''Große Freiheit Nr. 7'' (English: ''Great Freedom No. 7'') is a 1944 German

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

drama film directed by

Helmut Käutner Helmut Käutner (25 March 1908 – 20 April 1980) was a German film director active mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. He entered the film industry at the end of the Weimar Republic and released his first films as a director in Nazi Germany. Käu ...

. It was named after Große Freiheit (grand freedom), a street next to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli red light district. The film is also known as ''Port of Freedom'' in the United Kingdom. It was shot at the Tempelhof and

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and on location in

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Plot summary

The film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger (played by Hans Albers) who works in a St. Pauli club - address: Große Freiheit 7 - and falls in love with a girl played by Ilse Werner. But he acts too slowly and she falls in love with his rival Willem ( Hans Söhnker) and Hannes returns to the sea.

Cast

* Hans Albers as Hannes Kroeger * Ilse Werner as Gisa Häuptlein * Hans Söhnker as Willem * Hilde Hildebrand as Anita *

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 Fiete *

Günther Lüders Günther Lüders (5 March 1905 – 1 March 1975) was a German actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1934 and 1975. He lived in Urfeld am Walchensee from 1954 until 1975. Selected filmography * ''Count Woronzeff'' (1934), as Cousin ...

as Jens * Ilse Fürstenberg as Gisa's mother * Ethel Reschke as Margot * Erna Sellmer as Frau Kaasbohm * Kurt Wieschala as Jan *

as Karl * Richard Nicolas as Admiral * Maria Besendahl as Frau Boergel * Justus Ott as Herr Wellenkamp * Gottlieb Reeck as Herr Puhlmann * Thea Thiele as Consul's wife * Alfred Braun as Rundfunkreporter * Rudolf Koch-Riehl as Master of ceremonies * Karl-Heinz Peters as Postman * Erwin Loraino as Sailor

Soundtrack

* Hans Albers – "Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins" - On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight (song) * Hilde Hildebrand – "Beim ersten Mal, da tut's noch weh" * Hans Albers – " La Paloma" * Hans Albers – "Nein, ich kann Dich nicht vergessen" * Hans Albers – "Schön ist die Liebe im Hafen" * Hans Albers – "Was kann es denn schöneres geben" * Hans Albers – "Wenn ein Seemann mal nach Hamburg kommt"

Production

Due to the threat of Allied bombing raids to Hamburg Harbour and to the Ufa studios in

's Neu babelsberg and Tempelhof when it was made in 1943 (May to November), most of the movie was shot in

's Barrandov Studios by

, as the first

Agfa Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes Analog photography, analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1867 ...

colorfilm by Terra. Portions were filmed aboard the four-masted

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

''. For a scene with a boat trip in Hamburg harbour warships had to be covered up.

Reception

Nazi propaganda minister

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

was dissatisfied, and demanded many changes to make the film more "German", for instance by renaming the lead role from ''Jonny'' (as in Albers' earlier hit song "

Good bye, Jonny "" (; 'Risen from the Ruins') was the national anthem of East Germany. Background In 1949, the Soviet occupation zone of Allied-occupied Germany became a socialist state under the name of the "German Democratic Republic" (GDR). For the new stat ...

") to ''Hannes''. After a year of editing, the movie was banned anyway in Nazi Germany on 12 December 1944,Der Film wurde 1944 von der Filmprüfstelle für die Aufführung in Deutschland verboten. and was only shown outside of the Großdeutsches Reich proper, with the premiere on 15 December 1944 in occupied Prague (then a Reichsprotektorat). It remained banned in Nazi Germany, opening on 6 September 1945 in

's ''Filmbühne Wien'' after the Allied victory.

References

* Rüdiger Bloemeke: "La Paloma – Das Jahrhundertlied". 158 Seiten, über 30 Seiten Farb- und Schwarzweiß-Abbildungen. Voodoo-Verlag, Hamburg 2005

External links

*
''Große Freiheit Nr. 7''
Full movie at the Deutsche Filmothek

*http://www.der-blonde-hans.de/albers10a.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosse Freiheit Nr. 7 1944 films 1944 romantic drama films Banned films in Nazi Germany German musical drama films German romantic musical films Films of Nazi Germany 1940s German-language films Films directed by Helmut Käutner Films set in Hamburg 1940s musical drama films Seafaring films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios Films shot at Babelsberg Studios Terra Film films 1940s romantic musical films Films scored by Werner Eisbrenner