The Dartmoor public house
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Dartmoor public house |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rudolf Zehetgruber |
| script |
Albert Tanner , Lukas Michael, Rudolf Zehetgruber |
| production | Arca-Winston Films Corporation GmbH & Co. KG ( Gero Wecker ) |
| music | Peter Thomas |
| camera | Werner M. Lenz |
| cut | Wolfgang Wehrum |
| occupation | |
| |
Das Wirtshaus von Dartmoor is a German crime film that was shot in West Berlin from December 1963 to January 1964 under the direction of Rudolf Zehetgruber . The film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Victor Gunn (original title: The Painted Dog ) was produced by Gero Wecker , who wanted to share in the success of the Edgar Wallace films . The nationwide cinema release of the black and white film was on April 10, 1964.
action
In the tavern "Dartmoor Inn" which is set in a bleak moorland, ex-prisoners run as well as officials of the far located and infamous penitentiary Dartmoor . Twelve felons have managed to escape from prison within three years. Except for postcards from abroad, there is no sign of life from the fugitives. Scotland Yard's Inspector Cromwell believes a lawyer, Basil Gray, is involved. All of the convicts who had fled were members of his association "Schmetterling".
During his first investigation, Cromwell meets an alleged photographer who has billeted himself under the name Anthony Smith at the "Dartmoor Inn". The Australian Smith is doing his own research there and overhears a conversation between the inspector and the inn owner Mr. Simmons, a former jailer. Smith entrusts the waitress Evelyn Webster to be looking for a certain Rayburn, the last of the twelve disappeared. Evelyn gives him the tip to inquire at lawyer Basil Gray in London .
Gray's secretary Joyce Trevor realizes that Smith is actually Rayburn's former colleague, Anthony Nash. He tells Joyce that Rayburn committed murder in Australia and wanted to raise suspicions about him. Both Nash and Inspector Cromwell suspect that Rayburn and the other missing persons are no longer among the living. A short time later, a paper dealer who is connected to the obviously forged postcards, and a liaison man Gray are murdered in Plymouth .
To get the stalled investigation going again, Nash fakes a robbery and ends up in Dartmoor prison himself. Like the twelve who fled, he donated a considerable sum of money to attorney Gray. And like his predecessors, a short time later he received precise instructions on how to escape from a note hidden in a book. Meanwhile, mysterious things are happening at the Dartmoor Inn. The waitress Evelyn Webster telephones there with attorney Gray, who is arrested shortly after the conversation in his London office. When Mrs. Simmons, the wife of the inn owner, follows Evelyn into a dark charcoal burner hut on the moor, she is murdered by Gray's former driver Billy. As Cromwell now learns from the lawyer, Nash's escape from the prison is planned that evening. At the “Dartmoor Inn”, where Joyce Trevor has just rented a room, he is supposed to be expected by a liaison man.
In fact, Nash manages to escape from the closely guarded penal complex. The escape leads Nash to the inn via a secret path through the moor. There he lands right in front of the gun barrel of the man who has already lost twelve lives: Mr. Simmons. As a prison guard, he was once seriously injured by a fleeing convict and took revenge on the prisoner through the murders. The “Butterfly” association was not involved in the murders. Gray had merely organized the escape. Anthony Nash, who exposes Simmons as a murderer, is rescued at the last moment by Inspector Cromwell.
History of origin
prehistory
In the course of the Edgar Wallace films by Rialto Film , which have been marketed by Constantin Filmverleih since 1959 , numerous other crime films based on a similar pattern were made in the 1960s. The film producer Gero Wecker , who has been successful since the 1950s, had already produced a successful film of the genre at the beginning of 1963 with Die Weiße Spinne (director: Harald Reinl ) based on a novel by Louis Weinert-Wilton . Spurred on by further successes of the previous year, they were still looking for suitable crime fiction materials, and eventually the English writer Victor Gunn (actually Edwy Searles Brooks ; 1889-1965) became aware of.
Pre-production and script
The experienced screenwriter Egon Eis wrote a screenplay under the pseudonym Albert Tanner based on the novel Das Wirtshaus von Dartmoor (original title: The Painted Dog ), first published in 1955 and published in German by Goldmann Verlag in 1957 . The director, who came from Vienna, Rudolf Zehetgruber , directed the films The Black Cobra and The Nylon Loop (both 1963) and was therefore also familiar with the genre. Obviously, the film production was more interested in copying the style of the Edgar Wallace films than realizing a true-to-original novel adaptation. The role of Inspector Cromwell turned out to be much smaller than in the original book. Sergeant Johnny Lister, one of the main characters in Gunn's crime novels, was initially deleted from the film entirely. At the very end he somehow still appears in a supporting role in the film, though as an unnamed "Nameless" sergeant and assistant to Inspector Cromwell, played by Wolfgang Völz. In addition, almost without exception, actors were hired who were already familiar to the audience from Edgar Wallace films or similar films.
Filming
The shooting took place from December 1963 to January 1964 in West Berlin. The studio recordings were made in the Arca film studio in Berlin-Pichelsberg . For the Design the film architects Ernst H. Albrecht and Max Vorwerg responsible. Werner M. Lenz also acted as cameraman and production manager .
Film music
The soundtrack comes from Peter Thomas . As the main theme he used the melody of the English folk song Greensleeves .
reception
publication
The FSK released the film on April 3, 1964 for people aged 16 and over. On April 10th, according to the movie poster, the “first Victor Gunn crime thriller” started in cinemas. Like the thrillers Waiting Room to the Hereafter by James Hadley Chase and The Crypt with the Riddle Lock by Edgar Wallace , which were launched in the same month, Das Wirtshaus von Dartmoor was unable to meet Constantin-Film's high business expectations. This means that the film was not followed by another Victor Gunn adaptation.
On March 27, 1972, The Dartmoor Pub was first televised on the First Program . In the 1980s it was released in a version shortened by ten minutes as a VHS purchase video. In 2012 a complete version except for the rental fanfare was released on DVD.
Reviews
"With constantly changing moments of tension and surprise, experienced interpreters of the calibrated crime characters and a properly mixed atmosphere [...]"
"Confused crime film, developed according to the patterns of relevant (Edgar Wallace) models, garnished with a lot of horror in swamp and fog."
"As exciting as a thriller by Francis Durbridge or Edgar Wallace."
literature
- Victor Gunn : The Dartmoor Tavern . Goldmann Verlag , Munich 1989, ISBN 3-442-05097-9 .
Web links
- The inn of Dartmoor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The pub of Dartmoor at filmportal.de
- The Dartmoor public house. ( Memento from October 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) at deutscher-tonfilm.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ 88 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 84 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2407 meters
- ↑ Joachim Kramp: Hello! This is Edgar Wallace speaking. The history of the crime film series from 1959 to 1972. Third, revised and expanded edition . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-645-3 , p. 459-462 .
- ↑ The Dartmoor Public House . Pidax film media Ltd. EAN : 4260158192354.
- ↑ The Dartmoor Public House. (No longer available online.) In: old.filmarchiv.at. Paimann's film lists , No. 2871_2, July 1, 1964, archived from the original on October 12, 2016 ; accessed on October 12, 2016 . 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.
- ↑ The Dartmoor Public House. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 12, 2016 .
