*
Alfred Müller as Dr. Grunwald
*
Leon Niemczyk
Leon Stanisław Niemczyk (15 December 1923 – 29 November 2006) was a Polish actor.
Niemczyk developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1960s, known for serious dramas, including historical dramas and war films. He appeared in over ...
as Stefan
* as the 'rocket baron' (
Wernher von Braun)
*
Emil Karewicz
Emil Karewicz (13 March 1923 – 18 March 2020) was a Polish actor.
Early life
His acting career began in Wilno, at the local theatre, where he played the role of a monkey in the "Quartet" by Ivan Krylov. During World War II he served in the Po ...
as Jerzy
*
Victor Beaumont
Victor Beaumont (born Peter Wolff; 7 November 1912 – 21 March 1977) was a German-born British film and television actor.
Biography
Beaumont billed under his birth name of Peter Wolff, appeared in a number of German films (''Revolt in the ...
as chief of British intelligence
*
Mark Dignam as Sir John
*
Ewa Wiśniewska as Hanka
*
Fritz Diez as
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
*
Mikhail Ulyanov as General
Alexander Gorbatov
*
Gerd Michael Henneberg as
Albert Speer
Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...
*
Renate Blume
Renate Blume (born 3 May 1944) is a German actress. She has appeared in more than 70 films and television shows since 1964. She was a member of the jury at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival.
From 1969 until 1975 she was married to fi ...
as Ingrid
*Werner Lierck as Private First Class Draeger
*Georges Aubert as Father Mollard
*Reimar Baur John as Dr. Kummerow
*John Mercator as Colonel Briggs
*
Alan Winnington as chief of the reconnaissance
*Peter Doherty as squadron commander
*Helmut Schreiber as attaché
*Jiří Vršťala as Professor Rahn
*Steffen Klaus as Colpi
*
Vera Oelschlegel as secretary
*Ingeborg Ottmann as Marianne
*Achim Schmidtchen as the
Obergruppenführer
*Heinrich Narenta as
Heinrich Himmler
*
Hannjo Hasse
Hannjo Hasse (31 August 1921 – 5 February 1983) was an East German actor.
Biography
Hasse began studying acting in 1938, and attended Lily Ackermann's Institute for Stage Artists' Education in Berlin. At 1941, he was drafted for the Labour Ser ...
as SA officer Zech
Production
The work on ''Die Gefrorene Blitze'' began already at 1964, and took three years to be completed. Writer Harry Thürk and director János Veiczi conducted extensive research in four countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland. The script was mainly based on
Julius Mader
Julius Mader (7 October 1928 – 17 May 2000), also known by his alias Thomas Bergner, was a German jurist, political scientist, journalist and writer.
Life
Mader came from a lower-middle-class family. Along with millions of other ethnic Germa ...
's documentary report "The Secret of Huntsville—The Real Career of Rocketbaron Wernher von Braun" The producers deemed the film as one that continued the tradition of DEFA's classical antifascist pictures, focusing on the struggle of people from many different countries - including a catholic priest from France, a character whose portrayal as positive was not common in East Germany - to prevent the Nazis from developing long-range missiles. The title was derived from a common sobriquet for the V2 missiles - "Frozen Lightning".
Reception
The film was screened outside the competition in the
1969 Cannes Film Festival
The 22nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 23 May 1969. At this festival a new non-competitive section called Directors' Fortnight was added, in response to the cancellation of the 1968 festival.
The Grand Prix du Festival International d ...
. It won the Golden Apsara Award in the 1969
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
International Film Festival.
Die gefrorenen Blitze
' on PROGRESS-Film Verleih.
References
External links
*
Frozen Flashes' on the
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
.
{{Authority control
1967 films
1960s spy films
1967 war films
German spy films
German war films
East German films
1960s German-language films
German black-and-white films
World War II spy films
Films about the German Resistance
1960s German films