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Die endlose Nacht

The Endless Night
Retrospective 2024
© Deutsche Kinemathek / Moviemax
West Berlin’s Tempelhof airport in 1962. The airport is socked in by fog and no planes can take off or land. A dozen or more passengers are stranded and have to spend the night in the airport. Loosely connected episodes make up a diverse whole of encounters and conversations – for instance, between a penniless starlet and two shady gentlemen, a farmer from Africa, and an airport employee looking to get married. Also among the denizens of this involuntary soirée are a wife with an Italian lover, a crooked businessman and a Polish jazz band… Will Tremper has created a soap opera with documentary underpinnings. Shot without a finished script over 45 nights, after closing time in Tempelhof’s central hall, with original sound, The Endless Night gels into a realistic portrait of society. It is peopled with believable characters whose often-improvised dialogue seems perfectly in sync with the time. And the director might have been drawing a self-portrait with the character of the businessman in search of money – to make the film without subsidies, Tremper took out a mortgage on his own home.
by Will Tremper
with Karin Hübner, Harald Leipnitz, Hannelore Elsner, Louise Martini, Paul Esser, Wolfgang Spier, Werner Peters, Bruce Low, Mario Adorf, Wolfgang Neuss Federal Republic of Germany 1963 German 85’ Black/White World premiere of the digitally restored version Rating R 16

With

  • Karin Hübner
  • Harald Leipnitz
  • Hannelore Elsner
  • Louise Martini
  • Paul Esser
  • Wolfgang Spier
  • Werner Peters
  • Bruce Low
  • Mario Adorf
  • Wolfgang Neuss

Crew

Director Will Tremper
Screenplay Will Tremper
Cinematography Hans Jura
Editing Susanne Paschen
Music Peter Thomas
Sound Heinz Weissert
Costumes Christine Viertel
Producer Will Tremper
Co-Producers Wenzel Lüdecke, Hanns Eckelkamp

Additional information

DCP: Deutsche Kinemathek