Fräulein Doktor (film)

Fräulein Doktor is a 1969 spy film loosely based on the life of Elsbeth Schragmüller. It was an Italian and Yugoslavian co-production directed by Alberto Lattuada, starring Suzy Kendall and Kenneth More, and featuring Capucine, James Booth, Giancarlo Giannini and Nigel Green. It was produced by Dino De Laurentiis and has a music score by Ennio Morricone. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures in the United States.

Fräulein Doktor
US theatrical release poster
Directed byAlberto Lattuada
Produced byDino De Laurentis
Screenplay byH. A. L. Craig
Vittoriano Petrilli
Alberto Lattuada
Uncredited:
Duilio Coletti
Stanley Mann
Story byVittoriano Petrilli
StarringSuzy Kendall
Kenneth More
Nigel Green
Alexander Knox
Olivera Katarina
Capucine
James Booth
Music byEnnio Morricone
CinematographyLuigi Kuveiller
Edited byNino Baragli
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
24 January 1969 (Italy)
15 May 1969 (US)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryYugoslavia
Italy
LanguageEnglish

Plot

A woman spy and some male agents working for the Germans during World War I land at night near the British naval base at Scapa Flow, from a U-boat. The British, led by Col. Foreman, ambush the landing party, capturing two of the men, but the woman gets away. Foreman fakes the execution of one of the spies, thus tricking the second one, Meyer, into becoming a double agent in the hopes of using him to capture his woman accomplice, whom Meyer identifies under the codename Fraulein Doktor. Fraulein Doktor is portrayed as a brilliant spy who stole a formula for a skin blistering gas similar to mustard gas which the Germans used to great effect against the Allies on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Fraulein Doktor seduces a laundryman to find out which ship Lord Kitchener will be sailing on to Russia, and when it will sail. She then helps a German U-boat to sink HMS Hampshire outside Scapa Flow with Kitchener on it, taking his life. For this, she is awarded the German Pour le Mérite. Meyer re-appears in Berlin and courts her. The German intelligence service is suspicious of Meyer's escape from the British, but use him to poison Fraulein Doktor because of her addiction to morphine. Meyer is shown her dead body and later makes his way back to the British to confirm her death.

However, Fraulein Doktor's death was faked for Meyer's benefit so she would be free of suspicion for her next assignment, getting Allied defense plans for a German attack in Belgium. Under cover as a Spanish contessa, she recruits Spanish nurses to staff a hospital train to serve the Allied front. During the trip from Spain to France, she brings aboard German agents who will impersonate Belgian officers to penetrate Belgium Army headquarters and steal the plans.

Col. Foreman is still not convinced of her death and shows up at the same army headquarters with Meyer in tow. The German agents steal the plans and in a deadly shootout with sentries, one gets away back to German lines. The Germans then launch their attack with great success, but Col. Foreman confronts Fraulein Doktor. Meyer kills Foreman but is in turn killed by the advancing German troops. Fraulein Doktor is then whisked away by the Germans, but suffers a breakdown as she is being driven off through all the carnage and death about her.

Cast

Production and release

Location shooting for Fräulein Doktor took place in Yugoslavia and Hungary.[1]

It was released in Yugoslavia under the name Gospođica Doktor - špijunka bez imena, and in Italy as Fraulein Doktor. In the United States, consideration was given to the possible titles "Nameless" and "The Betrayal".[1][2] Colonel Mathesius was played by Eric von Stroheim in the 1937 film Under Secret Orders.

Home media

In 2011 Fräulein Doktor was released on DVD by Underground Empire, most likely a bootleg. All available screenshots online refer to a TV screening on Finnish TV YLE Teema.[3][4]

The soundtrack by Ennio Morricone was released on its own in 2010 by Intermezzo Media.[5]

According to one DVD site offering Fraulein Doktor, the film is now in the Public Domain.[6]

See also

References

Notes

  1. "Fraulein Doktor (1969) - Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  2. Milano-Firenze, Mo-Net s.r.l. "Fraulein Doktor (1969)". MyMovies.it. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  3. "Yle Teema - yle.fi". YLE.fi. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  4. "Fraulein Doktor DVD 1969 Suzy Kendall Kenneth More for sale". www.IOffer.com. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  5. Fraulein Doktor, soundtrack, IntermezzoMedia released August 6, 2010
  6. Fraulein Doktor; Rarewarfilms.com Retrieved April 7, 2018
  7. Thames, Stephanie. "Stamboul Quest (1934)" (article) on TCM.com
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