Frozen Flashes (film)
Encyclopedia
Die gefrorenen Blitze is a two-part 1967 East-German film. The plot revolves around the history of the resistance movement in Peenemünde
during the Second World War and its attempt to sabotage the V-2 program.
, but the Military Intelligence doubts its veracity. The German research in Peenemünde goes undisturbed from the British. In spite of this, various resistance groups gather information about the site and attempt to hinder the missiles' development, taking great risks.
, a new, deadlier weapon is being developed.
. It won the Golden Apsara Award in the 1969 Pnom Penh International Film Festival.
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
during the Second World War and its attempt to sabotage the V-2 program.
Part 1: Target Peenemünde
on 5 November 1939, the British consulate in Norway receives the Oslo ReportOslo report
The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on November 1 and 2, 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several German weapons systems, current and future.Mayer...
, but the Military Intelligence doubts its veracity. The German research in Peenemünde goes undisturbed from the British. In spite of this, various resistance groups gather information about the site and attempt to hinder the missiles' development, taking great risks.
Part 2: Password Paperclip
After an Allied bombing wreaks great damage in Peenemünde, the local resistance manages to smuggle V-2 parts to Britain, where they would be analyzed by the Allies' technical intelligence. The Allies decide that the genius of the rockets' creator must be exploited by them. As the end of the war looms near, Peenemünde is abandoned. In Los AlamosLos Alamos
-United States:*Los Alamos, California*Los Alamos, New Mexico**Los Alamos Ranch School, boys' school**Los Alamos National Laboratory**Los Alamos County, New Mexico**Los Alamos Museum, unofficial name of the Bradbury Science Museum was a large floating dry dock...
, a new, deadlier weapon is being developed.
Cast
- Alfred Müller as Dr. Grunwald
- Leon NiemczykLeon NiemczykLeon Stanisław Niemczyk was a Polish actor.Niemczyk appeared in over 500 films and television shows over the course of his very long career...
as Stefan - Dietrich Körner as the 'rocket baron' (Werner von Braun)
- Emil KarewiczEmil KarewiczEmil Karewicz is a Polish television and cinema actor.-External links:...
as Jerzy - Victor BeaumontVictor BeaumontVictor Beaumont , was an German born film and television actor.As Peter Wolff he appeared in a number of German films and at least one play...
as chief of British intelligence - Mark DignamMark DignamMark Dignam was a prolific English actor.Born in London, the son of salesman in the steel industry, Dignam grew up in Sheffield and was educated at the Jesuit College where he appeared in numerous Shakespearean plays....
as Sir John - Ewa WisniewskaEwa WiśniewskaEwa Wiśniewska is a Polish actress. Her sister, Małgorzata Niemirska, is an actress.Wiśniewska was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of Poland's highest Orders, and many other Orders, including Gold Cross of Merit....
as Hanka - Fritz DiezFritz DiezNot to be confused with the West German industrialist Fritz Dietz.Fritz Diez was a German actor, producer, director and theater manager.-Early life:...
as Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945... - Mikhail UlyanovMikhail UlyanovMikhail Alexandrovich Ulyanov was a Soviet and Russian actor who was one of the most recognizable persons of the post-World War II Soviet theatre and cinema. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1969 and received a special prize from the Venice Film Festival in 1982.Mikhail Alexandrovich...
as General Alexander GorbatovAlexander GorbatovAlexander Vasilyevich Gorbatov was a Russian and Soviet officer who served as an officer in the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War and as a Colonel-General in the Red Army during the Second World War... - Gerd Michael HennebergGerd Michael HennebergGerd Michael Henneberg was a German actor and theater director.-Biography:Gerd Henneberg's father, Richard, was a theater director. After the young Heeneberg took private acting classes, he made his debut on stage at the age of sixteen, in the Leipzig Theater...
as Albert SpeerAlbert SpeerAlbert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office... - Renate Blume as Ingrid
- Werner Lierck as Private First Class Draeger
- Georges Aubert as Father Mollard
- Reimar Baur John as Dr. Kummerow
- John Mercator as Colonel Briggs
- Alan Winnington as chief of the reconnaissance
- Peter Doherty as squadron commander
- Helmut Schreiber as attaché
- Jiří Vršťala as Professor Rahn
- Steffen Klaus as Colpi
- Vera Oelschlegel as secretary
- Ingeborg Ottmann as Marianne
- Achim Schmidtchen as the ObergruppenführerObergruppenführerObergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
- Heinrich Narenta as Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
- Hannjo HasseHannjo Hasse-Biography:Hasse began studying acting in 1938, and attended Lily Ackermann's Institute for Stage Artists' Education in Berlin. At 1941, he was drafted for the Labour Service, and later to the Army...
as SA officer Zech
Production
The work on Die Gefrorene Blitze began already at 1964, and took three years to be completed. Writer Harry Thürk and director János Veiczi conducted extensive research in four countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland. The script was mainly based on Dr. Julius Mader's book "Secrets from Huntsville: the True Career of the Rockets Baron Werner von Braun." The producers deemed the film as one that continued the tradition of DEFA's classical antifascist pictures, focusing on the struggle of people from many different countries - including a catholic priest from France, a character whose portrayal as positive was not common in East Germany - to prevent the Nazis from developing long-range missiles. The title was derived from a common sobriquet for the V2 missiles - "Frozen Lightning".Reception
The film was screened outside the competition in the 1969 Cannes Film Festival1969 Cannes Film Festival
The 22nd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 8 - 23, 1969. At this festival a new non-competitive section called "Directors' Fortnight" is added, in response to the cancellation of the 1968 festival.-Jury:*Luchino Visconti...
. It won the Golden Apsara Award in the 1969 Pnom Penh International Film Festival.