Werhmacht Hauptmann Mohler was a Nazi military officer stationed at Geheimhaven.
Biography
In 1936, Captain Mohler was the ranking officer at the Nazi island base Geheimhaven near Crete.[1] After the Ark of the Covenant had been captured on board the Wurrfler, Mohler was contacted via radio by René Belloq who instructed him to set up the Tabernacle for a ceremony to open the Ark. He and Belloq had made a deal whereby Mohler would arrange the Jewish ceremony, in return for Belloq speaking favorably of him once back in Berlin.[2] The captain met Belloq and Colonel Herman Dietrich at the base when they arrived.
Behind the scenes
Mohler was portrayed by the late Tony Vogel in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The character, however, was credited as Tall Captain in both the film's credits and in the film's original script written by Lawrence Kasdan.
In the third draft of Lawrence Kasdan's original script, Mohler's role was more important than his role in the final film. He was going to attend the ceremony of Belloq, but he was going to not die during the opening of the Ark of the Covenant. Instead, after the deaths of Belloq and the other Nazis, Colonel Shliemann (Dietrich in the final film) was to accidentally shoot him as, temporarily blinded by the light of the Ark, mistakes him for Indiana Jones.
He isn't visible in the crowd of Nazis at the Tabernacle in the finished film. Another officer who may or may not be intended to be him but apparently played by a different actor, is seen walking with the procession to the Tabernacle but no other officers except Dietrich are present for the Ark-opening ceremony. In a deleted scene, Mohler is present at the Tabernacle's entrance, but doesn't actually enter with Belloq and the two soldiers carrying the Ark; so his ultimate fate was left unknown.
Mohler (left) with René Emile Belloq outside the Tabernacle in a deleted scene of Raiders.
The Raiders of the Lost Ark novelization implies he does die when the Ark is opened, and the comic book more explicitly shows or at least implies his demise, by having him subdue Jones at the Tabernacle, and thus be present when the Ark is opened.
Appearances
- Raiders of the Lost Ark novel (First appearance)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Raiders of the Lost Ark comic