The Sea Chase (1955) on Netflix
Approved19551h 57mActionDramaWar
As World War II breaks out, German freighter captain Karl Ehrlich slips his freighter, the Ergenstrasse, out of Sydney with the spy Elsa Keller aboard. A British warship hunts him.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Captain Karl Ehrlich commands the Ergenstrasse, an old German freighter docked at Sydney as war nears. Ehrlich lost his naval command for refusing to back the Nazi regime, and he keeps his distance from his pro-Nazi chief officer Kirchner. The German consul-general asks him to carry a spy out of Australia and deliver her safely home; only after the ship slips away in night fog does Ehrlich learn the spy is Elsa Keller, the German woman engaged to his friend, British officer Jeff Napier. Elsa has drawn military information from Napier, and she treats Ehrlich's scruples with disdain. Short of coal and slow, the Ergenstrasse becomes easy prey for the Australian and British navies, and Napier, holding a grudge, joins the hunt.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Sea Chase (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film's plot is based on a real incident: the 6,100-ton German steamer Erlangen, built in 1929, slipped out of Otago Harbour, New Zealand, under Captain Alfred Grams on 28 August 1939, the very eve of war, supposedly bound for Port Kembla, New South Wales.
- In the real escape, the Erlangen headed for the subantarctic Auckland Islands, evaded a cruiser and cut down swathes of southern rātā forest for food and wood, then reached Ancud in southern Chile under jerry-rigged sails.
SPOILER
A different version of the script turned up with an alternative ending: Kirchner drowns and Ehrlich and Elsa are rescued, only for Napier to have them thrown overboard when he learns Elsa was unfaithful with Ehrlich.- John Wayne caught ear infections twice while the film was being shot, and two other actors also came down with infections from skin diving.
- Australian actor Michael Pate was announced to be playing the ship's radio operator, but he does not appear in the finished film.
- The German song Lana Turner sings in the film, "Steh' Ich im Finster Mitternacht", also known as "Treue Liebe", was given English lyrics written specifically for the film.
