Polonia-Express
Synopsis
Railway employee Fritz Marr is not regarded well by his superiors. It is the year 1920, and trains regularly pass the railway hub of Erfurt to the East to secretly transport weapons for the fight against the young Soviet Union. Marr knows about this and wants to mobilise other workers to stop these illegal deliveries. To muzzle him, Marr is relocated to a remote rail work construction site. Even when a railway wagon loaded with ammunition explodes near Erfurt, authorities still try to cover-up the incident and make the public believe that it was an accident with chemicals. Marr, who knows the truth, is accused of lying by the direction of the Reichsbahn. Even his girlfriend Hella believes that Fritz is paranoid. But then the railway employee is nearly assassinated: Hella, who just in time learned the truth about the weapons delivery, is able to prevent the murder attempt with the help of some of her worker friends. Together, they march towards the train station to stop the next weapons transport. Eventually, even the French soldiers standing guard take the side of the Erfurt workers.
The contents of this entry were funded with the support of the DEFA-Stiftung.
Credits
| Director: | Kurt Jung-Alsen |
| Screenplay: | Kurt Jung-Alsen, Frank Beyer |
| Director of photography: | Walter Fehdmer |
| Editing: | Ruth Moegelin |
| Music: | Joachim Werzlau |
| Cast: | |
| Alice Graf | Hella Merkel |
| Horst Schön | Fritz Marr |
| Gerhard Bienert | Wilhelm Merkel |
| Martin Flörchinger | Direktor Ralow |
| Rudolf Ulrich | Althoff |
| Hans Klering | Schwerte |
| Harry Gillmann | Riemer |
| Hans-Peter Minetti | Lehnert |
| Hans Wehrl | Älterer Arbeiter |
| Hans W. Hamacher | Von Ulmer |
| Production company: | DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme (Potsdam-Babelsberg) |
All Credits
| Director: | Kurt Jung-Alsen |
| Assistant director: | Frank Beyer |
| Screenplay: | Kurt Jung-Alsen, Frank Beyer |
| Scenario: | Frank Beyer |
| based on: | Otto Kühne (Erlebnisse aus dem Jahre 1920) |
| Script editor: | Wolfgang Ebeling |
| Director of photography: | Walter Fehdmer |
| Assistant camera: | Walter Küppers, Detlef Hertelt |
| Still photography: | Max Teschner |
| Production design: | Willy Schiller |
| Prop master: | Theo Görgens |
| Costume design: | Rosemarie Wandelt |
| Make-up artist: | Kurt Dreier, Vera Schlawin |
| Editing: | Ruth Moegelin |
| Sound: | Erich Schmidt |
| Music: | Joachim Werzlau |
| Cast: | |
| Alice Graf | Hella Merkel |
| Horst Schön | Fritz Marr |
| Gerhard Bienert | Wilhelm Merkel |
| Martin Flörchinger | Direktor Ralow |
| Rudolf Ulrich | Althoff |
| Hans Klering | Schwerte |
| Harry Gillmann | Riemer |
| Hans-Peter Minetti | Lehnert |
| Hans Wehrl | Älterer Arbeiter |
| Hans W. Hamacher | Von Ulmer |
| Production company: | DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme (Potsdam-Babelsberg) |
| Unit production manager: | Erich Albrecht |
| Location manager: | Lothar Klunter |
| Original distributor: | Progress Film-Verleih (Berlin/DDR) |
| Length: | 2043 m, 75 min |
| Format: | 35mm, 1:1,33 |
| Picture/Sound: | s/w, Ton |
| Screening: | Uraufführung (DD): 07.11.1957, Erfurt, Palast-Theater; Uraufführung (DD): 07.11.1957, Berlin, Colosseum |
Titles
| Originaltitel (DD) Polonia-Express |
| Arbeitstitel Roter Funken |
Versions
Original | |
| Length: | 2043 m, 75 min |
| Format: | 35mm, 1:1,33 |
| Picture/Sound: | s/w, Ton |
| Screening: | Uraufführung (DD): 07.11.1957, Erfurt, Palast-Theater; Uraufführung (DD): 07.11.1957, Berlin, Colosseum |




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