The house on the hill
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The house on the hill |
| Original title | The house on the hill, Le hibou chasse la nuit |
| Country of production |
Austria France |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Werner Klingler |
| script |
Jules Charpentier , Norbert Kunze |
| production | Walter Hoessig |
| music |
Audrey Barsan , Carl de Groof |
| camera | Walter Partsch |
| occupation | |
| |
The House on the Hill is a detective film from 1964. It was supposed to be the beginning of a series about the character of Detective Superintendent Allan Wilton , but ultimately only the first film was made. Allan Wilton was the hero of several novel series and books that have been published with great success in Austria since 1947 and are still in circulation today.
production
The Austrian production company Hoela und Hoela acquired the rights to film these novels in 1963. They were to be realized together with Disci-France as co-productions and simultaneously appear in German, French, English, Italian and Spanish. The first two productions were announced on August 21, 1963: The House on the Hill was to be directed by Helmuth Ashley , with Helmut Schmid as Allan Wilton and Ann Smyrner , Ingrid van Bergen , Charles Regnier and Paul Esser . The film should be released in January 1964. The sequel The Riddle of Black Locks , also directed by Helmuth Ashley, was announced for May of the same year .
However, the realization of the film The House on the Hill ran into difficulties. The co-production with France came about, but the planned line-up could not be brought together. The main role was finally taken over by Ron Randell , a native of Australia who had made a career in Hollywood . He came to German-language film through his wife Laya Raki , who starred in some B-thrillers of the time such as Die Nylonschlinge and also got a role in Das Haus auf dem Hügel . For the director drew Werner Klingler responsible, who has The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1962) had re-staged. The film premiered on October 2, 1964. The sequel announced at the end of the film was never realized.
action
Like many of the novels in the series The Detective Novel of the Week - Allan Wilson's crime reports , The House on the Hill in Marseille also plays . A gang of jewel robbers and bank robbers make the city unsafe. The key figure seems to be the art and antiques dealer Roger Marton ( Pinkas Braun ). In spite of a few wrong tracks that she leads in Marseilles demimonde , Allan Wilton and the Marseille police set on his trail, but cannot prove anything for the time being. Since he cannot part with the jewels in his greed, Marton finally convicts himself.
background
Most of the notebooks in Allan Wilson's crime reports were written under the pseudonym Jules Charpentier, including The House on the Hill . The title page of the editions suggests that the novels originated from the diary of Detective Superintendent Allan Wilton . However, behind the collective pseudonym Charpentier there are various authors of trivial literature . The author of Das Haus auf dem Hügel is probably Gisi Gruber , who previously published books such as An all too black sheep (1941) or Four hours I need you (1948) and later for various publishers, including Hiro-Verlag, in which the Allan Wilton crime novels appeared and books such as Margit Libenyi wrote. In 1954 her novel The Seven Dresses of Katrin was filmed under the direction of Hans Deppe .
The house on the hill was one of the first films that brought a series hero from the German-language thrifty thrillers to the screen in the 1960s. This was followed by Jerry Cotton ( shots from the violin case , 1965) and Commissioner X ( Kommissar X - hunting Unknown , 1965). Despite this pioneering role, the film was not granted commercial success. This could also have been due to the marketing of the distributor Nora, which this year was responsible for the distribution of films such as The Great Freestyle (with Paul Hörbiger and Peter Kraus ), That I learned from Papa (with Willy and Thomas Fritsch ) and Happy-End am Wörthersee (also with Paul Hörbiger and Peter Kraus) and apparently could not do much with the new genre.
Ron Randell had previously played in American television series such as Perry Mason and Espionage , which were not yet widespread in German-speaking countries. However , he was featured as the headliner on the movie poster, which revealed little about what the house on the hill was about . He was shown twice in color on the poster, while the other actors could only be seen dimly in the background. It has not been ascertained whether the figure of Commissioner Allan Wilton was as well known in Germany as it was in Austria. In any case, his name was not used in the film title, as in the following Jerry Cotton and Commissioner X films, or shown in large letters on the posters. The movie poster had the note at the top: Ron Randell as Commissioner Allan Wilton .
criticism
"Conventionally, but relatively excitingly designed crime film that strives for atmospheric density, but is not immune to the clichés of the genre."
literature
- Heinz J. Galle Folk books and notebooks. Volume 1: The post-1945 boom - from Billy Jenkins to Perry Rhodan. Dieter von Reeken, 2005 ISBN 3-83343232-2
Web links
- The house on the hill in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Still photos from the film at Cinema
- The house on the hill at filmsdefrance.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ The house on the hill. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .