Black Gravel

The film is set in postwar Germany. There is a small village called Sohnen. An American air base is being built beside it. The base and the soldiers keep the local economy going. But the villagers have mixed feelings about it. The gravel brought in for road building is another source of money. The trucker Robert Neidhardt is part of a ring diverting that gravel. Then his old flame Inge arrives in town. Inge has her new husband with her, an American officer. One night they crash while fleeing a police raid. The truck runs over a young couple and both are killed. Inge hurries away from the scene. Instead of going to the police, Robert buries the bodies. Helmut Wildt and Ingmar Zeisberg take the leads in Helmut Käutner’s German film of 1961.