East Germany's contribution to the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was the wartime melodrama Betrogen bis zum Juengsten Tag. Had the film been released in the U.S., the title would probably have translated to Duped Till the Last. The film condemns the Nazi mindset by concentrating on a particularly odious cover-up. When his son is involved in the accidental killing of a girl, a Gestapo general pulls strings to save the boy from prosecution. The general manages to pin the blame for the killing on a group of Russians, whereupon he gives the men under his command carte blanche to round up and execute as many innocent Russians as they wish. This act of brutality is contrasted with the pangs of guilt suffered by the son and his co-conspirators.
Directed by Kurt Jung-Alsen
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Cast
Rudolf Ulrich
Corporal Wagner Karl
Wolfgang Kieling
Private Lick
Erich Brauer
Hauptfeldwebel
Hans-Joachim Martens
Upper gunner Paulun Thomas
Walther Suessenguth
captain von der Saale
Renate Küster
Angelika, his daughter
Peter Kiwitt
General of the Waffen-SS Lick
Hermann Dieckhoff
Division commander
Kurt Ulrich
lieutenant
Hannes Fischer
Kitchen sergeant
Helga Raumer
Innkeeper daughter
Paul Pfingst
SS man
Carlo Kluge
SS man
Werner Senftleben
Sergeant in the shooting range
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