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Unter den Bruecken (Under the Bridge) was German filmmaker Helmut Kautner's final film under the aegis of the Third Reich. Heavily influenced by such prewar French directors as Vigo and Carne, the film is set amongst the barge workers of the River Havel. Refreshingly free of political propaganda, the story concentrates on a romance between a bargee (Carl Raddatz) and a waterfront lass (Hannelore Schrott). Unter den Bruecken was given its premiere in Stockholm in late 1946, then totally disappeared from view. Rediscovered some 30 years later, the film was hailed by critics as a sensitive depiction of old-world sentimentality at odds with the harshness of modern reality.