Attack on Baku

1942 film

Hans Wolfgang Hillers [de]
Hans Weidemann

Produced byHans WeidemannStarring

Willy Fritsch
René Deltgen
Fritz Kampers
Hans Zesch-Ballot

CinematographyRobert BaberskeEdited byErich KoblerMusic byAlois Melichar

Production
company

UFA

Distributed byUFA

Release date

25 August 1942 (1942-08-25)

Running time

91 minutesCountryGermanyLanguageGerman

Attack on Baku (German: Anschlag auf Baku) is a 1942 German thriller film directed by Fritz Kirchhoff and starring Willy Fritsch, René Deltgen, and Fritz Kampers. The film was intended as anti-British propaganda during the Second World War. It is noted for its set designs by Otto Hunte, who showed a fascination for modern technology in his depiction of the oil town.^[1] The film was shot on location in German-allied Romania, and at Babelsberg Studio in Berlin.

Synopsis

Azerbaijan, 1919. The British hope to secure control of the vast oil fields around Baku by launching a series of terrorist attacks on them. Hans Romberg, a German who is working as a security officer, battles with the British chief agent Captain Forbes and his associates.

Cast

Willy Fritsch as Hans Romberg
René Deltgen as Captain Percy Forbes, British Chief Agent
Fritz Kampers as Sergeant Mathias Ertl
Hans Zesch-Ballot as Police Minister Barakoff
Paul Bildt as Camps, U.S. oil magnate in Baku
Lotte Koch as Sylvia, his daughter
Erich Ponto as Jensen, Danish oil magnate
Aribert Wascher as Mamulian, Armenian oil magnate
Walter Janssen as Hanson, Swedish oil magnate
Joachim Brennecke as Ali Baba
Josef Kamper [de] as Zolak
Wilhelm H. König [de] as Thatul
Heinrich Marlow [de] as Lord Seymour, British officer
Hellmut Helsig as Richard Twinning, British Agent
Alexander Enge as Steffens, British Agent
Walter Holetzko as Richards, British Agent
Peter Elsholtz as British Lieutenant
Nicolas Koline as Russian waiter
Aruth Vartan as GPU agent
Willy Maertens as Jensen's lawyer
Boris Alekin [de; pl] as Turkish officer
Angelo Ferrari as Turkish officer
Erik Radolf [de] as Forbes' servant
Herbert Gernot as Colonel Ahmed Bey
Fred Goebel as British agent
Reginald Pasch [de; fr] as British agent
Arthur Reinhardt as British agent
Nico Turoff as British agent
Kurt Iller as British agent
Karl Jüstel as British agent
Günther Ballier as Jensen's secretary
Herbert Scholz as Assassin
Werner Völger [de] as Assassin
Peter Busse as Oil Tycoon
Julius E. Herrmann [de] as Oil Tycoon
Erich Walter [de; fr] as Gregor
Lotte Hermann [da] as Dancer
Lula Sachnowsky as Dancer

References

^ Hake, p. 53.

Bibliography

Hake, Sabine (2001). Popular Cinema of the Third Reich. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-73458-6.
Eltin, Richard A., ed. (2002). Art, Culture, and Media Under the Third Reich. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-22087-1.