Our Own James Bond_For eyes only 19.06.13 16:36 1 Seite 16:36 19.06.13 only eyes Our Bond_For Own James co-authoring the script, suggested asking Harry Thürk. I had the delicate task of informing Hans Lucke about Lucke Hans informing of task delicate the had I Thürk. Harry asking suggested script, the co-authoring the in time first the story—for crime adventurous and thrilling a us write could who author an for looking were Lucke’swe with So happy draft. the joined had Veiczi,who János Director it. on based exposé Twoof Safes Geheimdienstes amerikanischen des TatsachenberichtPanzersafes VerschwindenEin zweier geheimnisvollen Nacht: vom die durch Flucht entitled pamphlet propaganda small a published Security State for Ministry the of office press the 1957, In about? come film the of production the did How responsibilities. and work his over take to however,had Film, I Science so Popular of story the developing on working started the joined I When film? the the of dramaturg chief the of dramaturg the as credits the in listed is Hafke Heinz from is, 1980—that until 1966 from The projects. specific or time limited a for joining directors with teams, dramaturgy were groups artistic the onwards, time this From full-time.) screenplays writing Dr.to and turned notice, Karl without dismissed was Wischnewski (Klaus projects. film own their on working each dramaturgs, 5 to 4 of groups little of heads the became dramaturgs chief the 1966, In ism. central rigid a to returned studio the and re-assigned, were heads artistic and dramaturgs chief anew,the appointed Culture—were for Minister the Thereafter,positions—including 1965. important in all Party] Unity 11 the after ended decentralization to openness This headed I and Children’sFilms the of heads the became Brückner,Paech Willi Dr.and Karl Günter Willi WernerBeck, dramaturgs chief groups: artistic the of leaders the be to appointed were dramaturgs and 1964 1, September on organization structural new this confirmed management studio The groups. artistic the of heads cultural-political the became dramaturgs chief and dissolved entirely was dramaturgy centralized that 1964 in Conference Bitterfeld Second the after only was but 1960; in groups these of eight were There dramaturg. own its had each that groups artistic formed and call his to responded artists film other and writers directors, years, following the In production. and development script in autonomy more with groups Maetzig Kurt director 1956, of end the At studio... the within groups artistic of structure the explain please you Could Studio. Film DEFA German East the at group on dramaturg a Youas worked BOND JAMES OWN OUR became an East German box office hit in 1963. in hit office box German East an became of production the Wolfremembers Dieter dramaturg DEFA ). The DEFA Studio and author Hans Lucke got their hands on the pamphlet and Lucke wrote an wrote Lucke and pamphlet the on hands their got Lucke Hans author and DEFAStudio The ). Babelsberg artistic groups, respectively; head dramaturg Klaus Wischnewski took over took Wischnewski Klaus dramaturg head respectively; groups, artistic Solidarity . Solidarity group in 1961, dramaturg Heinz Hafke and director János Veiczi had just Veiczihad János director and Hafke Heinz dramaturg 1961, in group For Eyes Only Eyes For ( Through the Night: A Factual Report about the Mysterious Disappearance Mysterious the about Report Factual A Night: the Through Ich war neunzehn war Ich Kundschafterfilm artistic group. In what ways were you involved in the production of production the in involved you were ways what In group. artistic 1 openly declared that “the time was ripe“ for founding artistic founding for ripe“ was time “the that declared openly For Eyes Only Eyes For , which was a project of the of project a was which , Babelsberg th ( I WasNineteen I Plenum of the Central Committee of the SED [Socialist SED the of Committee Central the of Plenum genre. For Eyes Only Eyes For . Very soon, Hafke moved to the DEFA Studio for DEFAStudio the to moved Hafke Verysoon, . 2 group managed to retain director Konrad WolfKonrad director retain to managed group Veiczi, who was very much interested in interested much very was Veiczi,who Solidarity For Eyes Only — Top— Only Secret Eyes For , Johannisthal, Roter Kreis Roter Johannisthal, Berlin, ) to ) . Between 1961 and 1966, you had been had you 1966, and 1961 Between . artistic group before me, was not was me, before group artistic Solo Sunny Solo Solidarity . We were very fortunate! very Wewere . artistic production artistic , the film that film the , Heinrich Greif Heinrich and ; -

1 “Our Own James Bond,” written interview with dramaturg Dieter Wolf • For Eyes Only — Top Secret • A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library Our Own James Bond_For eyes only 19.06.13 16:36 Seite 2

the change of authors. Luckily, I was able to offer him a leading part in the film, as he was also a skilled actor; he played the role of MID’s Colonel Rock.

Harry Thürk wrote the scenario, advised by director Veiczi. And Veiczi wrote the script, advised by Thürk... Harry Thürk was known to us as a controversial, but widely-read suspense author. The film adaptation of his thrilling popular war novel, Haus im Feuer (House in Flames), had been stopped during production—despite many editorial changes in the script and the replacement of director Herbert Ballmann by Carl Balhaus. Already when the book was published—but even more during filming—officials accused Thürk of choosing the wrong hero (the central character is a brave German soldier who behaves like a human in extreme

situations), and for the atypical representation of an unusual event on the eastern front. For our story, how - A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library ever, we thought Thürk would be the right author. The collaboration between the author and the director was not always easy, and I had to mediate between them from time to time.

