Midnight Revue

Film producer Kruse has signed on to make a revue film and decides to kidnap a troupe of filmmakers for it and force them to collaborate. DEFA’s only revue film is a turbulent combination of music, dance, costumes, scenery, and colour.    

After the film producer Otto Kruse is committed to making a revue film, he cannot find the professionals he needs for the project. Without further ado, he decides to kidnap a troupe of filmmakers and get them to cooperate.   MIDNIGHT REVUE premiered on 7 July 1962 and is considered DEFA’s only actual revue film. Director Gottfried Kolditz had previously been involved in several operetta and fairy tale films. In the 1960s and 1970s, he became one of DEFA’s most active filmmakers and was active in various genres. Gerd Natschinski, one of the most successful entertainment musicians in the GDR, also worked on the film.

MIDNIGHT REVUE is also a technically elaborate production: It was shot in Totalvision, equivalent to the CinemaScope format, in colourful Agfacolor and with four-channel magnetic sound, which produced a high sound quality. In addition to the actors, dancers from the ballet of the German State Opera as well as the DEFA Symphony Orchestra and the Dance Orchestra of the Berlin Radio were involved in the film.   

Image © DEFA-Stiftung, Horst Blümel