Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious
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| Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Gottfried Reinhardt |
| Written by | Robert Shaw (novel) Jan Lustig Silvia Reinhardt |
| Produced by | Gottfried Reinhardt |
| Starring | Alec Guinness Mike Connors Robert Redford Paul Dahlke |
| Cinematography | Kurt Hasse |
| Edited by | Walter Boos |
| Music by | Harold Byrne Leon Carr |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious is a 1965 oddball comedy film shot in black and white directed by Gottfried Reinhardt and starring Alec Guinness, Mike Connors and Robert Redford. It is based on the 1960 novel The Hiding Place by Robert Shaw.
The title is a derived from an old Viennese saying, "The situation is desperate but not serious."
Plot
On 27 November 1944, during World War II, two American fliers, Captain Hank Wilson and Sergeant Lucky Finder, are forced to bail out over Germany. The film begins with them parachuting to the ground. They land in the small town of Altheim. In Altheim, Wilhelm Frick reads his horoscope and it says an exciting change will happen today.
In town they hide in Frick's cellar. He initially locks them in and is going to inform the authorities when one claims German descent and he softens. They sing German songs together. Frick decides to hide them from the authorities. He leaves them locked there and goes to his job as the pharmacist's assistant at Droggerie Neusel. His boss listens to the radio regarding the Allied advance: the Germans have lost Aachen ... the end of the war is close. We see American troops marching through Altheim outside Frick's work.
The two Americans (Finder and Wilson) share the cellar with Frick's cats. They get hobbles: one sketching cartoons the other does metalwork. The latter enables him to make a lockpick and they unlock themselves just as Frick returns. Finder has Frick's gun and turns it on him. They debate what will happen if they leave. He convinces them to stay. To ensure they stay he puts them in shackles while they sleep.
He enjoys their company so much that he does not inform them when the war ends. Instead, he maintains a masquerade to convince his "guests" that Germany is still fighting. Eventually, after seven years, they escape into a peaceful West Germany and find out the truth.
Cast
- Alec Guinness as Wilhelm Frick
- Mike Connors as Sgt. Lucky Finder
- Robert Redford as Captain Hank Wilson
- Paul Dahlke as Herr Neusel
- Frank Wolff as Quartermaster Sergeant
- Anita Höfer as Edeltraud
- Mady Rahl as Lissie
- Elisabeth von Molo as Wanda
- John Briley as Sergeant (uncredited)
- Carola Regnier as Senta (uncredited)
See also
- List of American films of 1965
- Wake Me When the War Is Over, a 1969 TV film with a similar plot
External links
- Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious at IMDb
- Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious at the TCM Movie Database
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- 1965 films
- 1965 comedy films
- American black-and-white films
- American comedy films
- American films
- English-language films
- Films about shot-down aviators
- Films based on British novels
- Films directed by Gottfried Reinhardt
- Films set in Germany
- Films shot in Bavaria
- Military humor in film
- Paramount Pictures films
- World War II films
- World War II film stubs
- 1960s comedy film stubs