The Gripper (1930)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The gripper |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Eichberg |
| script | Rudolf Katscher , Egon Eis , Curt J. Braun , Max Ehrlich , Géza von Cziffra |
| production | Richard Eichberg for British International Pictures Ltd. (BIP) (London) and Eichberg-Film GmbH (Berlin) |
| music | Hans May |
| camera | Heinrich Gärtner , Bruno Mondi |
| cut | Sam Simmonds |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Greifer is a German crime film from 1930 that was directed by Richard Eichberg .
action
Scotland Yard's Sergeant Harry Cross is investigating a brazen robbery in a London villa in which a major dinner party was robbed of all of their jewelry and valuables. A servant was stabbed to death with a throwing knife. Sergeant Cross and Chief Inspector Warrington immediately suspect Messer-Jack and his gang behind the robbery. For some time now, these have been terrifying the residents of London with their brutal acts.
A £ 5 gaming chip found at the scene leads Cross to the Palermo nightclub. He suspects that the chip came from a game club operated in the back room. He looks around there and makes unpleasant acquaintance with Toothpick Jeff and Whiskey Dick, who feel disturbed by him while playing. When Cross turns his back on the way out, a throwing knife flies past him into the door frame. The knife is similar to the throwing knives used by Messer-Jack. The knife thrower escapes unrecognized through a balcony. Cross then threatens the nightclub owner Snorry to "blow his shop" if he cannot name the knife thrower by the next evening. At the nightclub, Cross meets the singer Dolly Mooreland, who appears both in the nightclub and in a popular revue in the Coliseum theater. He believes he recognizes her as an accomplice of the gang and tries to charm her closer. Cross is right in his assumption. When she later enters her house, Toothpick Jeff and Whiskey Dick are already waiting there and discuss how to proceed with Cross.
Inspector Sinclair, who has returned to London after three years in Canada, is also investigating the case. He was unrecognized in Palermo the night before when Cross met Dolly Mooreland there. At Scotland Yard he met Alice, Cross's wife, who was a little jealous of her husband's professional acquaintances. She asks Sinclair if she could go to the nightclub one day. He replies: “But only with company!” Cross now suspects that another robbery by the gang around Messer-Jack will take place in the evening during the revue performance in the Coliseum theater. He goes to the theater unrecognized and switches off Dolly's singing partner by leaving him tied up in the cloakroom. In his costume, he steps onto the stage with a daring leap. After a short vocal performance and another jump into a box where Jeff and Dick are waiting for the robbery to begin, Cross can thwart the act. After a hunt through the theater, the perpetrators escape to the roof over the rooftops of London.
Later in the evening, the participants meet in the Palermo nightclub. Inspector Sinclair came with Alice Cross. Dolly Moorehead dances with Josef Huber, who was smuggled into Palermo by Inspector Sinclair as an informant. Jeff and Dick are also among the guests. In an adjoining room, Sinclair and Alice meet with Josef Huber, who found out the identity of Messer-Jack during his assignment in Palermo. Before he can reveal his name to them, he passes out after drinking a whiskey. Sinclair and Alice think he is dead and leave the room, the door of which Sinclair locks. When Warrington arrives shortly afterwards, the supposed corpse has disappeared. The employees of the Palermo unanimously claim that Josef Huber left the room and the nightclub, albeit heavily drunk. Dolly is arrested by Sinclair.
Cross believes the arrest is a gross tactical mistake and asks Warrington for a completely free hand to close the case. It is now known that Josef Huber was rescued from the Thames after drowning. No signs of poisoning could be found in him. Dolly is released from custody by Cross. He follows her to lead him to Messer-Jack. Arriving at the closed nightclub in Palermo, she finds Jeff, Dick and Messer-Jack in the basement, whose identity is initially hidden from the viewer. Messer-Jack suspects their release is a trap and Cross is already on their trail. Jeff and Dick then leave the nightclub. A short time later, Cross appears and realizes that the nightclub owner is Snorry Messer-Jack. A bitter struggle ensues in the guest room of empty Palermo. Cross manages to wrestle Jack and Dolly down. The arriving police around Chief Inspector Warrington arrest both of them.
background
The first performance took place on September 10, 1930 in Leipzig in the Königspavillon. In The Daredevil from 1931, Hans Albers again embodies a daring and passionate police officer under the direction and production of Richard Eichberg. Hans Albers played the role of the "gripper" again in the 1958 feature film Der Greifer von Eugen York .
criticism
The critics were enthusiastic after the premiere. The Lichtbild-Bühne wrote :
"With this film, Eichberg delivers exemplary accuracy and technical cleanliness. It can be said that a European director with a similarly elegant and snappy cut has not succeeded until today. "
Post-war criticism was more restrained.
“Crime film filled with numerous revues and hits, produced at the same time as the German version of the English crime thriller" Night Bird ". Completely tailored to Hans Albers as a resounding success. "
Web links
- The gripper in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The gripper at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lichtbild-Bühne , 224, September 15, 1930
- ↑ The gripper. film service , accessed June 28, 2020 .