''Special Delivery'' (german: Vom Himmel gefallen) is a 1955 American–West German comedy film, directed by

John Brahm John Brahm (August 17, 1893 – October 12, 1982) was a German film and television director. His films include ''The Undying Monster'' (1942), '' The Lodger'' (1944), '' Hangover Square'' (1945), ''The Locket'' (1946), ''The Brasher Doubloon'' (1 ...

. It stars

Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and ''Sab ...

and

Eva Bartok Éva Márta Szőke Ivanovics (18 June 19271 August 1998), known professionally as Eva Bartok, was a Hungarian-British actress. She began acting in films in 1950 and her last credited appearance was in 1966. She acted in more than 40 American, ...

. ''Special Delivery'' was filmed simultaneously in an English- and German-language version.

Plot

Somewhere behind the Iron Curtain, mid 1950s. John Adams is a US embassy chargé d'affaires in a communist country in Eastern Europe. One day he has to deal with a very special case: in the front yard of the embassy, a baby has been laid down, as if it had "fallen from heaven"! Nobody knows how it got there, nobody saw the person who put it there. A found object in the front yard of the embassy is not all that unusual, because many a person persecuted by the regime has thrown something over the embassy fence so that it does not fall into the hands of the communist cultural barbarians. For the embassy, with its six exclusively male employees, the baby poses a serious problem: what to do? The government of the Eastern European country immediately demands the extradition of the young "citizen" and immediately sends a stubborn state representative, Comrade Kovacs. Adams, on the other hand, decides to stonewall and not hand the baby over to the communists. In order to ensure the care of the little one, who is simply called Sam after

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (which has the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general. Since the early 19th century, Uncle Sam has been a popular symbol of ...

, the host country also provides its own nanny. Sonja Novaswobida, as she is called, is also supposed to collect further information on site on behalf of her government. Due to mutual distrust, the men's relationships with the Eastern European state employee initially ranged from difficult to cold, especially since Kovacs turned out to be a particularly tough opponent for Ambassador Adams. He insists on returning the baby to the country as a kind of public property. Adams, however, wants to hand over just that, and instead, with some ironic ulterior motive, gives Adams another find that someone had thrown over the embassy's bridle: a supposedly ingenious, modern musical score that Kovacs plays the piano reluctantly at first, but then enthusiastically after realizing it must, how little the Americans can do with such modern music. Trust in one another begins to develop slowly. Tensions between the two governments are only resolved when the little one's parents are located. They are Olaf, the embassy's Swedish cook, and a woman from the host country who used to work here. Ambassador Adams now ensures in no time at all that marriage papers are issued to the parents, so that the toddler is considered a Swedish citizen and can leave the communist country with the parents in the direction of freedom. Adams' relationship with Sonja also soon goes beyond the purely official: both eventually become a couple.

Cast

as John Adams *

as Sonja * Bob Cunningham as Captain Heinikan *

René Deltgen Renatus Heinrich Deltgen born 30 April 1909 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; died 29 January 1979 in Cologne, West Germany) was a Luxembourgian stage and film actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performan ...

as Kovak * Gert Fröbe as Olaf *

Bruni Löbel Bruni Löbel (born ''Brunhilde Melitta Löbel''; 20 December 1920 – 27 September 2006) was a German stage, film and television actress.Palmer p.10 She was married to the composer Gerhard Bronner and the actor Holger Hagen. Löbel appeared in a ...

as Lila * Ursula Herking as Madame Debrov

Production

It was filmed simultaneously in English- and German-language versions.

References

External links

* * {{John Brahm, state=collapsed 1955 films 1955 comedy films Films set in the 1950s German comedy films American comedy films West German films 1950s German-language films Cold War films Films directed by John Brahm Films set in Europe American multilingual films German multilingual films Columbia Pictures films 1950s multilingual films Films about orphans 1950s English-language films 1950s American films German black-and-white films American black-and-white films 1950s German films Films scored by Bernhard Kaun Films about babies

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links