Product Review

Filmed on location in Paris, Dieppe, the Leningrad front, in North Africa and in Rome between July and December 1942, Besatzung Dora (Air Crew Dora) is the story of a survey plane in 1942 and its air crew. Considered a sequel to Stukas, with many of the same young actors cast. Led by Lt. Cranes (Hannes Stelzer), the Air Crew "Dora" suffers a crash landing, and after rescue its four crew travel to Berlin to take charge of their replacement aircraft. But the new plane will not be ready for eight days and in the meantime the men have official leave in Berlin with their girlfriends. Director Karl Ritter, who also wrote the script, wanted through frontline combat footage and a human interest story, to bind the war front and the home front together towards final victory. Filmed on location in Paris, Dieppe, the Leningrad front, in North Africa and in Rome between July and December 1942, Besatzung Dora was never seen by Third Reich audiences. Despite Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels finding the film "very attractive," the defeat of Nazi Germany at Battle of Stalingrad in late January 1943 meant Besatzung Dora could not fulfil its propaganda purpose. The Russian front, North Africa and the western front were by then no longer places of continuing German victory. Besatzung Dora was only shown to an invited Luftwaffe audience on 2 February 1945, shortly before the war's end. This IHF DVD marks the first commercial release of this highly sought after film.

Directed by Karl Ritter, Music by Herbert Windt. Starring Hannes Stelzer, Hubert Kiurina, Ernst v. Klipstein, Georg Thomalla, Carsta Löck, Susi Graf, Charlotte Daudert.

Germany, 1943, B&W, 91 Minutes, German dialogue with English subtitles. Digitally remastered from 35mm print.

About the director:
Directed by Karl Ritter who's contemporary WWII propaganda feature filmmaking employed stunning actual battlefront footage and brought to Third Reich cinemas fast paced, action filled storylines championing ideological themes and military successes against all enemies of the Reich.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Historical Background Slide Show:
  The Fate of Karl Ritter s Besatzung Dora (1942/43)
• Original Promotional Materials with English Translations
• Interactive Scene Selections
• English Subtitles