1st chess player Hugo Lindinger as 2nd chess player Jochen Blume as radio operator Emilio Heinz Spitzner as Prof. Thomas Bruno W. Pantel as Businessman Wolfgang Völz as Engineer Albert Gerd Martienzen as Man in the Tower Production Despite being a low-budget film, Abschied von den Wolken used at least one real aircraft, seen in stock footage. Flying for the fictional "Aerovias Internationales", a Handley Page HP. 81 Hermes had the registration "DN-947". The Hermes IV was filmed at Berlin Tempelhof Airport, where the British Skyways of London operated. A scale model of the Hermes was used for aerial views. Other scenes included a Vickers Viscount take-off and the engines and the landing gear of a Douglas DC-4, a type that resembled the Hermes. A scale model of a Fouga Magister was used to depict a San Quinto military aircraft. Interiors were shot at the Spandau Studios with sets designed by the art directors Paul Markwitz and Heinrich Weidemann. Using his connections to Hollywood, director Gottfried Reinhardt managed to have Abschied von den Wolken released in the United States. The English-language version was re-titled Rebel Flight to Cuba. Reception Film historian and critic Ephraim Katz wrote in the International Film Encyclopedia (1990), "O.W. Fischer as a jack-of-all-trades and unshaven friend of humanity aboard an airliner threatened by storms, criminals and technical catastrophes. Staged according to common patterns, the bundling of adventurous moments of danger does not contribute to the credibility of the story." The review in Der Spiegel noted, "Gottfried Reinhardt's attempt with this flyer film in the still unexplored regions of the thrill of German film manufacturers, ends early in simple film cinema. The director used long-worn tension effects (hurricane and abdominal landing, childbirth, jealousy and gun beating aboard), but even more so than the chassis clamped book (Georg Hurdalek) and directing. Only the stubble bearded O. W. Fischer loosely gives, in his Peter Voss role. (CCC)." See also Zero Hour! (1957) References Notes Citations External links 1950s disaster films German disaster films West German films Films set on airplanes German aviation films Films set in the Caribbean Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films about aircraft hijackings Films shot at Spandau Studios Films directed by Gottfried Reinhardt 1950s German films 1950s German-language films