''Raid'' (german: Razzia) is a 1947 German

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Werner Klingler Karl Adolf Kurt Werner Klingler (23 October 1903 – 23 June 1972) was a German film director and actor. He directed 29 films between 1936 and 1968. He was born in Stuttgart and died in Berlin, Germany. Early life Klingler acquired his fi ...

and starring

Paul Bildt Paul Hermann Bildt (19 May 1885 – 13 March 1957) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Devil in Silk'' (1956) * ''Ich suche Di ...

Agathe Poschmann Agathe Poschmann (born 18 January 1922) is a German actress of stage, radio and film. She frequently played a young lover on the stage. Life Poschmann was born in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia in 1922. She trained in Berlin from 1940 to 1942 ...

, and

Claus Holm Claus Holm (4 August 1918 – 21 September 1996) was a German film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1943 and 1979. He was born in Bochum, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Floh im Ohr'' (1943) - Knecht Ha ...

. It was made as a cautionary tale about the

black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...

in postwar

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. It was made in the Soviet Zone, which would later become

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. It was produced by the state-controlled

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

and shot at the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Johan ...

and on location around

. 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 ...

s Otto Hunte and

Bruno Monden Bruno Monden (1900–1980) was a German art director. He designed the sets for several rubble films in the wake of the Second World War.Shandley p.217 Selected filmography * '' The Stars Shine'' (1938) * '' The Murderers Are Among Us'' (1946) * ...

. The picture sold more than 8,090,000 tickets.List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
/ref>

Plot

The film takes place in Berlin, in the direct aftermath of Germany's defeat in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The black market is rife in the ruined city. Chief Inspector Friedrich Naumann (

) organizes a raid on the "

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

Club", a suspected center of a black market gang, but the raid fails due to the gang having an informer in the police ranks. Later, Naumann investigates alone, discovers a secret tunnel in the club, and gets murdered. The plot then thickens around the complicated relationships between Goll (

Harry Frank Harry Frank (15 October 1896 – 12 December 1947) was a German actor. Selected filmography * '' In den Goldfeldern von Nevada'' (1920) * ''Das wandernde Bild'' (1920) * ''The Wandering Image'' (1920) * ''Four Around a Woman'' (1921) * ''The Pas ...

) - club owner and gang boss; the singer Yvonne ( Nina Kosta), Goll's employee and accomplice; Heinz Becker, Naumann's colleague who had been blackmailed into acting as an informant; and Paul Naumann (

Friedhelm von Petersson Friedhelm is a name of Germanic origin. It may refer to: *Friedhelm Busse (1929–2008), German national socialist politician and activist * Friedhelm Döhl (born 1936), German composer and professor of music * Friedhelm Eronat (born 1953), Geneva- ...

), the inspector's son, a recently returned Prisoner of War who works as a driver in Goll's drug pushing ring until realizing that it was Goll who murdered his father. In the cataclysmic conclusion, the police manages to carry out another raid, a successful one this time, round up members of the gang and undo Goll's dark machinations. At the time, Berlin - where the film is set and where it was also filmed - was under complete four-power occupation, and the rival

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

German Federal Republic BRD (german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; English: FRG/Federal Republic of Germany) is an unofficial abbreviation for the Federal Republic of Germany, informally known in English as West Germany until 1990, and just Germany since reunification. It ...

had not yet been set up. Still, the situation of occupation is in this film pushed to the background, with all characters, positive and negative, being Germans and the conflict in the film being between German police and German criminals.

Cast

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* 1947 films 1947 crime films German crime films East German films 1940s German-language films Films set in Berlin German black-and-white films Films directed by Werner Klingler Films shot at Johannisthal Studios Black markets 1940s German films {{1940s-Germany-film-stub