Das Lied der Wüste (1939)

The story takes place in a North African mandate territory. Here, in the barren wasteland of “Rocky Camp,” a copper mine is being built under the direction of Swedish engineer Nic Brenten. Brenten’s work is driven by idealistic and humanitarian aims, and he wants to improve the living conditions of the local people. Others with an interest in the venture, above all the unscrupulous Englishman Sir Collins, are primarily after profit. Alongside the greedy profiteer, saboteurs apparently hired by Collins are at work, intent on preventing Brenten’s success. The local police cannot provide adequate security, so the commissioner requests military support to protect the facilities and personnel. It arrives in the form of an English cavalry regiment led by Captain Frank Stanney, an old friend of Brenten’s. Meanwhile, Sir Collins tries to bribe Brenten and win him over. Brenten resists the temptation, even though he has long had his eye on Collins’s stepdaughter, Grace. When Nic and Frank celebrate their old friendship over drinks and roll dice to decide which of them may court Grace—having once promised that no woman would ever come between them—Stanney wins. Grace, however, has no interest in him; she is interested in Nic, and the Swede breaks his promise to his friend. The situation soon grows more tense. Sir Collins, determined to get his hands on the copper mine, tries to make Nic give in and resorts to armed force. Grace knows nothing of her stepfather’s schemes. He stirs up unrest and has a Bedouin tribe attacked. Frank Stanney receives strict orders “from above” not to intervene, since the events are said to have no connection with “Rocky Camp.” Nic wants to defend himself against the attacks and organizes a counter-defense with the Bedouins as a measure of self-protection. The crisis escalates when a state of emergency is declared across the copper-mine site, and English soldiers abruptly arrest Nic to stop him from carrying out his defensive measures. His friend Frank is eventually ordered to shoot Nic at once. Grace is alarmed and worried for the man she loves. She tries to buy time, believing that Bedouin horsemen will arrive to relieve them in about an hour. She sings song after song in front of the English soldiers, thereby buying time. When Nic is finally led away to be executed, she collapses. At the last moment, the Bedouins storm the camp to free Nic. A shootout breaks out, in which Sir Collins is fatally wounded. Nic can now set out toward a golden future at Grace’s side and continue his noble work undisturbed.