The French director Yves ALLEGRET certainly had his best films behind him in 1958. Ten years earlier he had filmed the classic DEDEE d'ANVERS (1948) with his then wife Simone SIGNORET. A French Black Series masterpiece! But now he staged the West German world star Hildegard KNEF as a GIRL FROM HAMBURG.
The sailor Pierre (Daniel GELIN) is back in Hamburg with his ship. Fifteen years earlier he had been exploited as a prisoner of war in the port of Hamburg. He met a young girl named Maria (Hildegard KNEF), who he hasn't been able to get out of his mind since then. While on shore leave, he and his friend (Jean LEFEBVRE) immediately set out in search of the beauty he hadn't seen for a long time. And Pierre actually finds what he is looking for: in the entertainment district of St. Pauli, he recognizes Maria as a vulgar mud-catcher. The years have passed, and what has changed is not necessarily beautiful and lovely. Maria also works as an entertainer and works for her pimp. Nothing is anymore as the glorified look into the past suggested. But not everything went well for Pierre either; his marriage in France almost failed. Despite initial misgivings, the two disillusioned people in their mid-thirties become closer. A new beginning seems possible, but of course a film from the Black Series cannot have a happy ending...
Produced by the legendary French film studio PATHÈ, this film is largely a West German production. A lot of local color from Hamburg, the economically miraculous development of the port after the lost World War is an important part of the plot.
Hildegard KNEF (1925-2002) speaks in German and French. After her Broadway career ended with SILK STOCKINGS, the actress gradually regained her footing in the West German film industry. A year later she was awarded the GERMAN FILM AWARD for her supporting role in THE MAN WHO SOLD HIMSELF (1959). For Hildegard KNEF herself, LA FILLE DE HAMBOURG was one of her five favorite films from her own work. This is very understandable!
Daniel GELIN (1921-2002) can also be heard saying a few sentences in German. The actor is known from the Hitchcock classic THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956) with Doris DAY and James STEWART. In 1989 he was seen for a few episodes on the then West German television station ZDF as the French lover of Countess Guldenburg (Christiane HÖRBIGER) in the popular family series DAS ERBE DER GULDENBURGS / THE LEGACY OF THE GULDENBURGS.
Yves ALLEGRET (1905-1987) has created a beautiful film noir that is harmoniously and atmospherically set in the port city of Hamburg in the late 1950s. Shortly after his death, the director was awarded the CESAR FILM AWARD (h.c.).
The sailor Pierre (Daniel GELIN) is back in Hamburg with his ship. Fifteen years earlier he had been exploited as a prisoner of war in the port of Hamburg. He met a young girl named Maria (Hildegard KNEF), who he hasn't been able to get out of his mind since then. While on shore leave, he and his friend (Jean LEFEBVRE) immediately set out in search of the beauty he hadn't seen for a long time. And Pierre actually finds what he is looking for: in the entertainment district of St. Pauli, he recognizes Maria as a vulgar mud-catcher. The years have passed, and what has changed is not necessarily beautiful and lovely. Maria also works as an entertainer and works for her pimp. Nothing is anymore as the glorified look into the past suggested. But not everything went well for Pierre either; his marriage in France almost failed. Despite initial misgivings, the two disillusioned people in their mid-thirties become closer. A new beginning seems possible, but of course a film from the Black Series cannot have a happy ending...
Produced by the legendary French film studio PATHÈ, this film is largely a West German production. A lot of local color from Hamburg, the economically miraculous development of the port after the lost World War is an important part of the plot.
Hildegard KNEF (1925-2002) speaks in German and French. After her Broadway career ended with SILK STOCKINGS, the actress gradually regained her footing in the West German film industry. A year later she was awarded the GERMAN FILM AWARD for her supporting role in THE MAN WHO SOLD HIMSELF (1959). For Hildegard KNEF herself, LA FILLE DE HAMBOURG was one of her five favorite films from her own work. This is very understandable!
Daniel GELIN (1921-2002) can also be heard saying a few sentences in German. The actor is known from the Hitchcock classic THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956) with Doris DAY and James STEWART. In 1989 he was seen for a few episodes on the then West German television station ZDF as the French lover of Countess Guldenburg (Christiane HÖRBIGER) in the popular family series DAS ERBE DER GULDENBURGS / THE LEGACY OF THE GULDENBURGS.
Yves ALLEGRET (1905-1987) has created a beautiful film noir that is harmoniously and atmospherically set in the port city of Hamburg in the late 1950s. Shortly after his death, the director was awarded the CESAR FILM AWARD (h.c.).