Night Crossing

Night Crossing is a 1982 thriller drama film starring John Hurt, Jane Alexander and Beau Bridges. The film is based on the true story of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families who, on September 16, 1979, escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot-air balloon during the Inner German border-era, when emigration to West Germany was strictly prohibited by the East German government. It was the final theatrical film directed by Delbert Mann and the last in which Kay Walsh appeared before retiring. It was also the final film from Walt Disney Productions to recorded by RCA Photophone, which was first introduced in the Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film Santa's Workshop (1932).