One repeatedly reads that For Eyes Only was the first Kundschafterfilm produced at the DEFA Studio. Could you draw from any past experience with this genre? Or was it completely new territory for you and/or the studio? We had no experience with the Kundschafterfilm genre at all. It had been an absolute taboo at the studio until then. • • For Eyes Secret Only • — Top

Why do you think that this genre—internationally called “spy film“—had been taboo? This film ended the secretive media taboo on the secret service activities of East German spies, who in the GDR were called “scouts“ or even “scouts for peace.“ This fact in itself promised that a political crime story set in the present would be a popular movie sensation. But our success far exceeded all our expectations.

Were you familiar with any spy films produced in other countries, including East Bloc countries? I did not know of any examples of productions from other socialist countries. Maybe they didn’t even exist.

Critics often mention that For Eyes Only was a direct response to the first British James Bond movie, Dr. No. But considering the timing—Dr. No was released in Britain on October 5, 1962 and opened in West German cinemas on January 25, 1963—it wasn’t even possible for your film to have been influenced by the James Bond movie. You had already started shooting For Eyes Only in 1962. Yes. We were very proud that we had created an entirely different type of hero before 007 and that ours had preceded James Bond.

Alfred Müller plays the lead in the movie. How did this come about? “Our Own James Bond,” written interview with dramaturg Dieter Wolf Müller was a “young” star at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. Above all, we wanted the actor in the leading role to be unknown to the film and television audience; but by the same token, we needed somebody with the charisma of a media star. His gestures and bearing as a no-name likeable person, full of irony and understatement, helped create a character who was unexpectedly popular. By year’s end, his performance as the double agent had attracted over one million viewers.

The opening credits of the film read: “This film’s plot is fictional. Similarities to actual events and real people are intended.” To what extent was the film team familiar with the story of the original spy, Horst Hesse? As mentioned before, the only basis for the plot development was a small Stasi propaganda pamphlet about exposing an American plan, called MC 70, that included military options in case of an emergency or “Day X” and the upheavals in the GDR that would ensue.

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It is very interesting that, although Horst Hesse got a lot of public attention, he apparently knew nothing about the film’s production. What do you think was the reason for keeping him away from the project? A plainclothes “comrade“ with the little red Stasi ID card—who mumbled his name, “You can call me Horst (?)“—showed up on the set once or twice. Why they kept him away from the film team remains the secret of the Stasi press and propaganda department. They probably wanted to lord their authority over information over the filmmakers. It was embarassing that this also continued during the film’s marketing campaign and after the film was released.

The DEFA Studio often assigned expert advisors to film teams. Who took on the role of expert advisor for

the production of For Eyes Only? A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library We only had short-term advisors for details to do with interiors and the storyline. Internal studio screenings of the rough cut were held for Gerhard Kehl, the head of the Stasi press department, and Günter Halle, his supervisor at the Stasi political department. I don’t remember that they had any “professional“ objections or asked for changes. This didn’t come up until the official acceptance screening, when we were criticized—of all things—for our casting of actors representing the Stasi.

What happened at the state approval screening? • • For Eyes Secret Only • — Top We sent the film—evaluated and highly praised by the studio management—to Berlin for official state approval. This approval was an act of state that was reserved for the Deputy Minister for Culture, Prof. Hans Rodenberg, who was responsible for film. As was usual, we watched the movie together; afterwards, we expected to have a friendly and complimentary discussion and that the film would be released to the public with state approval. Instead, significant political accusations were leveled at us because of how we had cast three supporting roles. In question were the roles of the Stasi colonel and his two colleagues at Stasi headquarters in Berlin, with whom Hansen is in contact. In keeping with convention, Veiczi had cast them more as proletarians; now we were told that those who had come up with the super-coup should have a stonger intellectual aura. As a result, the very popular DEFA actor Harry Hindemith was replaced by Martin Flörchinger from the Berliner Ensemble (who had the slight Viennese accent of a Burgtheater actor!) as the tactical guiding light; his colleagues, in almost silent roles, were played by Horst Schönemann and Eberhard Esche. The new shots they wanted (although the set had already been dismantled) also required a new mix. Such a change—in the casting of three roles long after the shooting, final editing and sound mix—was very unusual and was meant to strengthen how the representatives of the Stasi appeared in comparision to the opposing side, which seemed to be portrayed quite authentically. Prof. Rodenberg did not criticize the director for this “Our “Our Own James Bond,” written interview with dramaturg Dieter Wolf “political mistake,“ but rather Siegfried Kabitzke, the head of the artistic group, and me, as chief dramaturg.

Perry Friedman, a Canadian singer who lived in the GDR, and Victor Grossman, who had moved to the GDR in the 1950s, play supporting roles in the film. John Peet, a British journalist who had defected to the GDR, plays the doctor. How did this casting come about and was it a conscious choice? Veiczi was a known director with strong contacts in the Berlin cultural and media scene. His close relations with the foreign “lay“ actors were all to the good, in terms of the desired authenticity of the opponents, especially since their presence in the film is minimal.

