The case of Dr. wagner

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Movie
Original title The case of Dr. wagner
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1954
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Harald Mannl
Carl Balhaus (Co-Director)
script Jan Petersen
production DEFA
music Gottfried Madjera
camera Eugen Klagemann
cut Friedel Welsandt
occupation

The case of Dr. Wagner is a German crime film of the DEFA of Harald Mannl from the year 1954 .

action

Dr. Kurt Wagner works as a scientist in the VEB Astra. For a long time he worked on an invention that would replace copper wire, which was always imported from the west, and thus make the economy in the east more independent of the west. It is a paint that Wagner wants to call Isolon . However, initial tests show that Isolon cannot be used, as it cannot withstand even minor bending processes. Wagner is at a loss. He does not know that his closest colleague Rudolf Neumann secretly manipulated his experiments and that the composition of the isolon does not correspond to Wagner's specifications. Neumann works for clients in West Berlin that are organized by the shady pen. Neumann's helper at Astra is driver Erich Rückert, who was previously active as a staff sergeant in World War II . He hopes for money and a reputation from the West, while Neumann is hoping for a position as chief chemist in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . Both are put off by their clients, however. First of all, the West wants to see results.

Neumann is supposed to prevent Isolon from actually being developed. As he fears that Wagner will send the sample paints for control analysis to the Electrochemical Institute and learn that the composition has been manipulated, he should take Wagner to escape to the West on Feder's instructions. Together with Rückert, he begins to call Wagner anonymously and convince him that he is distrusted at the factory. Allegedly, it is believed that Wagner intentionally manipulated the samples. Wagner doesn't take the calls seriously at first.

His daughter Inge fell in love with her former fellow student Hans Henning at university. He has just finished his studies and is successfully applying as Wagner's assistant at Astra. Inge is thrilled, but Wagner is informed by an anonymous phone call that Henning was only hired to spy on him. He now regards the young man with suspicion and persuades Inge that his love for her is only a lie. Inge turns away from Henning. Further anonymous calls claim that a colleague has been arrested - in reality he is on further training, but when asked, Wagner only learns that he is no longer there. He, too, was about to be arrested, warned by further calls. Neumann manages to secretly take impressions of Wagner's apartment keys. He lets Rückert break into Wagner's apartment and cause chaos there. A little later on the phone, Wagner heard that he shouldn't go home because a house search was taking place. In a panic, Wagner picks up Inge from the university and orders his wife Rita to the train station. The family fled to West Berlin without luggage. There Feder and his men are little pleased. They had assumed that Wagner would go west with the Isolon files . They are not interested in the invention, they just do not want it to be made ready for production in the East. Without these papers, Wagner is worthless to them. They organize him accommodation, but leave him unclear about his future professional career.

In East Berlin, those responsible at the Astra plant initially believe that Wagner himself carried out sabotage because he had been recruited by the West for a long time. However, Henning goes in search of Inge, whom he still loves. He meets her after a while and learns from her about the threatening phone calls. Together they go to the police and initiate an investigation into the Wagner case. Meanwhile, Neumann is instructed by Feder to get a copy of Isolon's papers . Neumann is arrested while hiding the papers in a "rubble mailbox". The other side's agent can also be arrested a little later. However, Neumann's helpers are still missing in the factory. The young worker Karlchen can help. He has been looking for his missing father for a long time. Neumann advised him to place an advertisement with the RIAS . Karlchen was a regular at RIAS, the main office of Feder and his people. One day he is asked to take a box with a bomb on his return to the factory. He should activate the timer when he finishes work. At first Karl refuses, but sees Rückert sitting in the next room with the same package. He immediately declares himself ready to carry out the task and on his return delivers the bomb to the police, who are currently at the factory. He can also report that Rückert is the wanted accomplice to Neumann. After a long interrogation, Rückert admits his actions, Neumann has already confessed. Dr. Wagner has been rehabilitated and will return to the plant where his colleagues are already waiting for him. Wagner realizes that he has done Henning an injustice and now has nothing to object to the young man's relationship with Inge.

production

The case of Dr. Wagner was shot in 1954. The director was Harald Mannl from Munich, who made his first of two films for DEFA here. He was also the only guest director at DEFA who made a decidedly political film. Mannl took on the leading role of Dr. Wagner.

The film was made in the Babelsberg studio with external shots from Berlin and the surrounding area. The costumes were created by Rosemarie Wandelt , the production design comes from Alfred Tolle . Alexander Lösche acted as production manager .

The case of Dr. Wagner had its premiere on October 8, 1954 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin and in the DEFA film theater Kastanienallee. On November 5, 1954, it ran on DFF 1 for the first time on GDR television. An alternate title for the film was Conspiracy .

criticism

Contemporary critics called the script “not ineptly […] laid out”. Nevertheless, the film is average because the actors do not use the qualities of the script.

The film service praised The Case of Dr. Wagner "partially breaks up the rigid black and white pattern and addresses existing fears in the East such as the fear of an unjustified charge."

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralf Schenk: In the middle of the Cold War 1950 to 1960 . In: Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 100.
  2. ^ Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 409
  3. ↑ HUE in: Berliner Zeitung , October 14, 1954th
  4. ↑ The case of Dr. Wagner. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used