Alibi (1955)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | alibi |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Weidenmann |
| script | Herbert Reinecker |
| production | Fama FAMainz -Film GmbH, Hamburg |
| music | Hans-Martin Majewski |
| camera | Helmuth Ashley |
| cut | Carl Otto Bartning |
| occupation | |
| |
Alibi is a German crime film by director Alfred Weidenmann . The black and white film based on a script by Herbert Reinecker was produced by Friedrich A. Mainz and shot in Hamburg and West Berlin in autumn 1955 . In Austria the film was also shown under the distribution title No Alibi . The main roles are cast with OE Hasse , Martin Held , Hardy Krüger and Eva-Ingeborg Scholz .
content
As chief reporter for EXPRESS, Peter Hansen reports on the hot spots that move the world. He is currently developing a series on the sensational American nuclear weapons tests . Local reporter Roland is also very excited. The wife of the famous scientist Dr. Overbeck was murdered. Roland witnessed the arrest of the alleged perpetrator himself. But editor-in-chief Hansen, who has little interest in local events, only gives him ten lines. A short time later, Hansen is on the road again, looking for new sensations.
When Hansen returned to Hamburg after months, he found a court summons in his mail as a jury member in the Overbeck murder trial. Harald Meinhardt is accused. The young man was the wealthy woman's lover. As a casual worker and orphaned refugee , he probably believed that he had found the love of his life in Frau Overbeck. Her husband, the scientist Dr. Overbeck, found out about the relationship. After an argument with Meinhardt and a final conversation between the lovers, Ms. Overbeck was found murdered. The circumstantial evidence against Meinhardt seems unequivocal. Although he denies the fact, he is to ten years in prison convicted.
Hansen, who is now questioning his work as a sensational reporter, was the only juror to vote against the verdict. He believes in Meinhardt's innocence and even begins to conduct his own investigations. When he openly advocates a retrial and reports about it, he comes into conflict with his publisher. But when Hansen finds more evidence, he can start a press campaign on EXPRESS that leads to the discovery of the real killer: Dr. Overbeck. The gates of the penitentiary open for Harald Meinhardt.
History of origin
prehistory
The director Alfred Weidenmann realized the successful film Canaris in 1954 in collaboration with the producer Friedrich A. Mainz and the screenwriter Herbert Reinecker . After this spy film set in World War II , Weidenmann and Reinecker had the idea of realizing a film that addresses current issues of the time. The screenplay was once again favored by Friedrich A. Mainz, who finally planned a crime film with first-class cast down to small supporting roles that could compete with international productions.
production
Both in the choice of the leading actors and in the technical staff, they fell back on a team with which the director had already worked successfully. In addition to OE Hasse and Martin Held from Canaris , this was in particular Hardy Krüger , who was discovered in 1943 for Weidenmann's Nazi film Junge Adler and has since worked in several of the director's films.
The shooting took place in the autumn of 1955 in Hamburg and West Berlin . The studio recordings were made in the Ufa film studios in Berlin-Tempelhof . For the Design the film architects Rolf Zehetbauer and Albrecht Hennings responsible. Helmuth Ashley was hired as chief cameraman and Carl Otto Bartning as editor . Production manager was Helmut Ungerland .
Even before the film was finished, a ministerial councilor named Sauer became aware of Reinecker's script and saw it as a contempt for the judiciary. The official even asked the then Federal Minister of Justice Fritz Neumayer to block the production credits. The producer Friedrich A. Mainz only found out about the ultimately unsuccessful efforts to stop the production of the film. The corresponding reporting on the incident, including in the magazine Neue Illustrierte , instead created an unwanted advertising effect.
Film music
The film music was composed by Hans-Martin Majewski . An extract from the soundtrack ( theme music / Reeperbahn ride / scene music ) was released on CD in 2003.
reception
publication
The FSK released the film from the age of 16. The premiere took place on December 30, 1955 in the Theater am Aegi in Hanover . The first broadcast on television took place on March 6, 1971 on ZDF . On April 4, 2008 the film was released on DVD by Kinowelt Home Entertainment.
criticism
“[…] The director Weidenmann always manages to avoid templates in the often mapped out sequence of the crime play and instead of the usual let the unexpected occur again and again. [...] Half nerve-tickling colportage - half righteous delicacy: there is nothing perfect, but at least one of the most carefully and imaginatively made entertainment films that are seen by millions every year without making a lasting impression. "
“The second work of the ambitious“ Canaris ”team: screenwriter Herbert Reinecker, director Alfred Weidenmann, leading actor OE Hasse, Martin Held. After the uniformly saturated defense substance, now the reach for a "problem of today": the "deadly indifference towards the people next door", demonstrated by the chief reporter of a sensational newspaper. The idea is dragged off by the script in the second part of the film, the "hot iron" ("Can you condemn on the basis of circumstantial evidence?") Is cooled by careful directing. Weidenmann freed actors from routine polishing, but polished the dramatic material too much for "higher entertainment". "
"Careful design and excellent actors in a very exciting crime film with social commitment."
Awards
- Particularly valuable rating of the FBL
- German Film Award 1956
- Film tape in silver in the category "Above-average full-length feature film"
- The film was recommended by the Evangelical Film Guild as "best film of the month" (January 1956).
media
DVD
- Alibi. Universum Film GmbH . 2008. EAN 4006680041339
Soundtrack
Web links
- Alibi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Alibi at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ 109 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 105 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2979 meters
- ^ Alfred Bauer : German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 485
- ↑ Indra Fehse: No support. Justice discusses Weidenmann film at filmreporter.de
- ↑ Hans-Martin Majewski: German Film Composers, Volume 10 . Bear Family Records . 2003. Order no. BCD 16490 AR
- ↑ Alibi at filmportal.de (DVD)
- ↑ Erika Müller: Heart in the perfect tear. For the premiere of the film "Alibi" . In: The time . No. 1, 1956, p. 11 ( zeit.de ).
- ^ Film: New in Germany . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1956, pp. 39 ( online ).
- ↑ Alibi. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ German Film Awards from 1951 to the present day ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