Although Perry Friedman and John Peet play important supporting roles, their names are not listed in the film credits. I assume that this was their own wish. Maybe they didn’t want to compromise their journalistic reputations by being instrumentalized in a DEFA “propaganda film.“

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A technical question: The original script outlines which scenes are to be spoken in English with German subtitles. But in the final version of the film the English-language scenes are voiced over in German. You can hear the English dialogue, but at times the German translation is not identical. The German translation has stronger Cold War overtones at times. What were the considerations in deciding to use voice-over? The distributor of the film, as well as movie theater managers thought subtitles would disrupt the viewing experience and be challenging for the audience [publikumsfeindlich]. Veiczi nevertheless decided against a fully dubbed version in order to maintain some degree of auditory authenticity.

The movie is set a few days before the Wall was built and was filmed during the Cuban Missile Crisis in

October 1962. These two events changed the global political system and aggravated the Cold War. Did A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library having these events in the background affect filming the movie? Did they influence the film’s storyline? These events did not influence shooting at all, but they confirmed our certainty that this could become an important film.

For Eyes Only was released two years after the Wall went up. You might expect that many GDR citizens were angry about the Wall, whose construction the film attempted to justify. But people flocked to the movie theaters and For Eyes Only became the most successful DEFA film of 1963. How would you explain • • For Eyes Secret Only • — Top this success? After the Wall went up and the order to fire were issued in August 1961, these issues were far less demoni- zed than after 1990—except perhaps among people whose families were affected. The majority of people who wanted to (or had to) stay were worried by the hysteria about the status of Berlin on both sides of the Wall and had a critical perspective on mass emigrations out of the GDR. The thousands of border crossers— who lived in and worked in West Berlin, earning their salary in West currency, with an exchange rate of 1 West for 4 East Marks—were not well-liked by GDR citizens. The run on groceries and books by visitors from the West seemed unfair to those living and working in East Berlin; and anyone who wanted to buy high-end goods, such as industrial and optical products, had to deal with inconvenient identity checks. So it seemed that the short-lived economic upswing after August 13, 1961 absolutely justified closing the border and building the Wall so criticized by the West.

The film is now fifty years old. What do you think about the film from today’s point of view? The movie is a political and artistic product of its time and today its aesthetic seems old and naïve. In 2008, Gunther Scholz made a documentary entitled for eyes only – Ein Film und seine Geschichte (For Eyes Only – A Film and Its History). The film is based on a 2002 interview with Horst Hesse. It is an important and artis -

tically well-made contribution—not sneering or dismissive—to a critical discourse on a DEFA film made with “Our Own James Bond,” written interview with dramaturg Dieter Wolf political intentions; it’s a valuable commentary on the feature film, which I would highly recommend.

Is there anything else you would like to add? I would like to thank researchers and students abroad, especially in the UK and USA, for their interest in our work and our experiences as participants and observers of this specific period of history. The critical and academic accounting of the DEFA legacy that has emerged deserves a lot of respect, especially in compari- son to the attempts of German historians and film scholars, who primarily treat DEFA as a part of the propa- ganda of a “second German dictatorship.“

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Dieter Wolf has worked with many famous authors—including Wolfgang Held, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Günther Rücker and Harry Thürk—and has been involved in the production of acclaimed films by important directors, including: Mama, ich lebe (Mama, I’m Alive) and Solo Sunny, by ; Der Aufenthalt (Turning Point), Der Bruch (The Break-In) and Bockshorn (Taken For a Ride), by ; Bis dass der Tod euch scheidet (Until Death Do Us Apart), by Heiner Carow; and Einer trage des anderen Last (Bear Ye One Another’s Burden), by Lothar Warneke. He is the author of important works on DEFA, including Sozialistische Filmkunst: Eine Dokumentation (Dietz Verlag Berlin, 2011); Zwischen uns die Mauer – DEFA- Filme auf der Berlinale (Berlin, 2010); Gruppe Babelsberg – Unsere nicht gedrehten Filme (Das Neue Berlin, 2000); Bevor der Film ins Kino kommt – Von der Idee zur Leinwand (Kinderbuch Verlag Berlin, 1984/87). And

he is the editor of the book Lebensläufe – Die Kinder von Golzow (Schüren Verlag Marburg, 2004). A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library

This interview was conducted by Hiltrud Schulz in April 2013.

Translation by Hiltrud Schulz and Skyler Arndt-Briggs, DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. • • For Eyes Secret Only • — Top

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1 was one of four license holders of DEFA when it was founded on May 17, 1946. Starting in 1947, he worked as a feature film director and was the founding dean of the German Academy for Film in -Babelsberg in 1954, which he headed for 19 years. 2 East German film artists called the genre Kundschafterfilm („scout“ film) instead of spy film. “Our “Our Own James Bond,” written interview with dramaturg Dieter Wolf

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