Die Carmen von St. Pauli

Docks of Hamburg

When Hamburg ship's mate Klaus Brandt catches a thief one night at the port, his downfall is pre-ordained. For the thief turns out to be a young, attractive woman and the otherwise upright sailor allows her to slip away unmolested. Jenny is the star of a local dive bar, with a side-line in smuggling. The smitten Klaus starts to neglect his duties to spend time with her, and is eventually fired. Fully under the spell of Jenny's powers of seduction, he is roped in to the shady business of the "harbour rats" and even comes under suspicion of having murdered a rival for Jenny's affections ... Star-studded cinema against the backdrop of an authentic working world. Using a variety of angles of Hamburg's port, Die Carmen von St. Pauli imbues a putative everyday scenario with the mythical aura of a Brechtian "Jenny the pirate". Travelling shots along the waterfront lend the film an almost neo-realist character. Nonetheless, this story of an easy woman among hard men is imbued with the romance that the film – with an eye on Hamburg’s famed red-light district – purports to expose as "contrived".

Source: 68. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)