Urlaub auf Ehrenwort (1938 film)
| Urlaub auf Ehrenwort | |
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original poster
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| Directed by | Karl Ritter |
| Produced by | Karl Ritter |
| Screenplay by | Charles Klein, Felix Lützkendorf (from ideas by Kilian Koll, (Walter Julius Bloem, Jr.) and Charles Klein) |
| Based on |
Urlaub auf Ehrenwort by Kilian Koll, (Walter Julius Bloem, Jr.) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ernst Erich Buder |
| Cinematography | Günther Anders |
| Edited by | Gottfried Ritter |
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Running time
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87 mins |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | 598,000 RM |
Urlaub auf Ehrenwort (variously translated as Leave on Word of Honour, Holiday on Parole, Furlough on Parole, Leave on Parole and Pass on a Promise) is a 1938 propaganda film directed by Karl Ritter, the last of three films set in the First World War which he made during the period when Nazi Germany was rearming.
Based on the autobiographical novella of the same title by Kilian Koll, (Walter Julius Bloem, Jr.), the film is set late in 1918, during the final stages of the First World War. A troop of German infantry are on their way from the Eastern to the Western Front and must change trains in Berlin. After marching through the centre of the city from one station to another, they must wait several hours for their connecting train. The major in command gives strict orders that no one must go into this city full of "deserters, revolutionaries, and defeatists", even though most of the men are from Berlin, but in response to the pleading of Colonel Hartmann (Fritz Kampers), who had saved his life in the trenches, young Lieutenant Prätorius (Rolf Moebius) grants passes on the men's solemn promise to return in time: "I have your word of hono[u]r that you will return and fulfill your duty in this critical hour of the fatherland. The unit is counting on you—and so is Germany." The film follows several of the men, in particular four of different ages and from different milieux. Infantryman Ullrich Hagen (Wilhelm König) is a composer; he visits his music teacher, who will shortly be performing one of his works and begs him to be true to his talent rather than throwing his life away in a futile cause. Colonel Hartmann, who is middle-aged, surprises his young wife, Anna, who has replaced him at his work driving a tram; she begs him to stay with her and their four children rather than returning to a war which is already lost. The third, a young man, after discovering his only relative has died, meets a girl and falls in love for the first time. The fourth, Infantryman Emil Sasse (René Deltgen) is a "leftist intellectual" who was cursing the notion of 'heroic death' and announcing his intention to desert in the opening scenes of the film; he finds his girlfriend Fritzi (Margot Erbst) printing anti-war leaflets. All four, however, resist the temptation to desert. Hagen responds that his works can speak for themselves; the young man considers his companions closer to him than his new love; Sasse finds he no longer likes revolutionaries: "We soldiers are dying for our country while you drink, hold meetings, and make love. ... I have nothing in common with you any more." He fights his way out of the meeting and arrives with a black eye and bruises. Hartmann loses track of time, but his family all pile into a friend's lorry and race the train to the next station; the lieutenant spots the speeding vehicle and all the men are back as they promised.
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