''Quax in Africa'' (german: Quax in Afrika) is a German

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

adventure film produced from 1943–1944 and released in 1947, directed by

Helmut Weiss Helmut Weiss (January 25, 1907 – January 13, 1969) was a German actor, screenwriter, and film director. He was notable for directing '' Tell the Truth'' the first film produced in what was to become the future West Germany after the Second World ...

and starring

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 ...

Hertha Feiler Hertha Feiler (3 August 1916, Vienna – 1 November 1970, Munich) was an Austrian actress. She was married to the comedian Heinz Rühmann with whom she starred in several films. She was of Jewish descent. Filmography * '' Darling of the Sailors ...

, and Lothar Firmans. It is a sequel to the 1941 film ''

Quax the Crash Pilot ''Quax the Crash Pilot'' (german: Quax, der Bruchpilot) is a 1941 German comedy film directed by Kurt Hoffmann and starring Heinz Rühmann, Karin Himboldt and Lothar Firmans. It is also sometimes translated as ''Quax the Test Pilot''.Chapman p. ...

''.

Plot

The year is ''circa'' 1932, and the initial setting is Bavaria, Germany. The novice aviator Otto Groschenbügel, nicknamed Quax (see the previous film ''

''), has advanced to become a professional flying instructor at the Flying School of Bergried. Although by nature a congenial fellow, he decides to adopt an authoritarian manner when learning of his pupils' unruly womanising. However his stern lectures that women have no place on an aerodrome are undermined when his friend Marianne unexpectedly visits him, and even more so when two female trainee pilots are assigned to him. Soon, the flying school's chief instructor announces that the ''Europaflug'' contest (an air rallye from Germany via Spain to Africa and back) is scheduled to start from Bergried, and Quax together with one male and the two female trainee pilots take part, by which time Quax is finally persuaded of the women's flying abilities. ''En route'' in Spain they indulge in local dances and merriment and Quax casts off his disciplinarian persona. In Africa, the team crash their two planes and are discovered by natives. Quax is obliged to marry the tribal chief's daughter Banani, and they take part in an African ritual dance. Finally a rescue plane arrives and returns the aviators to their home country.

Production

Both the precursor film ''Quax the Crash Pilot'' and the sequel ''Quax in Africa'' are based on books written by Dr. Herrmann Grote (1904–1980). The first book carried the same title ''Quax der Bruchpilot'' as the first film and was published in 1936, while the second book was originally published under the title ''Quax auf Abwegen'' uax off trackbefore being republished as ''Quax in Afrika''. The film was shot from July 1943 to January 1944, but was not released during the war. In 1945 it was banned by the Allied occupation authorities and, although it was distributed in Sweden in 1947, did not get a full West German release until 1953. It was made at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

. Some scenes were shot at an

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

near the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n town of

Kempten Kempten (, (Swabian German: )) is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town ' ...

while parts of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

doubled for the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n scenes. The film's sets were designed by

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 Mahar ...

. Although the female lead from the previous film

Karin Himboldt Karin Himboldt (1920–2005) was a German film actress.Goble p.197 She is perhaps best known for her roles in the Heinz Rühmann comedy films '' Quax the Crash Pilot'' (1941) and ''Die Feuerzangenbowle'' (1944). Her career was damaged in 1944 whe ...

appears again, the principal romantic interest is now played by Rühmann's real-life wife Hertha Feiler.

Cast

References

Bibliography

External links