East Germany's contribution to the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was the wartime melodrama Betrogen bis zum Juengsten Tag. Had the film been released in the U.S., the title would probably have translated to Duped Till the Last. The film condemns the Nazi mindset by concentrating on a particularly odious cover-up. When his son is involved in the accidental killing of a girl, a Gestapo general pulls strings to save the boy from prosecution. The general manages to pin the blame for the killing on a group of Russians, whereupon he gives the men under his command carte blanche to round up and execute as many innocent Russians as they wish. This act of brutality is contrasted with the pangs of guilt suffered by the son and his co-conspirators.
as Corporal Wagner Karl
as Private Lick
as Hauptfeldwebel
as Upper gunner Paulun Thomas
as captain von der Saale
as Angelika, his daughter
as General of the Waffen-SS Lick
as Division commander
as lieutenant
as Kitchen sergeant
as Innkeeper daughter
as SS man
as SS man
as Sergeant in the shooting range
as Major in the shooting range
as Soldier in the telephone exchange
as Voss
as Gas, sergeant
as russian peasant woman
