''Contest'' (german: Kampf) is a 1932 German

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the sp ...

directed by Erich Schönfelder and starring

Manfred von Brauchitsch Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch (15 August 1905 – 5 February 2003) was a German auto racing driver who drove for Mercedes-Benz in the famous " Silver Arrows" of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s. Racing career Brauchitsch won t ...

Evelyn Holt Evelyn Holt (born Edith Toni Elsbeth Wenckens; 3 October 1908 – 22 February 2001) was a German actress. Biography The daughter of a journalist, she began her film career at UFA. She quickly advanced to starring roles alongside Gustav Fröhlich ...

, and

Kurt Vespermann Kurt Vespermann (1 May 1887 – 13 July 1957) was a German stage and film actor. Career Vespermann was born into an actor's family in Culmsee, West Prussia, Imperial Germany today Chełmża, Poland. Already his great-grandparents wer ...

. It is set in the world of

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

. It was the final film directed by Schönfelder. The film's sets were designed by Artur Günther and

Willi A. Herrmann Willi Herrmann (1893–1968) was a German art director. Selected filmography * ''Madness'' (1919) * '' Child on the Open Road'' (1919) * '' Jettatore'' (1919) * ''Humanity Unleashed'' (1920) * ''The Secrets of Berlin'' (1921) * ''The Maharaja's ...

. It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

and on location in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

and the

AVUS The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern par ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

Plot

Robert Wenck is a well-known racing driver who goes to Freiburg to take part in a car race that starts there. He is very much looking forward to the race, which will lead through the nearby mountains, because here he will meet his favorite opponent, Kurt Harder. However, this ongoing titular battle between the two rivals hasn't changed their friendship. During training, Wenck and Harder meet and also exchange private words. Wenck learns that his friend Harder recently got married. Robert is happy to accept Kurt's invitation to a seaside resort where newlywed Eva is staying. During the race, Kurt has a technical glitch that forces him to retire. In a daring ride, Wenck then won the race. Harder has to go on to Italy and for this reason asks his old friend to drive up to the seaside resort and take care of Harder's wife Eva. Robert is amazed when he sees who Eva Harder is. It is none other than his former flame. For the sake of his racing, Wenck had once neglected Eva, so that she reoriented herself. Now that the two meet again, old feelings for each other resurface. Harder himself doesn't know anything about the former relationship between the two, but an old photograph of Robert and Eva leads him to believe that the two of them probably had something to do with each other. He immediately returns to Germany and drives to his wife. Great displeasure rises in him when he sees Wenck returning home with Eva from a joint car jaunt. Kurt Harder now believes that Wenck wants to get the lost love back and declares their friendship over. Only some time later, during a race on the Nürburgring, do the two opponents meet again. A bitter fight ensues and Robert, who has worked his way up to the top, crashes his racing car and crashes against a rock face. Kurt immediately rushes to him and frees the opponent from the burning wreckage. His human commitment is rewarded, despite the loss of time, Kurt Harder is able to win the race and is on the winner's podium. Before the award ceremony can take place, he and his wife visit Wenck at his bedside. Kurt puts one of Eva's hands in the other Robert's, signaling that he is ready to give up his wife, since the two obviously still have a lot in common.

Cast

References

External links

* 1930s sports films Films of the Weimar Republic Films directed by Erich Schönfelder UFA GmbH films German auto racing films German black-and-white films Films set in Berlin Films shot in Berlin Films shot at Babelsberg Studios 1930s German films 1930s German-language films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub