Battleship Sevastopol: White Slaves

Battleship Sevastopol: White Slaves (German: Panzerkreuzer Sebastopol: Weisse Sklaven), which was following Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 re-released to theaters as Red Beasts (German: Rote Bestien) is a 1937 German film set during the Russian Revolution and was produced as Anti-Soviet propaganda. The film follows the heroic efforts of the crew of a battleship to rescue captives held by Bolsheviks in a fortress. It has a run time of 111 minutes.

Plot
In St. Petersburg in 1917 revolution is brewing, but in more far-flung parts of Russia life is apparently carrying on as usual. At Sevastopol the officers on board a battleship are looking forward to its return to port when they will be allowed to fraternise with local girls. Kostja, one of the officers, is particularly excited. He is in love with Marija, the daughter of Sevastopol's Governor.

The deck of the ship is being prepared to become a dance-floor for a party. However, revolutionaries led by the Governor of Sevastopol's disloyal valet, Boris, plan to take over the vessel. They have infiltrated the ship's crew and are waiting for the upcoming party. When the unsuspecting guests arrive for the dance, the rebel crew surround and murder many of them with the now-unarmed officers. The mutineers also kill the loyal crew members. Kostja falls overboard after a struggle with a mutineer. The mutineers then turn the ship's guns on the town. The authorities are forced to surrender to the revolutionaries, who then indulge in an orgy of rape, murder and looting.

Marija and her parents have escaped from the battleship with the help of Kostja's loyal batman, Iwan. Her mother dies from wounds, but Marija and her father hide in a dockside tavern-cum-brothel run by Iwan's girlfriend Sinaida. The former Governor is a confused and broken man, unable to accept what has happened. Meanwhile, Boris is looking for Marija, for whom he has long had a hitherto hopeless desire. Now he wants her for himself. He tracks her down at the tavern. He reveals to her that he is the leader of the revolutionaries, and tells her of his desire for her, but says he only wants her if she agrees of her own free will.

After he leaves Marija gets a message from Kostja, who has survived. He is organising a counter-revolution. Boris lures Kostja into a trap and captures the leading counter-revolutionaries. However, Kostja later escapes. He and a group of supporters retake the battleship and launch a raid on the fortress in which the revolutionaries are holding the prisoners. Believing Kostja is still in captivity, Marija visits Boris to plead with him for Kostja's life. Drunk, Boris attempts to rape her, but Marija's father suddenly enters, kills Boris, and then collapses dead. In a battle between the revolutionaries and their opponents, the prisoners are freed and taken to the battleship. Before leaving port, they blow up the fortress, killing most of the revolutionaries. Marija and Kostja look back on the town, realizing they must leave their country, but have the world before them.

Production
The film was based on a factual report written by Charlie Roellinghoff (who died in 1935) back when the project was indeed to be a documentary film but after having a screenplay written by three writers it became the propaganda-historical drama film shown in theaters. According to Director and Screenwriter Karl Anton he "served up to the brownshirt rulers a clumsy Nazi replica of the Soviet Russian-Revolution film Battlship Potemkin."

Cast

 * Theodor Loos as The Governor
 * Gabriele Hoffmann as Anastasia - his wife
 * Camilla Horn as Marija - his daughter
 * Karl John as Graf Kostja Wolfgoff
 * Fritz Kampers as Iwan - his batman
 * Werner Hinz as Boris - Valet to the Governor and leading revolutionary
 * Herbert Spalke as Kurloff
 * Alexander Engel as Turbin
 * Willi Schur as Nikitin
 * Agnes Straub as Sinaida - landlady of a dockside tavern
 * Werner Pledath as Panin
 * Hans Stiebner as The Commissar
 * Hans Kettler as Refugee
 * Albert Florath as Doctor
 * Wilhelm P. Krüger as Drunkard
 * Karl Meixner as Executioner
 * Arthur Reinhardt as Radio Operator
 * Emil Ludwig as First Officer
 * Herbert Ebel as Young Officer
 * Rio Nobile as Young Officer
 * Rudolf Vones as Young Officer
 * Anatol Losseff as Young Officer
 * Walter Kuhle as Young Officer
 * Wsevolod Kojine as Young Officer
 * Grete Hartmann as Young Maiden
 * Erika von Schaper as Young Maiden
 * Gronau as Young Maiden
 * Stadte as Young Maiden
 * Nowak as Young Maiden
 * Trude Hess as Young Maiden
 * Edith Meinhard as Pianist
 * Arthur Reppert as The Armenian
 * Tatjana Sais as Singer
 * Eberhard Leithoff as A thin man
 * Erich Walter as A Tsarist general

Crew

 * Director and Screenwriter: Karl Anton
 * Screenwriter: Arthur Pohl
 * Screenwriter: Felix von Eckardt
 * Cinematography: Herber Korner

Reception
The film was a major box office success and even got an American release the same year under the title 'White Slaves'. It'd continue to be shown in German theaters continuously for near two years till it was withdrawn in 1939 due to the Nazi-Soviet Pact. It was again released after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941