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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

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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 Our Own James Bond_For eyes only 19.06.13 16:36 Seite 1 OUR OWN JAMES BOND DEFA dramaturg Dieter Wolf remembers the production of For Eyes Only — Top Secret, the film that became an East German box office hit in 1963. You worked as a dramaturg on For Eyes Only, which was a project of the Solidarity artistic production group at the East German DEFA Film Studio. Could you please explain the structure of artistic groups within the studio... At the end of 1956, director Kurt Maetzig1 openly declared that “the time was ripe“ for founding artistic groups with more autonomy in script development and production. In the following years, directors, writers and other film artists responded to his call and formed artistic groups that each had its own dramaturg. A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library There were eight of these groups in 1960; but was only after the Second Bitterfeld Conference in 1964 that centralized dramaturgy was entirely dissolved and chief dramaturgs became the cultural-political heads of the artistic groups. The studio management confirmed this new structural organization on September 1, 1964 and dramaturgs were appointed to be the leaders of the artistic groups: chief dramaturgs Werner Beck, Willi Brückner, Dr. Günter Karl and Willi Paech became the heads of the Berlin, Johannisthal, Roter Kreis and Children’s Films artistic groups, respectively; head dramaturg Klaus Wischnewski took over Heinrich Greif; and I headed Babelsberg. • For Eyes Secret Only • — Top This openness to decentralization ended after the 11th Plenum of the Central Committee of the SED [Socialist Unity Party] in 1965. Thereafter, all important positions—including the Minister for Culture—were appointed anew, the chief dramaturgs and artistic heads were re-assigned, and the studio returned to a rigid central - ism. In 1966, the chief dramaturgs became the heads of little groups of 4 to 5 dramaturgs, each working on their own film projects. (Klaus Wischnewski was dismissed without notice, and Dr. Karl turned to writing screenplays full-time.) From this time onwards, the artistic groups were dramaturgy teams, with directors joining for a limited time or specific projects. The Babelsberg group managed to retain director Konrad Wolf from 1966 until 1980—that is, from Ich war neunzehn (I Was Nineteen) to Solo Sunny. We were very fortunate! Heinz Hafke is listed in the credits as the dramaturg of For Eyes Only. Between 1961 and 1966, you had been the chief dramaturg of the Solidarity artistic group. In what ways were you involved in the production of the film? When I joined the Solidarity group in 1961, dramaturg Heinz Hafke and director János Veiczi had just started working on developing the story of For Eyes Only. Very soon, Hafke moved to the DEFA Studio for Popular Science Film, however, so I had to take over his work and responsibilities. How did the production of the film come about? “Our Own James Bond,” written interview with dramaturg Dieter Wolf In 1957, the press office of the Ministry for State Security published a small propaganda pamphlet entitled Flucht durch die Nacht: Ein Tatsachenbericht vom geheimnisvollen Verschwinden zweier Panzersafes des amerikanischen Geheimdienstes (Through the Night: A Factual Report about the Mysterious Disappearance of Two Safes). The DEFA Studio and author Hans Lucke got their hands on the pamphlet and Lucke wrote an exposé based on it. Director János Veiczi, who had joined the Solidarity artistic group before me, was not happy with Lucke’s draft. So we were looking for an author who could write us a thrilling and adventurous crime story—for the first time in the Kundschafterfilm genre.2 Veiczi, who was very much interested in co-authoring the script, suggested asking Harry Thürk. I had the delicate task of informing Hans Lucke about 1 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. 2 Our Own James Bond_For eyes only 19.06.13 16:36 Seite 3 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.
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