Sacred Waters (1960)

Interesting facts

Sacred Waters is a 1960 Swiss drama film directed by Alfred Weidenmann and starring Hansjörg Felmy, Cordula Trantow and Hanns Lothar. It was based on a novel by Jakob Christoph Heer, which had previously been made into a film in 1932.

Production

The film largely follows the 1898 novel of the same name, but deviates significantly from it at the end. The rights to it were initially acquired by film producer Erwin C. Dietrich. After Dietrich had only limited success with his production The King of Bernina, also based on a Heer novel, he sold the option for Sacred Waters to his competitor Henrik Kaestlin of the Zurich-based Cine Custodia.

Rolf Zehetbauer, Max Röthlisberger, and Heinrich Weidemann were responsible for the sets. Mountain guide Alfons Supersaxo provided technical advice for the mountain scenes. The film features the song "Les Rogations", sung by La Chanson du Rhône. and composed by Jean Daetwyler.

Swiss producer Kaestlin was able to secure five German Federal Film Award winners for the film: Alfred Weidenmann, Herbert Reinecker, Hans-Martin Majewski, Hanns Lothar, and Cordula Trantow. The screenplay adaptation was done by Herbert Reinecker. He later became known for being a writer for the TV series Der Kommissar and Derrick.

The film was shot in Evolène and Saas-Fee in the Canton of Valais with the support of the authorities,

The film premiered simultaneously in the Federal Republic of Germany and in Switzerland on December 23, 1960. In the US, the film was released in 1962 under the title Sacred Waters. In Belgium, it was released under the French title De l'eau au prix de leur sang. In France, it was released under the titles Les eaux saintes and Les eaux saintes du valais.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.