1982 film by Delbert Mann
Night Crossing is a 1982 thriller drama film starring John Hurt, Jane Alexander and Beau Bridges. The film is based on the true story of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families who, on September 16, 1979, escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot-air balloon during the Inner German border-era, when emigration to West Germany was strictly prohibited by the East German government. It was the final theatrical film directed by Delbert Mann and the last in which Kay Walsh appeared before retiring.
Plot
A brief summary of conditions in East Germany and the border zone shows stock footage such as Conrad Schumann's jump over barbed wire in Berlin as the Berlin Wall is constructed.
In April 1978, in the small town of Pößneck, Thuringia, teenager Lukas Keller attempts to escape East Germany by riding a bulldozer through the Inner German border zone, but is shot by automatic machine guns and left for dead by the guards. His family is informed while on a picnic with their friends the Strelzyks and the Wetzels, and the entire Keller family are taken by the police. Aggravated with life under the GDR regime, Peter Strelzyk proposes a daring plan to his friend Günter Wetzel: they will build a balloon to carry themselves and their families (a total of eight people) over the border to West Germany. They purchase 1,255 sq yd (1,049 m2) of taffeta, claiming that it is for a camping club, and Günter sews the fabric together with a sewing machine in his attic while Peter experiments for months with devising a burner for the hot-air balloon. They face setbacks such as fires while trying to inflate the balloon, a lack of power for the burner, extremely suspicious neighbors and doubts about the plan's feasibility by Günter's wife Petra.
Peter and Günter then stop seeing each other in order to avoid suspicion that may arise when the Strelzyks escape. Peter and his eldest son Frank complete the burner and, after extensive testing, manage to inflate the balloon. On July 3, 1979, the four members of the Strelzyk family attempt to fly the balloon. They successfully lift off but they are spotted by a border guard. However, a cloud dampens the balloon and the burner, and they crash within the border zone only a few hundred feet from the fences, and the balloon floats away. Miraculously, they escape the zone, return to their car and drive home. Meanwhile, the border guard finds the balloon and the Stasi, led by Major Koerner, begins an investigation to identify the balloon's creators in order to prevent them from carrying out a second escape attempt. Initially distraught over his failure, Peter is convinced by his sons to try again, knowing that the Stasi may soon uncover the plot. Peter convinces Günter to help him and both families begin work on a larger balloon to carry them all out of East Germany. Petra agrees to the plan, especially because her mother in West Berlin is very sick and the East German government has repeatedly denied her request to visit her.
Having identified the initial launch area, the Stasi begins closing in on Pößneck. The Strelzyks and Wetzels purchase smaller quantities of taffeta from various stores to avoid suspicion, but they are running out of time. Peter tries to buy taffeta, claiming it is for his group of Young Pioneers, but the store manager secretly notifies the Stasi. The men eventually finish the balloon, but have no time to test it. On 15 September 1979, the families prepare to act on the plan while the Stasi finds blood-pressure medicine belonging to Peter's wife Doris where the first balloon had landed. The Stasi contacts the pharmacy and is able to identify the owner of the pills as Doris. The families' neighbor, a member of the Stasi, reports that they had been acting suspiciously. The families leave only minutes before the Stasi arrives at their homes. They reach their launch point while the border is placed on emergency alert.
The balloon is inflated and the burner is lit. Both families climb into the balloon's basket and cut their ropes. A fire is started in the cloth, but it is quickly extinguished by Günter. They later notice a hole in the balloon and hope that it will hold. While in flight, the balloon is spotted and Koerner pursues them in a helicopter. Eventually, the burner's propane supply is expended and the balloon descends, and the border guard is mobilized to find them. The balloon lands in a clearing with all eight people unharmed. Peter and Günter attempt to determine where they are as they are discovered by a police car. Peter asks the police if they are in the West, and the police officer confirms. Overjoyed, Peter and Günter light their signal flare. The families happily embrace.
Cast
Production
The day after the September 1979 real-life balloon escape of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families from East Germany, Walt Disney Productions producer Tom Leetch approached Disney's vicepresident of production, Ron Miller, and the executive producer, Eva Redfern, who contacted the two families to discuss the possibility of creating a film about them. Less than a month later, Redfern met with Peter Strelzyk at the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg, West Germany. Although the families received five offers from other filmmakers, they accepted Disney's terms—a $5,000 six-month story option and $50,000 if the studio moved ahead with development—because they remembered watching Disney films through illicit television signals at their home in East Germany. They also hoped that the film would educate people in their home country. In November 1979, the Strelzyks and Wetzels traveled to Los Angeles, where they recorded 20 hours of interviews for Leetch, associate producer Marc Stirdivant and writer John McGreevey. The film's unofficial working title was The Balloon Movie.[1]
Filming was scheduled to begin on 1 September 1980 in Munich, but an eight-week Screen Actors Guild strike delayed production, until 27 October. Production notes list the West German cities of: Landsberg, Mühltal, Harthausen and Munich among the filming locations. In the town of Eulenschwang, the production team recreated a half-mile (0.8 km) section of the border between East and West Germanies, at a cost of $300,000. Near Lake Constance, in Friedrichshafen, filmmakers transplanted 300 pine trees, 150 cu yd (115 m3) of soil and 6,000 sq yd (5,017 m2) of black plastic, to transform a large fair exhibition hall into a contained forest set. The construction project lasted two weeks and the cost was $150,000. Additional interior filming took place at Munich's Bavaria Studios. Seven balloons were created for the film, six of which were authentic recreations of the actual balloon used by the Strelzyks and Wetzels, with material and technical changes made to comply with regulations. The remaining balloon was a smaller utility aircraft used for preliminary tests and aerial photography. One balloon reportedly required 12,453 sq ft (1,157 m2) of material. Unexpected snowfall caused delays, during the final week of filming, and production completed during the week of 18 January 1981, at least, a week behind schedule and in excess of the film's budget. The final cost was estimated at more than $10 million.[1]
Reaction to the film in East Germany
The West German ZDF TV channel could be viewed in East Germany by many people. When ZDF showed Night Crossing in its German version Mit dem Wind nach Westen on June 17, 1985, a Stasi secret police report from Pritzwalk noted: "This film was watched by broad sections of the population (...) Out of 80 citizens who watched it, 76 were enthusiastic about this work of art. Opinions such as: 'The movie was exciting and I really had to cheer for this escape to succeed'; 'These people and their courage were to be admired'; 'There are even more possibilities and methods to leave the GDR illegally' were not uncommon in the discussion."[3]
Critical reception
In her review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin declared that the film "isn't much good, but is still, in its flatfooted way, quite entertaining", adding that Night Crossing must be "the only adventure film ever to feature suspenseful footage of two men taking turns at a sewing machine."[4] Maslin stated that the film, "directed with a reassuring corniness by Delbert Mann", featured performers who "tend toward white-knuckled overstatement", with all four of the adults "terrifically tearful during the portion of the movie that details their painful decision to float across the Iron Curtain", and that despite this, "when they finally take off, the story does, too". The real star of the film according to Maslin was the balloon, of which the version produced specifically by Disney "performed splendidly, even if it didn't look the least bit homemade."[4]
At the 4th annual Youth in Film Awards held in 1982, the film received two nominations: one for Best Family Motion Picture, and one for Best Young Motion Picture Actor (Doug McKeon).[5]
References
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