Main Cast: Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas, Cornell Borchers, O.E. Hasse, Bruni Loebel
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 119 minutes
Plot
Filmed on location, The Big Lift is a reenactment of the Berlin airlift of 1948. Flexing their postwar muscles, the Russians blockade the Western sector, refusing to allow the Allies to ship supplies to the starving Berliners. From their headquarters at Templehof Airport, a group of courageous American flyers risk their lives to transport supplies by air. Paul Douglas plays a ground operations sergeant with several scores to settle (he had a hard time of it as a POW during the war), while Montgomery Clift costars as a pilot who inaugurates a doomed love affair with German girl Cornell Borchers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
When originally released in 1950, The Big Lift must have had significant impact upon its audience, many of whom were veterans who had first hand experience of combat with Germany and with the conditions of Berlin during the war and soon after. That sense of immediacy and the connection that it brought probably enhanced considerably the experience of Lift; without that, the picture is an average but not outstanding war-related drama, the Cold War era propaganda leanings of which are more evident from several decades on. None of that is to say that Lift is bad, mind you; parts of it are quite effective. But the film lacks cohesion, being one part semi-documentary and one part personal romance story, and the two parts don't fit together in a dramatically satisfying way. Much of the documentary style part of the film is still fascinating, from the details around flight protocol to the actual footage of Berlin at the time the film was shot. The main plot surrounding Montgomery Clift has not aged as well; there's not enough character or relationship development (although the revelation of Frederica's past is quite effective). Clift is quite good, though, as is Paul Douglas, whose anti-German soldier is surprisingly frank for the period. Even better are Cornell Borchers and O.E. Hasse, and there should also be positive mention of Bruni Loebel's pleasing work. Not a great film by any means, but worth a viewing, especially for history buffs. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The film was directed and written by George Seaton, and was released April 26, 1950, less than one year after the Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted and the air lift operations ceased. Because the film was shot in Berlin in 1949, it provides a unique glimpse of the post-war state of the city as it struggles to recover from the devastation wrought by World War II.
The story begins at the start of the Berlin Blockade, as American and Royal Air Forces begin air-lifting food, fuel and other supplies from their zones of occupation into Berlin. U.S. Air Force sergeants Danny MacCullough (Montgomery Clift), flight engineer of a C-54 Skymaster, and Henry "Hank" Kowalski (Paul Douglas), an air traffic controller, are friends sent to Germany from a base in Hawaii to beef up the operation. Hank, who was captured and tortured by Germans during the war, has openly mixed feelings about helping in the cause.
During a public relations event staged at the Tempelhof Airport in the American sector, MacCullough meets an attractive German woman, Frederica Burkhardt (Cornell Borchers). She offers to show him around Berlin some time when he gets a day off. To her surprise, MacCullough shows up at her work "address", where she is separating usable bricks from rubble on the streets of Berlin. During the tour of the city, they get stuck at the border between West and East Berlin without proper papers, and escape when the incident becomes comically bungled by the authorities arguing over the exact location of the boundary.
Meanwhile, Hank has also met a woman, Gerda (Bruni Löbel). He doesn't treat her particularly well, scornful of her habitual deference, and has contempt for most Berliners.
Under the deadline pressure of being ordered back to the United States, McCullough proposes to Frederica, and she accepts. Soon after, however, he learns that she is not in love with him, but is exploiting his emotions to get to America, where her German husband lives. Hank, on the other hand, finds that he is in love with Gerda when she suddenly asserts herself as a free person, and decides to stay in Berlin.
The actual Air Traffic Control system at Templehof is portrayed in the film, permitting the viewer to vicariously experience the frustration experienced by both controllers and aircrews during missions, including being buzzed by Soviet fighters while in formation.
