Zwei blaue Jungen (1917)

mini|Statsraad Lehmkuhl At the beginning of the film, the Grand Duke of Oldenburg and the board of the school ship association appear. In the spring of 1914, Erich and Hans sign on as cabin boys aboard the sailing training ship Großherzog Friedrich August. In the summer, they take a training voyage with the ship to the Mediterranean. When the First World War breaks out on August 1, 1914, bad weather forces the training ship to sail close to shore off the North African coast. A commander in a French colony lays a trap for the ship, and Eric and Hans are taken prisoner by the French. With the help of Bourger, a German Foreign Legionnaire, the two escape from captivity. As they flee across the desert, they are pursued by other Foreign Legionnaires, but eventually encounter Senussi who are allied with the Ottoman Empire. The Senussi sheikh initially takes them for Englishmen. When he realizes they are Germans, he agrees to lead them into Ottoman territory. A skirmish breaks out with English troops, during which a German airman unexpectedly appears and joins the fight with a machine gun. The English flee, and the aircraft lands. The machine gunner is Kurt Frank, Hans’s brother. Hans and Erich climb aboard and fly to Constantinople, where they land at a German field airstrip and are welcomed by German soldiers and officers. While touring the city, they learn that the training ship has entered the harbor. Hans’s father, now a Hussar officer, is aboard. Father Frank talks with the captain. The film ends here.