In terms of quality, the 1950s was a poor period for West German cinema, still recovering from the second world war, but it was also the time when a number of German actors became known internationally – among them Curt Jürgens, Romy Schneider, Horst Buchholz, Maria Schell, and Hardy Krüger, who has died aged 93. They often played “good Germans” to counterbalance the Nazi stereotypes in the allied films of the 1940s.
The good-looking, boyish blond Krüger, having played romantic leads in lightweight films in his homeland, became the face of the new Germany most significantly in The One That Got Away (1957). This British film for J Arthur Rank, directed by Roy Ward Baker, and based on the true story of Franz von Werra, who escaped from an allied PoW camp, was one of the first to depict a sympathetic German character. Made only 12 years after the end of the war, the film forces the audience to identify with the German pilot, whose ambition is to get back to his squadron and cause more damage to Britain. This effect was achieved mainly through Krüger’s charismatic performance, both charming and cocky.
