Der Stern von Afrika

Der Stern von Afrika The Star of Africa
Directed by	Alfred Weidenmann
Written by	Herbert Reinecker and Udo Wolter
Starring	Joachim Hansen Marianne Koch
Music by	Hans-Martin Majewski
Cinematography	Helmut Ashley
Production company	Bavaria Film
Release date	13 August 1957
Running time	99 min.
Country	West Germany
Language	German

Der Stern von Afrika (English: The Star of Africa) is a 1957 black-and-white German war film portraying the combat career of a World War II Luftwaffe fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille. It stars Joachim Hansen and Marianne Koch and was directed by Alfred Weidenmann. The film was premièred on 13 August 1957 in Berlin and was successful at the German box office, although the critics predominantly gave it a poor rating.

The film begins shortly before the outbreak of World War II with Jochen Marseille attending a Luftwaffe (Air Force) school in Berlin. His squadron is transferred to the Africa Corps in the North African Theater of Operations. Marseille quickly becomes the most successful fighter pilot. His unit loses more and more pilots to the Desert Air Force, and Marseille begins to doubt the usefulness of his operations. He travels to Berlin to receive a high military decoration where he falls in love with a teacher, Brigitte. The couple go to Rome where Marseille is to receive a decoration from the Italian High command. The distraught Brigitte tries to persuade him to defect, but he returns to North Africa. During a flight over Egypt, his aircraft suffers an engine failure; Marseille bails out as the aircraft crashes, but his parachute does not open. His body is later found in the desert. Brigitte receives the news of his death.

Writer Herbert Reinecker and director Alfred Weidenmann had started a productive streak of collaborations in 1941, when Reinecker had published a historical novel in a series of children's book edited by Weidenmann. Weidenmann had directed his first feature film for the Reichspropagandaleitung of the NSDAP, Hauptamt Film in 1942. As specialists for propaganda specifically targeting the German youth both teamed up as writer and director in 1944 to make Junge Adler (Young Eagles), one of the most successful and renowned Nazi propaganda movies. After the war Weidenmann helped Reinecker to reenter the film business. During the 1950s they did several movies of various genres together, among them documentaries, comedies and crime films, but also the spy movie Canaris (1954).