Released three days after Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler, it was the first film to have its screening in Nazi Germany. It became a symbol of the new times touted by the Nazi regime. The title (literally "morning-red") is the German term for the reddish coloring of the east sky about a half hour before the sunrise. On patrol Captain Liers and his submarine crew sink an important British ship, but while returning to harbour, they're lured into a trap by a British vessel disguised as a neutral Danish one. They sink it after it attacks them without warning, but while they prepare to rescue survivors, a British destroyer sinks the sub. On the sea bed 60 feet down, with all but the bridge flooded, the 10 surviving crew have only 8 rescue devices. Liers orders the crew to use them, but they disobey - either all escape or nobody does.
This lively comedy of 1933 provided an early film role for Leslie Fuller, and sees the wildly popular, rubber-faced actor and entertainer – once touted as Elstree's own Clark Gable – playing identical twins with very different ambitions: one is a policeman who longs to join a circus, the other a farm hand who wants to be a policeman!