Verspätung in Marienborn

This film starts with some fabulous twilight location shots around 1960's Berlin. - The dim and somber photography of bleak cityscapes shot from the departing train does much to enhance this vehicle to show off Errol Flynn's son, Sean. --And the handsome young actor does pretty good with the second-rate material.

Made in Europe on a shoe-string budget, almost all of the action takes place on a west-bound (from Berlin) train carrying American soldiers, a pair of newlyweds, a nurse and her patient, an all-girl group of performers, and a loud-mouthed reporter (Jose Ferrer).

During the journey, an East German refugee secretly boards the train, and the 'east-west' cold war tensions begin. The train is detained by the Russian military who want the refugee handed over to them.

The dialog is not good, the character assortment is not bad, and Sean Flynn and Jose Ferrer do their best with the material they have.

Ferrer shamelessly over-acts, but what choice did he have with such hammy lines? Sean Flynn has to work hard at it, as well, but Flynn had the added advantage of being so adorably handsome (even prettier than his famous father). Moreover, the grubby location work, as well as the confining train interiors, actually add to this film's appeal and make it easier to get past some of the tired 'cold-war-formula' dialog.

As fate would have it, while working as a war correspondent, Sean Flynn mysteriously disappeared in Viet Nam in 1970-- about 7 years after this film was made.

The cold war got him in real life, too.....

This is a true story as I was living in Berlin. My dad Charles Fitz was called out to negotiate the release of the refugee. I believe the character representing his part in this event was Major Finnegan. I remember how he wanted to do more to for the refugee. Great Movie/realistic and shows the fear/hopelessness of the Cold war at the time. I enjoyed the glimpse of history. I could recite a number of stories from our time in Germany and Russia . Sean Flynn did a good job. Story was filmed dark to illustrate the environment. Glad we have moved on. I have many stories about the night the Berlin wall was built.

Low-budget but not low-quality Cold War drama about an East German refugee who slips aboard a US military train leaving West Berlin and passing through East Germany. The East German and Soviet authorities discover that he's aboard and stop the train, demanding that he be turned over to them. Sean Flynn, Errol's impossibly good-looking son, does a first-rate job as the young American army officer in charge of the train who finds himself caught in the center of Cold War tensions and Jose Ferrer is good, if a bit showy, as a seen-it-all reporter aboard the train. The film takes place mostly aboard the cramped train and, while the dialog lags in spots and the direction is a bit ragged, overall it's a commendable, very worthy effort.

This film is based on a real event of the Cold War, and was filmed in the same time period, so it "feels" very realistic. Characters have been combined or altered, but the attention to facts and the choice of stories keeps it from being successful with audiences not already familiar with the situation. In fact, a 16mm print of it was purchased by the U.S. Army and used as a training film for new Train Commanders on the Military Trains.

Except for one scene that might cause trouble with the PTA, this film could be shown in high school history classes covering the Cold War. (I would recommend the teacher view it first and decide if it fits in their community's standards.) What it does get right is the dilemma faced by each of the characters. Everyone in the film makes moral decisions, and the consequences drive the story. That was the Cold War in Berlin as I witnessed it.

"Delay in Marienborn" was a surprise: an effective 1963 Cold War drama that during its day capitalized on the tense relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in divided German territory. Not surprisingly it won several awards, including best screenplay from the film industry of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Youth Award at the Berlin Film Festival for the Best Feature Film Suitable for Young People. The film was a call to tolerance and understanding between world powers, but most importantly a reflection on the value of discipline and adherence to codes among the military, in a time when ethics apparently seemed more clearly defined by ideologies. Based on Will Tremper's book "Aufenthalt in Marienborn", that recounts a true incident, the film tells a charged and moving tale: a nurse (Nicole Courcel) helps Banner (Hans-Joachim Schmiedel) to defect from the Democratic Republic of Germany, by allowing him to get on board an American-commanded train crossing the territory under Soviet control. Although most conversations are led between high officers of each side, the final decision of what to do with Banner is left to lieutenant Novak (Sean Flynn) who is in command of the train. Both the lieutenant and the defector are 24- year old men. They are not portrayed as heroes of action films or stereotypes of propaganda movies, but as two humane and vulnerable young men, facing a crisis beyond them, ruled by world politics. Others on board include a journalist (José Ferrer, who received first credit but had a secondary role), a US diplomat, a newlywed couple, a female sport team, and other assorted characters. The best part of the surprise though was Sean Flynn. I did not expect to ever watch him in a dramatic role, to give an effective performance and to hear him in English, after watching several films where he was dubbed in Spanish, Italian and German. Also providing good performances in an international cast, Jess Hahn is featured as Flynn's assistant; Yossi Yadin plays the Soviet officer, while actor-author Edward Meeks plays an American captain with a clear idea of what has to be done. Recommended.