Released three days after Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler, it was the first film to have its screening in Nazi Germany. It became a symbol of the new times touted by the Nazi regime. The title (literally "morning-red") is the German term for the reddish coloring of the east sky about a half hour before the sunrise. On patrol Captain Liers and his submarine crew sink an important British ship, but while returning to harbour, they're lured into a trap by a British vessel disguised as a neutral Danish one. They sink it after it attacks them without warning, but while they prepare to rescue survivors, a British destroyer sinks the sub. On the sea bed 60 feet down, with all but the bridge flooded, the 10 surviving crew have only 8 rescue devices. Liers orders the crew to use them, but they disobey - either all escape or nobody does.
Direction
Ucicky's tight submarine staging creates genuine tension.
Acting
Forster's doomed captain: chillingly noble suicide.
Director
Gustav Ucicky
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released January 1933, literally days into Hitler's chancellorship—it became the regime's first cinematic victory lap.
The title 'Morgenrot' refers to the blood-red sky before sunrise—Nazis loved that poetic death-rebirth stuff.
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