The Seventh Cross (1944) on Netflix
In 1936 Germany, seven prisoners break out of the Westhofen concentration camp. The commandant has seven crosses built, one for each man. George Heisler is still on the run.
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- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.4/103,386 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1936 Germany, seven prisoners break out of the Westhofen concentration camp near the Rhine. The commandant orders seven crosses built and promises that each will hold a man. The men who fled are a Jewish grocery clerk, a farmer, a schoolmaster, a writer, a circus performer, Heisler's friend Wallau, and Heisler himself. George Heisler travels across the countryside in his prison clothing, covering it with a jacket he steals. He is a cynic with little faith in other people, and the Gestapo is hunting the seven escapees across the country. One cross remains empty, and the commandant means to fill it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Seventh Cross (1944)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In Anna Seghers' novel the escaped prisoners Wallau and Heisler were Communists, but Helen Deutsch's screenplay leaves their political affiliation out, so the film's political thrust became the anti-Fascist German resistance.
- The Seventh Cross was the first film in which Hume Cronyn acted with his wife Jessica Tandy, and it was among the first feature films directed by Fred Zinnemann, becoming his first hit movie.
- Released in 1944, in the middle of World War II, The Seventh Cross was one of the few films made during the war to deal with the existence of Nazi concentration camps.
- The Westhofen concentration camp in the film, where the seven prisoners are held before escaping, is fictitious but partly based on the real Osthofen concentration camp near the Rhine.
