A music comedy directed by Dietrich Haugk based on the play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
The film depicts the first month of 1945 when the Russian Red Army broke into the eastern part of Germany and forced millions of civilians to flee in the coldest of winter. While the Russians invaded Ostpreussen hundred of thousands of civilians were evacuated by ships. Gotenhafen was the last open port and ships left the town almost by the minute, overloaded by refugees. One of the last ships to leave Gotenhafen was the 'Wilhelm Gustloff', a former 'Kraft durch Freude' pleasure cruiser designed for 1000 passengers. Until today it is unknown how many people were on board but it is said to be around 10.000. The ship sunk without a trace and only a handful of people survived this hellish nightmare.
Peter escapes a firing squad and leaves the island of San Quinto on a commercial flight to Bermuda. The plane is hijacked by a Nazi and San Quinto's Ex-General Cordobas who shoot pilot Pink and damage the landing gear of the plane.
A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge. The film is based on a West German anti-war novel of the same name, written by Gregor Dorfmeister.
In a fantasy European principality, the headstrong and beautiful Princess Ingrid falls in love with a handsome officer, but dismisses him in a fit of temperamental overreaction when she learns of an alleged liaison.