Stranding

Summary

Film noir about the hunt for a suitcase full of money, hidden in a ship that has run aground.

In Rotterdam a international gang of swindlers are buying a load of false diamonds. Payment will be in dollars and a big suitcase full of banknotes is put on board of a ship bound for Hamburg. The wife of one of the gang members travels to Hamburg as well to keep an eye on things. Near the island of Terschelling the ship runs aground and the gang, the insurer and the ship’s owner all struggle to get to the ship first. Meanwhile, the gang member’s wife is trying to get the suitcase to safety but the ship disappears into the waves, taking the money with it.

Director Louis van Gasteren used documentary footage of the Swedish passenger carrying freighter ‘Ecuador’ that ran aground at Terschelling on February 29, 1956. Attempts to free the vessel failed and it broke in two and sank.