''The Blue Hour'' (german: Die blaue Stunde) is a 1953 West German

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Veit Harlan Veit Harlan (22 September 1899 – 13 April 1964) was a German film director and actor. Harlan reached the highpoint of his career as a director in the Nazi era; most notably his antisemitic film ''Jud Süß'' (1940) makes him controversial ...

and starring

Kristina Söderbaum Beata Margareta Kristina Söderbaum (5 September 1912 – 12 February 2001) was a Swedish-born German film actress, producer, and photographer. She performed in Nazi-era films made by a German state-controlled production company. Early life S� ...

, Hans Nielsen and

Kurt Kreuger Kurt Kreuger (July 23, 1916 – July 12, 2006) was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third-most-requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. Life and career Kreuger w ...

. Production began on the film in October 1952. It was shot at the

Göttingen Studios The Göttingen Studios were film studios located in the German city of Göttingen. The studios were established in 1948 on a site that had previously been used as an aeroplane hangar on the outskirts of Göttingen. The studios were founded by the ...

and on location on the island of

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

. 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 ...

Walter Haag Walter Haag (1898–1978) was a German art director. He worked on more than sixty films during his career including the 1940 historical melodrama ''The Heart of a Queen''.Hull p.179-80 Selected filmography * ''The Private Life of Louis XIV'' (19 ...

. Because of public protests against his wartime role as a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

filmmaker, Harlan considered turning over the project to his colleague Geza von Bolvary but eventually decided to direct it himself. It was the third film of a post-war comeback for the husband and wife team Harlan and Söderbaum, but was much less commercially successful than the two previous films the

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

s ''

Immortal Beloved The Immortal Beloved (German "Unsterbliche Geliebte") is the addressee of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 6–7 July 1812 in Teplitz. The unsent letter is written in pencil on 10 small pages. It was found in the compo ...

'' and ''

Hanna Amon ''Hanna Amon'' is a 1951 German Agfacolor drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Lutz Moik and Ilse Steppat. It was shot at the Göttingen Studios and on location in Upper Bavaria. The film's sets were designed by th ...

''.Noack p.308

Cast

as Angelika * Hans Nielsen as Paul *

as Dulong * Paulette Andrieux as Lou *

Harald Juhnke Harald Juhnke () (born Harry Heinz Herbert Juhnke, 10 June 1929 – 1 April 2005), was a German actor, comedian, and singer. Life and career Juhnke was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg. His father was a police officer and his mother came from a ...

as Fred *

Renate Feuereisen Renatus is a first name of Latin origin which means "born again" (natus = born). In Italian, Portuguese and Spanish it exists in masculine and feminine forms: Renato and Renata. In French they have been translated to René and Renée. Renata ...

as Mariechen *

Jakob Tiedtke Jakob Karl Heinrich Wilhelm Tiedtke (23 June 1875 – 30 June 1960) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 190 films between 1914 and 1955. Selected filmography * ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1918 film), The Pied Piper of Hamel ...

as Portier *

Otto Gebühr Otto Gebühr (29 May 1877 – 13 March 1954) was a German theatre and film actor, who appeared in 102 films released between 1917 and 1954. He is noted for his performance as the Prussian king Frederick the Great in numerous films. Early lif ...

as Geheimrat Jordan *

Charlotte Scheier-Herold Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populou ...

* Esther Gramsch *

Hans Hermann Schaufuß Hans Hermann Schaufuß (13 July 1893 – 30 January 1982) was a German actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1922 to 1969. His sons were actors Hans Joachim Schaufuß Hans Joachim Schaufuß (transliterated: Schaufuss) (28 Decemb ...

References

Bibliography

* Noack, Frank. ''Veit Harlan: The Life and Work of a Nazi Filmmaker''. University Press of Kentucky, 2016.

External links

* 1953 films West German films German comedy films 1953 comedy films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Veit Harlan 1950s German films Films shot at Göttingen Studios {{1950s-Germany-film-stub