As the world turned its attention to the possibilities of manned spaceflight Werner von Braun acquired a sufficiently high profile to be the subject of a movie.
The film that emerged got a hostile reception in a Britain still scarred by wartime bombing (von Braun had himself ruefully admitted "We aim at the stars, but sometimes we hit London").
After playing Ernst Udet in 'The Devil's General' Curt Jurgens was for the next few years Hollywood's favoured personification of The Good German; which is why when a whitewash was required of von Braun Curt was the man they enlisted.
The central part of the film plays like the director's next film 'The Guns of Navarone' from the point of view of the Germans. Physically Jurgens was all wrong for the part (Braun was a much younger man for starters). The Holocaust is briefly alluded to but the film tactfully skirts the issue of his enthusiastic use of slave labour.
The later section when he takes over at White Sands to help the Americans in Korea is far less well known and is therefore more informative. And then it's up and away into the heavens.
The film that emerged got a hostile reception in a Britain still scarred by wartime bombing (von Braun had himself ruefully admitted "We aim at the stars, but sometimes we hit London").
After playing Ernst Udet in 'The Devil's General' Curt Jurgens was for the next few years Hollywood's favoured personification of The Good German; which is why when a whitewash was required of von Braun Curt was the man they enlisted.
The central part of the film plays like the director's next film 'The Guns of Navarone' from the point of view of the Germans. Physically Jurgens was all wrong for the part (Braun was a much younger man for starters). The Holocaust is briefly alluded to but the film tactfully skirts the issue of his enthusiastic use of slave labour.
The later section when he takes over at White Sands to help the Americans in Korea is far less well known and is therefore more informative. And then it's up and away into the heavens.