Große Freiheit Nr. 7 (English: Great Freedom No. 7) is a 1944 German musical drama film directed by Helmut Käutner. It was named after Große Freiheit (grand freedom), a street next to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli red light district.
The film is also known as Port of Freedom in the United Kingdom.
It was shot at the Tempelhof and Babelsberg Studios in Berlin, and on location in Hamburg and Prague.
Contents
Plot summary
The film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger (played by Hans Albers) who works in a St. Pauli club - address: Große Freiheit 7 - and falls in love with a girl played by Ilse Werner. But he acts too slowly and she falls in love with his rival Willem (Hans Söhnker) and Hannes returns to the sea.
Cast
Hans Albers as Hannes Kroeger
Ilse Werner as Gisa Häuptlein
Hans Söhnker as Willem
Hilde Hildebrand as Anita
Gustav Knuth as Fiete
Günther Lüders as Jens
Ilse Fürstenberg as Gisa's mother
Ethel Reschke as Margot
Erna Sellmer as Frau Kaasbohm
Kurt Wieschala as Jan
Helmut Käutner as Karl
Richard Nicolas as Admiral
Maria Besendahl as Frau Boergel
Justus Ott as Herr Wellenkamp
Gottlieb Reeck as Herr Puhlmann
Thea Thiele as Consul's wife
Alfred Braun as Rundfunkreporter
Rudolf Koch-Riehl as Master of ceremonies
Karl-Heinz Peters as Postman
Erwin Loraino as Sailor
Soundtrack
Hans Albers – "Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins" - On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight (song)
Hilde Hildebrand – "Beim ersten Mal, da tut's noch weh"
Hans Albers – "La Paloma"
Hans Albers – "Nein, ich kann Dich nicht vergessen"
Hans Albers – "Schön ist die Liebe im Hafen"
Hans Albers – "Was kann es denn schöneres geben"
Hans Albers – "Wenn ein Seemann mal nach Hamburg kommt"
Production
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. Portions were filmed aboard the four-masted barque Padua. For a scene with a boat trip in Hamburg harbour warships had to be covered up.
Reception
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, and was only shown outside of the Großdeutsches Reich proper, with the premiere on 15 December 1944 in occupied Prague (then a Reichsprotektorat). It remained banned in Nazi Germany, opening on 6 September 1945 in Berlin's Filmbühne Wien after the Allied victory.