''On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight'' (german: Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins) is a 1954 West German

comedy drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Wolfgang Liebeneiner Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner (6 October 1905 – 28 November 1987) was a German actor, film director and theatre director. Beginnings He was born in Lubawka, Liebau in Prussian Silesia. In 1928, he was taught by Otto Falckenberg, the directo ...

and starring

Hans Albers Hans Philipp August Albers (22 September 1891 – 24 July 1960) was a German actor and singer. He was the biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1960 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century. Early life ...

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

and

Fita Benkhoff Fita Benkhoff (1 November 1901 – 26 October 1967) was a German actress. Life Benkhoff was born in 1901. In the 1920s the actress Louise Dumont separated from her husband. Dumont was attached to a number of young actresses including Benkho ...

. The film is set in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and was one of two 1950s films starring Albers attempting to emulate the success of his 1944 hit ''

Große Freiheit Nr. 7 ''Große Freiheit Nr. 7'' (English: ''Great Freedom No. 7'') is a 1944 German musical drama film directed by Helmut Käutner. It was named after Große Freiheit (grand freedom), a street next to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli red lig ...

''. The film takes its name from the 1912 song of the same name and is not a remake of the 1929 silent film of the same title. A further version was made in 1969 with

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in ''Des Teufels Gener ...

. It was shot at the

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial back ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

and on location around Hamburg, including

St. Pauli St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...

and

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

as well as on

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Willi Herrmann Willi Herrmann (1893–1968) was a German art director. Selected filmography * '' Madness'' (1919) * '' Child on the Open Road'' (1919) * '' Jettatore'' (1919) * ''Humanity Unleashed'' (1920) * '' The Secrets of Berlin'' (1921) * ''The Maharaja ...

and

Heinrich Weidemann Heinrich Weidemann (1899–1982) was a German art director.Lowe p.179 Selected filmography * '' The Gambler'' (1938) * '' The Swedish Nightingale'' (1941) * ''Ghost in the Castle'' (1947) * ''The Trip to Marrakesh'' (1949) * ''Scandal at the Emba ...

Synopsis

After many years away

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

Hannes Wedderkamp returns to his home city of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and meets up with his old friend Pittes Breuer who owns a venue on the

Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nickn ...

. Currently struggling, Hannes helps him turn it around by introducing a new

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...

. He also takes a kindly interest in his friend's grown-up daughter, only to discover that she is in fact really his own child who has been brought up by Pittes. When the two men fall out shortly afterwards, Pittes falls in with an unscrupulous con man and it falls to Hannes to save him.

Cast

as Hannes Wedderkamp *

as Pittes Breuer *

as Luise *

Erwin Strahl Erwin Strahl (12 February 1929 – 20 April 2011) was an Austrian actor. From 1966 until his death, he was married to Austrian actress Waltraut Haas Waltraut Haas (born 9 June 1927) is an Austrian actress and singer. Born in Vienna, Haas grew ...

as Bilek *

Sybil Werden Sybil Werden (3 September 1924 – 27 July 2007) was a German dancer and actress during the 1950s. Life and career Born on 3 September 1924, Sybil Barbara Astrid Werden was the daughter of actress Margit Barnay and architect Hans Schmidt-Werden. F ...

as Marion *

Gustav Knuth Gustav Knuth (7 July 1901 – 1 February 1987) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1935 and 1982 and starred in the TV series '' Alle meine Tiere''. He was married to the actress Elisabeth Lennartz. Selected ...

as Brandstetter snr. * Fritz Wagner as Kattmann *

Helga Franck Helga Franck (1933–February 1963) was a German stage and film actress.Körner p.368 Having appeared in a number of 1950s film productions, including the 1957 heimatfilm ''Marriages Forbidden'', her career was cut short when she accidentally f ...

as Anni *

Jürgen Graf Jürgen Graf (born 15 August 1951) is a Swiss author, former teacher and Holocaust denier. Since August 2000 he has been living in exile, and is currently living in Russia, working as a translator, with his wife. Background Born in Basel, Graf s ...

as Jürgen Brandstetter *

Wolfgang Neuss Wolfgang Neuss (3 December 1923 – 5 May 1989) was a German actor and Kabarett artist. Beginning in the mid-1960s, he also became famous for his political engagement, first for the SPD, then for the extra-parliamentary opposition, ''APO''. H ...

as Nigrantz *

Else Reval Else Reval (14 June 1893 – 25 January 1978) was a German film actress.Giesen p.210 Selected filmography * ''War in Peace'' (1925) * '' The World Wants To Be Deceived'' (1926) * '' Marriage Announcement'' (1926) * '' The Eleven Schill Officers'' ...

as Die stramme Emma *

Liselotte Malkowsky Liselotte Malkowsky (9 October 1913 – 16 February 1965) was a German singer, actress, and cabaret artist. Malkowsky appeared in 1950s German films as a cabaret singer, and released a number of records, including a 1949 recording of Charles T ...

as Singer *

Carl Hinrichs Carl Hinrichs (September 18, 1907 – December 7, 1967) was a German stage and film actor. Selected filmography * '' On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight'' (1954) * ''The Happy Village ''The Happy Village'' (german: Das fröhliche Dorf) is a ...

as Bootsmann Jan *

Wulf Rittscher ''Wulf'' (Common Germanic "wolf") was one of the most prolific elements in early Germanic names. It could figure as the first element in dithematic names, as in '' Wulfstan'', but especially as second element, in the form ''-ulf, -olf'' as in ...

as Herr Ettmann * Wolfgang Müller as Matrose * Al Hoosmann as Ein Gast * George André Martin as Hausknecht Smittie * Michael Piel as Tänzer * Marion Soremba as Singer

References

External links

* 1954 films 1950s musical comedy-drama films German musical comedy-drama films West German films Films directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner Films set in Hamburg Films shot in Hamburg Films featuring underwater diving Treasure hunt films 1950s buddy films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios 1950s German films 1950s German-language films {{comedy-drama-film-stub