ID

FBW001591      Fiction

Country / Year

Switzerland, 1945

Original Title

Die letzte Chance

Other Title(s)

The Last Chance / La dernière Chance / L'Ultima Speranza / Flüchtlinge / Don't Forget It Ever / Vergesst es nie! / Die grosse Hoffnung [AT]

Directed by

Leopold Lindtberg

Produced by

Praesens-Film AG, Zürich / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) (Loew's, Inc.), Culver City, CA (New York, NY)

Staff

Producer: Lazar Wechsler; Production manager: Edwin Otto Nuber; Location manager: Uors von Planta; Assistent director: Elisabeth Scott-Montagu, Alberto Barberis; Continuity: Gertrud Bantli; Script: Richard Schweizer; Adaptation: Elisabeth Scott-Montagu; Dialogues: Alberto Barberis (Ital. Dialog), Elisabeth Scott-Montagu (Engl. Dialog); Camera: Emil Berna; Assistent cameraman: Franz Vlasak; Lighting: Ernst Bolliger; Editing: Hermann Haller; Assistant editing: René Martinet; Sound: Bruno Müller, Fritz Obitsch; Art direction: Robert Furrer; Costumes: Robert Gamma; Makeup: Adolf Meidert; Music: Robert Blum; Consultant: Albert Bolliger; 2nd unit, director: Hermann Haller

Cast

Ewart G. Morrison (Maj. Telford); John Hoyt (Lt. Halliday); Ray Reagan (Sgt. Braddock); Luisa Rossi (Tonina); Eduardo Masini (Wirt); Galeati Giuseppe (Fuhrmann); Romano Calo (Priester); Tino Erier (Muzio, der Spitzel); Leopold Biberti (Oberleutnant Brunner); Therese Giehse (Frau Wittels); Robert Schwarz (Bernard Wittels); Germaine Tounier (Mme. Monnier); Emil Gerber (Grenzwächter Rüedi); Sigfrit Steiner (Schweizer Militärarzt); Maurice Sakhnowsky (Hiller Sokolowski); Berthe Sakhnowsky (Chanele, seine Nichte); Rudolf Kämpf (Professor); Jean Martin (Holländer); Gertrud ten Cate (Holländerin); Carl Romatko (Jugoslawischer Arbeiter); Renata Italiani (=Borgatti); Lina Paoli; Maria Rezzonico; Guido Rezzonico; Hermann Styger; Olga Peytrignet; Uors von Planta

Length

3100 m / 113'

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Dates

- 08 Nov 1944-00 May 1945: Shooting period
- 26 May 1945: Premiere, Zürich (Rex)
- 27 Nov 1945: First run, US, New York, NY (Loew's Criterion)
- 19 Dec 1945: First run, FR, Paris (Biarritz)
- 01 Feb 1946: First run, GB, London (Empire)

Further Remarks

- Studioaufnahmen: Filmstudio Bellerive AG, Zürich
- Außenaufnahmen: Gandria, Filesua, Arcenio, Mergoscia, Caprino, Lamone (TI), Berninapass, Filisur, Lenz, Müllheim-Wigoltingen, Zürich (Güterbahnhof), Lago Maggiore

Subject Terms

Allies; British Army; Deportations of Jews; Escapes; Refugees; Italy; War captivity; Switzerland; US Army; World War II

Holdings

- Cinématheque Suisse, Lausanne; 35mm

Distributor

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) (Loew's, Inc.), Culver City, CA (New York, NY) (initially)

Bibliography

- , in: Motion Picture Herald (New York, NY), Vol. 161, Nr. 7, 17.11.1945
- , in: Theatre Arts, Vol. 29, Nr. 12, Dezember, 01.12.1945
- , in: New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews, Vol. 2, Nr. 42, 03.12.1945
- , in: Cinématographie Française (Paris), Nr. 1138, 05.01.1946
- , in: Today's Cinema, Vol. 66, Nr. 5296, 25.01.1946
- , in: Kinematograph Weekly (London), Nr. 2024, 31.01.1946
- Dumont, Hervé: Geschichte des Schweizer Films. Lausanne: Cinématheque Suisse, 1987
- Grob, Norbert (Hg.): Das Jahr 1945 und das Kino. Berlin: Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, 1995