Quax der Bruchpilot (1941)

Quax the Crash Pilot

 

Directed by: Kurt Hoffmann

Written by: Hermann Grote (novel) and Robert A. Stemmle

Produced by: Heinz Rühmann

Cinematography: Heinz von Jaworsky

Edited by: Walter Fredersdorf

Music by: Werner Bochmann

Production company: Terra Film

Distributed by: Terra Film

Release date: 16 December 1941

Running time: 92 minutes

Country: Germany

Language: German

 

Starring:

 

Heinz Rühmann: Otto „Quax“ Groschenbügel

Karin Himboldt: Marianne Bredow

Lothar Firmans: Hansen, flight instructor

Harry Liedtke: Mr Bredow

Elga Brink: Mrs Bredow

Hilde Sessak: Adelheid

Leo Peukert: Mayor

Georg Vogelsang: Old Krehlert

Beppo Brem: Farmhand Alois

Lutz Götz: Mr Busse

Arthur Schröder: Flight physician

Franz Zimmermann: Harry Peters, flight student

Kunibert Gensichen: Walter Ottermann, student pilot

Manfred Heidmann: Ludwig Mommsen, student pilot

Guenther Markert: Gottfried Müller, student pilot

José Held: Karl Bruhn, student pilot

 

Plot summary

 

Quax the Crash Pilot (German: Quax, der Bruchpilot) is a 1941 German comedy film directed by Kurt Hoffmann and starring Heinz Rühmann, Karin Himboldt and Lothar Firmans. It is also sometimes translated as Quax the Test Pilot. It features the popular song „Heimat deine Sterne” („Homeland, Your Stars“).

 

The film set in the 1930s before the outbreak of the Second World War. It is based on an aviation story by Hermann Grote about an everyday man who wins a newspaper competition that offers free flying lessons. Despite initial struggles, he gradually shows himself to be a good pilot.

 

Much of the film was shot on location in Bavaria. Interiors were shot at the Tempelhof and Babelsberg Studios in Berlin and the Bavaria Studios in Munich.

 

The film appears to have been popular with wartime Luftwaffe crews. Nightfighter pilot Wilhelm Johnen recalled it being shown at Venlo airfield on the evening of his unit’s first operation over the Ruhr in late March 1942.