ID

FBW000507      Fiction

Country / Year

USA, 1943

Original Title

HOSTAGES

Directed by

Frank Tuttle

Produced by

Paramount Pictures, Inc., Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY

Staff

Executive producer: Buddy G. DeSylva; Associate producer: Sol C. Siegel; Assistent director: Alvin Ganzer; Script: Frank Butler, Carolyn Butler, Lester Cole; Based on: Stefan Heym ("Hostages. A Novel", dt. "Der Fall Glasenapp" / Roman); Camera: Victor Milner; Special optical effects: Gordon Jennings; Rear projection: Farciot Edouard (Process Photography); Editing: Archie Marshek; Sound: Walter C. Smith, Philip Wisdom; Art direction: Hans Dreier, Franz Bachelin; Technical consultant: Alexander Hackenschmied; Set decoration: Bertram Granger; Costumes: Edith Head; Makeup: Wally Westmore; Music: Victor Young; Musical direction: Victor Young; Consultant: Peter Pohlenz (Technische Beratung)

Cast

Luise Rainer (Milada Preissinger); William Bendix (Janoshik, alias Karol Vokosch); Arturo de Cordova (Paul Breda); Roland Varno (Jan Pavel); Oskar Homolka (als: Oscar Homolka) (Lev Preissinger); Katina Paxinou (Maria); Paul Lukas (Richard Rheinhardt); Fred Giermann (Captain Patzer); Felix Basch (Doctor Wallerstein); Michael Visaroff (Solvik); Eric Feldary (Peter Lovkowitz); John Mylong-Münz (als: John Mylong) (Julius Prokosch); Mikhail Rasumny (Joseph Kralow); Philip Van Zandt (Lieutenant Eisner); Reinhold Schünzel (als: Reinhold Schunzel) (Kurt Daluege, Commanding Officer); Fred Kelsey (Saboteur with Fishing Rod); Louis Jean Heydt (Guard); Rudolf Amendt-Anders (als: Rudolf Anders) (Captain Schiller); Rex Williams (Lieuntenant Marschmann); Steven Geray (Mueller, Gestapo Agent); Hans Conried (Lieutenant Heinrich Glasenapp); Robert Gilbert (Moenkeberg); Crane Whitley (Kon Konrad); Lutz Altschul (als: Louis V. Arco) (Nazi Officer); Ludwig Donath (als: Louis Donath) (Karel Klima); George Sorel (Bilek-Lukesch); Leonid Snegoff (Andrevic); Ivan Triesault (Franta); Mary Dietrich (Barkova); Louis Adlon (Young Nazi Soldier); Richard Ryen (Elderly Nazi Soldier); Kurt Neumann (Sergeant); Marie Melesh (Old Woman); Harry Strang (German Guard); Hans Fuerberg (German Guard); Hans von Morhart (German Guard); Otto Reichow (Heller); Margrit Roma (Hostage); William Edmunds (Hostage); Peter Michael (Hostage); Carla Boehm (Hostage); Fritz Brunn (als: Frederick Brunn) (Guard); Lisa Golm (Maid); Jack Lambert (SS Guard); Noel Cravat (Czech Dock Hand); Sigurd Tor (Chauffeur); Hermine Sterler (Woman Gestapo Agent); Carl Ekberg (German Officer in Officers Club); Lucien Prival (German Officer in Officers Club); Yolanda Lacca (Crying Girl in Officers Club); Ernst Haeussermann (als: Ernst Hausman) (Orderly in Patzer's Office); Alfred Paix (Gestapo Man); Franz U. Pohlenz (Orderly); Gloria Williams (Woman); Frank Alten (Coroner); George Shdanoff / Shadnoff (Waiter); Charles Bates (Peter)

Length

2369 m / 86'35''

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Dates

- 08 Feb 1943-02 Apr 1943: Shooting period
- 05 Aug 1943: Preview, New York, NY
- 05 Aug 1943: Copyright LP12355
- 12 Aug 1943: US release date
- 14 Aug 1943: Premiere
- 10 Oct 1943: Release date, New York, NY (Globe)

Remarks

1. Footage of Prague was shot six years earlier for BLUEBEARD'S EIGHTH WIFE (1938 US / Ernst Lubitsch).

Further Remarks

- Tonsystem: Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording
- PCA Cert. No.: 9188
- Studioaufnahmen: Paramount, Los Angeles

Abstract

Janoshik, alias Karol Vokosch, the leader of the Czech underground who is captured (though they do not know his true identity), along with wealthy Nazi collaborator Lev Preissinger and 24 other Czechs, and held hostage pending the outcome of an investigation into the death of a Nazi officer. Eventually the coroner concludes the Nazi's death was a suicide, but the Gestapo attempts to make the death appear to be a murder so that they can confiscate Preissinger's fortune. Janoshik finally escapes and manages to blow up the Nazi munitions dumps.

Subject Terms

Anti-Nazi films (US); German occupation; Exile films; Secret State Police; Lidice; Czechoslovakia; Resistance

Holdings

- Kinemathek Hamburg, Hamburg; 16mm

Distributor

Paramount Pictures, Inc., Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY (initially)

Materials

- AMPAS (Margaret Herrick Library), Beverly Hills, CA; Pressbook
- AMPAS (Margaret Herrick Library), Beverly Hills, CA; Call sheet
- British Film Institute (BFI), London; Poster
- British Film Institute (BFI), London; Stills

Bibliography

- Heym, Stefan: Hostages. A Novel. [dt.: Ausgabe: Der Fall Glasenapp] New York, NY: Putnam, 1942
- N.N.: o.T., in: Aufbau (New York, NY), Jg. 8, Nr. 46, 13.11.1942
- N.N.: "Hostages", in: Aufbau (New York, NY), Jg. 9, Nr. 2, 08.01.1943
- , in: The Hollywood Reporter, 09.02.1943
- , in: The Hollywood Reporter, 10.02.1943
- , in: Daily Variety, 12.02.1943
- , in: The Hollywood Reporter, 12.02.1943
- , in: Motion Picture Herald (New York, NY), 24.04.1943
- "Hostages", in: Variety, 11.08.1943
- , in: Daily Variety, 11.08.1943
- , in: The Hollywood Reporter, 11.08.1943
- , in: Film Daily (New York, NY), 12.08.1943
- , in: Box Office, 14.08.1943
- , in: Motion Picture Herald (New York, NY), 14.08.1943
- Strauss, Theodore (als: T.S.): "At the Globe", in: The New York Times, 11.10.1943
- George, Manfred (als: m.g.): "Film-Panorama. 'Hostages' (Globe)", in: Aufbau (New York, NY), Jg. 9, Nr. 42, 15.10.1943
- , in: Motion Picture Herald (New York, NY), 19.10.1943
- Crowther, Bosley: "Atrocity Films", in: The New York Times, 24.10.1943
- , in: Today's Cinema, Vol. 61, Nr. 4955, 12.11.1943
- , in: Kinematograph Weekly (London), Nr. 1909, 18.11.1943
- , in: The Hollywood Reporter, 30.11.1943
- , in: Los Angeles Examiner, 17.12.1943
- , in: Picturegoer, Vol. 13, Nr. 603, 01.04.1944
- Heym, Stefan: Der Fall Glasenapp. Leipzig: List, 1958
- Horak, Jan-Christopher: Anti-Nazi-Filme der deutschsprachigen Emigration von Hollywood 1939-1945. Münster: Maks, 1984