''Hostages'' is an American

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

produced by Paramount Pictures and released in 1943. It was directed by Frank Tuttle from a script by Frank Butler and

Lester Cole Lester Cole (June 19, 1904 – August 15, 1985) was an American screenwriter. Cole was one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors who were cited for contempt of Congress and blacklisted for their refusal to testify regardin ...

based on the 1942 novel of the same name by

Stefan Heym Helmut Flieg or Hellmuth Fliegel (10 April 1913 – 16 December 2001) was a German writer, known by his pseudonym Stefan Heym (). He lived in the United States and trained at Camp Ritchie, making him one of the Ritchie Boys of World War II. I ...

. The film stars

Luise Rainer Luise Rainer ( , ; 12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014) was a German-American-British film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her ...

, Arturo de Córdova,

William Bendix William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered for his role in ''Wake Island'', which earned him an Academy ...

and

Paul Lukas Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance in the film '' Wat ...

and features Katina Paxinou and

Oskar Homolka Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for w ...

Plot

A group of 26

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n citizens are jailed as hostages by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

until the supposed killer of a Nazi officer – who actually committed suicide – is turned in. The hostages include the leader of the underground resistance movement (

), whose cover is that of an apparently ignorant washroom attendant in the nightclub where the victim was last seen alive.

Cast

as Milada Pressinger * Arturo de Córdova as Paul Breda *

as Underground leader *

as Rheinhardt * Katina Paxinou as Maria *

as Lev Pressinger * Reinhold Schünzel as Kurt Daluege * Frederick Gierrman as Captain Patzer * Roland Varno as Jan Pavel *

Felix Basch Felix Basch (1885–1944) was an American-Austrian actor, screenwriter and film director. He first acted in Vienna, and he was a producer and director for the German film production company UFA GmbH, U. F. A. Following the Nazi takeover of powe ...

as Dr. Wallerstein *

John Mylong John Mylong (September 27, 1892 – September 8, 1975), also known as Jack Mylong-Münz, born Adolf Heinrich Münz, was an Austrian actor who later settled in the United States. Selected filmography * ''Der heilige Hass, 1. Teil'' (1921) - Rabo ...

as Proskosch *

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...

as Lt. Glasenapp * Steven Geray as Mueller

Production

''Hostages'' utilized footage of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

which was originally shot six years before for the film ''

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife ''Bluebeard's Eighth Wife'' is a 1938 Paramount Pictures American romantic comedy film directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper. The film is based on the 1921 French play ''La huitième femme de Bar ...

''. Erich von Stroheim was originally scheduled to play the part of "Rheinhardt", but had to withdraw in order to film Paramount's ''

Five Graves to Cairo ''Five Graves to Cairo'' is a 1943 war film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter. Set in World War II, it is one of a number of films based on Lajos Bíró's 1917 play ''Hotel Imperial: Színmű négy felvonásba ...

''."Notes"
on

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

References

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hostages 1943 films 1943 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s war drama films American black-and-white films American war drama films Films based on American novels Films directed by Frank Tuttle Films produced by Sol C. Siegel Films scored by Victor Young Films set in Prague Paramount Pictures films World War II films made in wartime Czech resistance to Nazi occupation in film