Die goldene Spinne (1943)

The Golden Spider

 

Directed by:  Erich Engels

Written by: Erich Ebermayer, Erich Engels, Wolf Neumeister and Ulrich Vogel

Produced by:  Eduard Kubat

Cinematography: E.W. Fiedler

Edited by: René Métain

Music by: Werner Eisbrenner

Production company: Terra Film

Distributed by: Deutsche Filmvertriebs

Release date: 23 December 1943

Running time: 88 minutes

Country: Germany

Language: German

 

Starring:

 

Franz Arzdorf: train control inspector

Wilhelm Bendow: the shameful guest of the "Red Mill"

Traute Bengen: Das Mädchen der Pension "Riemer"

Hermann Brix: Detective Commissioner Freise

Robert Bürkner: Dr. Eberding of the Kattenbeck-Werke

Conrad Cappi: the manager of the "Red Mill"

Gerhard Dammann: doorman

Karl Dannemann: Bumm, foreman

Maly Delschaft: Rosa Sykora, Director of "Roten Mühle"

Erich Dunskus: foreman of the Kattenbeck-Werke

Jutta Freybe: Christa Fischer, family doctor

Otto Gebühr: Geheimrat Fischer, Director of Kattenbeck-Werke

Gerdi Gerdt: an employee at Kattenbeck-Werke

Bernhard Goetzke: the senior staff doctor on the train

Lutz Götz: Kriminalrat Vonhoff

Kirsten Heiberg: Lisaweta, Agent, alias Agnes Jordan, cabaret singer

Käte Jöken-König: the owner der Künstlerpension "Riemer"

Paul Mederow

Hellmuth Passarge: the entrance guard at the Kattenbeck-Werke

Harald Paulsen: Smirnoff / Petersen, Agent

Hermann Pfeiffer

Werner Pledath: Heinsius, ein Direktor der Kattenbeck-Werke

Klaus Pohl: the Ballet master at the "Red Mill"

Claire Reigbert

Liselotte Schaak: Fräulein von Holleben, secretary of the Privy Council

Ernst Schlott: criminal secretary Zähringer

Josef Sieber: Berger, Chauffeur at the Kattenbeck-Werke

Walter Steinweg: a disabled soldier at the train station

Jaspar von Oertzen: Kneisler, the guard at the factory entrance gate

Ursula Voß: a worker at Kattenbeck-Werke

Rolf Weih: Axel Rüdiger, engineer, fiancé of Christa Fischer

Eduard Wenck: a factory worker

Ewald Wenck: Kneisler, the guard at the factory entrance gate

Anneliese Würtz: Mrs. Mieger, forewoman at the plant

 

The Golden Spider (German: Die goldene Spinne) is a 1943 German thriller film directed by Erich Engels and starring Kirsten Heiberg, Jutta Freybe, and Harald Paulsen.

 

Plot

 

Two Soviet agents are parachuted from a bomber plane over Germany. The spies first visit the ‘Rote Mühle’ establishment, whose boss is blackmailed into presenting the agent Lisaweta as the singer ‘Agnes Jordan’. The destination of the mission is the Kattenbeck works, where a new and particularly powerful type of armour is being developed.

 

The agents try to find a suitable victim among the factory employees. After the soldierly captain refuses to be spied on, the ambitious and reckless engineer Axel Rüdiger, the factory director’s right-hand man, proves to be the ideal victim. Rüdiger, who is actually engaged to the director’s daughter and factory doctor Christa, agrees to a rendezvous with the attractive agent. She uses one of these opportunities to copy secret documents from Rüdiger’s briefcase. The agents are not satisfied with these documents, however, and now openly blackmail the engineer into providing them with more secret plans of the tank, otherwise they would report him for betraying secrets.

 

Rüdiger gives in to the agent’s blackmail and copies parts of the armour plans at night, which he has obtained from the Geheimrat’s safe. However, he makes a few mistakes while handling the plans, which makes the director and his colleagues suspicious and they call in the Gestapo. Rüdiger is discovered, but manages to go into hiding in time. He is later apprehended by the state police and shot dead by them during another escape attempt. Through her connection to Rüdiger, however, Christa now also comes under suspicion of being involved in the espionage affair. She is initially unable to dispel this suspicion during interrogation by the Gestapo.

 

In the meantime, agent Agnes Jordan has successfully ensnared the widowed chauffeur of the Kattenbeck works and, pretending to be married, persuades him to give her access to the factory premises and the shooting range. There she manages to collect samples of the armoured steel. As the factory management has repeatedly urged its employees to be vigilant against spies, the behaviour of the agent - who is now working at the factory - gradually attracts attention. Chauffeur Berger also realises what is going on and, with a guilty conscience, reports himself to plant security. While the authorities are alerted, the agent manages to slip away at the last minute.

 

Disguised as a nurse, she tries to escape on a military hospital train heading east. There she is finally exposed and arrested. During her interrogation by the Gestapo, she tries to incriminate Christa, who is not involved.

 

Agent Petersen is the last spy to be caught. He had initially managed to gain access to the factory as a canteen supplies representative. After killing the boss of the ‘Rote Mühle’ in order to eliminate her as an accomplice, Petersen ventures back into the Kattenbeck factory because of the last missing construction details. In the end, he is even able to penetrate the production hall and now tries to discover the secrets of the tank on his own. A dramatic showdown ensues on the factory floor, during which the agent is fatally injured. With his last breaths, he is able to make it clear that Christa Fischer has nothing to do with the espionage operation.

 

Release and reception

 

The film was produced and distributed by Berlin-based Terra-Filmkunst GmbH. The German premiere took place on 23 December 1943. It was honoured with the ratings ‘politically valuable for the state’ and ‘educational for the people’.

 

After the end of the Second World War, the production was banned by the Allied High Command.