''The Big Game'' (german: Das große Spiel) is a 1942

German 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 **Ge ...

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the s ...

directed by Robert A. Stemmle and starring

René Deltgen Renatus Heinrich Deltgen born 30 April 1909 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; died 29 January 1979 in Cologne, West Germany) was a Luxembourgian stage and film actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance ...

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 ...

and

Heinz Engelmann Heinz Engelmann (1911–1996) was a German film actor. He was married to the actress Gertrud Meyen. Selected filmography * '' D III 88'' (1939) * '' Drei Unteroffiziere'' (1939) * ''Congo Express'' (1939) * ''The Girl at the Reception'' (1940) * ...

. It featured famous German footballers of the era. National coach

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed '' The Mir ...

arranged for many German international footballers to be recalled from fighting 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 opposi ...

, ostensibly to improve the quality of the film, but actually to try to protect them from the horrors of war.Hesse-Lichtenbeger p. 91–92 Some sequences of the film are in

Agfacolor An Agfacolor slide dated 1937 from café in Oslo, Norway. An Agfacolor slide dated 1937 from Paris, France. An Agfacolor slide dated 1938 from Hungary. An Agfacolor slide dated 1938 from Zakopane in Poland. An Agfacolor slide dated 1938 fr ...

. The sets were designed by art directors Gerbert Hochreiter and Walter Schlick.

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* 1942 films 1940s sports films German sports films Films of Nazi Germany 1940s German-language films Films directed by Robert A. Stemmle German association football films Bavaria Film films German black-and-white films Cockfighting in film 1940s German films {{sport-film-stub

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