The Condemned of Altona
Cast & Crew
Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren
Maximilian Schell
Fredric March
Robert Wagner
Françoise Prévost
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Upon learning that he will die of cancer in a few months, Gerlach, head of West Germany's greatest industrial combine, summons his younger son, Werner, and Werner's wife, Johanna, an actress, to the family home in Altona. Gerlach wants Werner to assume control of the business, but Werner disapproves of the power his father has amassed by openly supporting any government that would enable him to make money. Although Johanna has been told the elder Gerlach son, Franz, had been killed several years after being cited at the Nuremberg trials for war crimes, she discovers he is actually living in the attic of the house. Walled up in a room without windows and surrounded by relics of the Nazi era, he is totally insane and sees no one except his sister Leni, who brings him food and tells him that Germany is in poverty and ruins. Johanna manages to gain entrance to the room and, after several talks, tells him that Germany is enjoying enormous prosperity. Johanna begins to pity Franz; the embittered and possessive Leni tells the truth about Franz's long career as a soldier who enjoyed torturing and killing his victims. Franz, in desperation, leaves his self-imposed confinement and seeks out his father. The elder Gerlach takes Franz to the shipyards and proudly shows him his empire. As they travel to the observation platform, Franz, in an attempt to erase the guilt of his father and himself, leaps to his death, dragging his father with him.
Director
Vittorio De Sica
Cast
Sophia Loren
Maximilian Schell
Fredric March
Robert Wagner
Françoise Prévost
Alfredo Franchi
Lucia Pelella
Roberto Massa
Antonia Cianci
Carlo Antonini
Armando Sifo
Aldo Pecchioli
Ekkehard Schall
Crew
Luisa Alessandri
Giuseppe Annunziata
Mario De Biase
Manuel Del Campo
Franco Ferrara
Ezio Frigerio
Barbara Fuchs
Roberto Gerardi
Renato Guttuso
Nilo Jacoponi
Jerzy Macc
Abby Mann
Giuseppe Menegatti
Adriana Novelli
Ada Palombi
Luciano Perugia
Pier Luigi Pizzi
Carlo Ponti
Nino Rota
Tommaso Sagone
Ennio Sensi
Dmitriy Dmitriyevich Shostakovich
Carlo Sindici
Carlo Tommasi
George Tyne
Manfred Wekwerth
Pina Zani
Cesare Zavattini
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Exteriors filmed in Hamburg. Released in Italy in 1962 as I sequestrati di Altona and in France in 1963 as Les séquestrés d'Altona. The film includes a scene in a theater where Sophia Loren interprets the "Referendum" scene from Bertolt Brecht's A Private Life of the Master Race, and Ekkehard Schall interprets a scene from The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, as presented by the Berliner Ensemble. Cesare Zavattini does not receive U. S. screen credit.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Fall October 30, 1962
Released in United States September 1963
Scenes from Brecht's plays "A Private Life of the Master Race" and "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" are interpreted in the film.
CinemaScope
Released in United States September 1963
Released in United States Fall October 30, 1962
