Große Freiheit Nr. 7


Große Freiheit Nr. 7 is a 1944 German musical drama film directed by Helmut Käutner. It was named after Große Freiheit, 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.

Plot summary

The film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger 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 and Hannes returns to the sea.

Cast

Soundtrack

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, 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 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. It remained banned in Nazi Germany, opening on 6 September 1945 in Berlin's Filmbühne Wien after the Allied victory.