Große Freiheit Nr. 7

Infobox Film
name = Große Freiheit Nr. 7


image_size =
caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Helmut Käutner
producer = Hans Tost
writer = Helmut Käutner, Richard Nicolas
narrator =
starring = Hans Albers
music = Werner Eisbrenner
cinematography = Werner Krien
editing = Anneliese Schönnenbeck
distributor = Deutsche Filmvertriebs (DFV)
released = December 15, 1944
runtime = 111 min.
country = Germany
language = German
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0036882

"Große Freiheit Nr. 7" is a 1944 German musical drama film, named after Große Freiheit (grand freedom), a street next to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli red light district.

The film, which features many songs like "La Paloma", tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger (played by Hans Albers) who works in a Reeperbahn club and falls in love with a girl played by Ilse Werner.

Due to the threat of Allied bombing raids to Hamburg Harbour and to the Ufa studios in Berlin's Neubabelsberg and Tempelhof when it was made in 1943 (May to November), most of the movie was shot in Prague's Barrandov Studios by Helmut Käutner, as the first Agfa colorfilm by Terra. For a scene with a boat trip in Hamburg harbour, war ships had to be covered up.

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels 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") to "Hannes". After a year of editing, the movie was banned anyway in Nazi Germany on 12 December 1944, [Also wird die "Große Freiheit Nr. 7" für den Rest des Krieges verboten.- [http://www.wdr.de/themen/kultur/stichtag/2004/12/15.jhtml WDR.de] ] [Der Film wurde 1944 von der Filmprüfstelle für die Aufführung in Deutschland verboten. [http://www.deutscher-tonfilm.de/gfn71.html] ] and was only shown outside of the Großdeutsches Reich proper, with the premiere on 15 December 1944 in Prague (then Reichsprotektorat). In Germany, it was only permitted to be shown in 1945 by the Allies, opening on 6 September 1945 in Berlin's "Filmbühne Wien".

References

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

External links

* [http://www.filmportal.de/df/23/Uebersicht,,,,,,,,E99576F9B6C4408E995F8D046ADDE999,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html Große Freiheit Nr. 7]
*http://www.der-blonde-hans.de/albers10a.htm
*http://www.deutscher-tonfilm.de/gfn71.html
*Westdeutscher Rundfunk: [http://www.wdr.de/themen/kultur/stichtag/2004/12/15.jhtml Stichtag 15. Dezember 2004: "“La Paloma ade”. Vor 60 Jahren: ‚Große Freiheit Nr. 7‘ in Prag uraufgeführt" - WDR.de]