| Große Freiheit Nr. 7 | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Helmut Käutner |
| Produced by | Hans Tost |
| Written by | Helmut Käutner and Richard Nicolas |
| Starring | Hans Albers |
| Music by | Werner Eisbrenner |
| Cinematography | Werner Krien |
| Editing by | Anneliese Schönnenbeck |
| Distributed by | Deutsche Filmvertriebs (DFV) |
| Release date(s) | 15 December 1944 |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
Große Freiheit Nr. 7 (Great Freedom No. 7) is a 1944 German musical drama film directed by Helmut Käutner. It was named after Große Freiheit (grand freedom), a street next to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli red light district.
The film is also known as Port of Freedom in the United Kingdom.
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The film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger (played by Hans Albers) who works in a Reeperbahn club and falls in love with a girl played by Ilse Werner.
Due to the threat of Allied bombing raids to Hamburg Harbour and to the Ufa studios in Berlin's Neubabelsberg and Tempelhof when it was made in 1943 (May to November), most of the movie was shot in Prague's Barrandov Studios by Helmut Käutner, as the first Agfa colorfilm by Terra. For a scene with a boat trip in Hamburg harbour warships had to be covered up.
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was dissatisfied, and demanded many changes to make the film more "German", for instance by renaming the lead role from Jonny (as in Albers' earlier hit song "Good bye, Jonny") to Hannes. After a year of editing, the movie was banned anyway in Nazi Germany on 12 December 1944,[1][2] and was only shown outside of the Großdeutsches Reich proper, with the premiere on 15 December 1944 in Prague (then a Reichsprotektorat). It remained banned in Nazi Germany, opening on 6 September 1945 in Berlin's Filmbühne Wien after the Allied victory.