The trial is adjourned

Movie
Original title	The trial is adjourned
Country of production	GDR
original language	German
Publishing year	1958
length	97 minutes
Rod
Director	Herbert Ballmann
script	Herbert Ballmann
production	DEFA
music	Jean Kurt Forest
camera	Ernst Wilhelm Fiedler Otto Hanisch
cut	Helga Emmrich
occupation
Gisela Uhlen : Marie Jäger Raimund Schelcher : Michael Vierkant Gerhard Bienert : prison director Gerry Wolff : Crossert Friedrich Richter : Dr. Waldegg Waltraut Kramm : Sophie Brigitte Krause : Lotti Peter Kiwitt : Dr. Soaps Alexander Hegarth : Puntschi Marianne Wünscher : Sylvinchen Hans W. Hamacher : The gray one Walter Lendrich : Karl Kuhle Erik S. Klein : Borbeck Johannes Arpe : Sir Bevall Günther Ballier : Doctor Fredy Barten : host of the "Schöppli" Hans Hardt-Hardtloff : taxi driver Paul R. Henker : Minister of the Interior Kurt Mühlhardt : President of the Court Willi Neuenhahn : Protection of the Constitution Kurt Sperling : Porter Steffie Spira : housekeeper Albert Zahn : prison guard Werner Senftleben : Assistant at the court Walter E. Fuß : Justice officer Peter Bosse : X-ray doctor Wilfried Ortmann : Drivers Jean Brahn : newspaper seller

The trial is adjourned is a DEFA feature film by Herbert Ballmann from 1958, based on the novella “Michael's return” by Leonhard Frank .

action

In 1955, the Jewish émigré Michael Vierkant returned from England to his hometown in the Federal Republic of Germany to face the conviction of Dr. Obtaining Korn, who was responsible for the murder of his sister. He comes as a prosecutor against a man who, along with many other racially persecuted people, also denounced his sister and brought him to the gallows. Michael finds his sister's murderer as a well-appointed high judicial officer, living in his victims' house, and he realizes that his arm is not long enough to bring this criminal to the punishment he deserves. He had thought that his appearance should stop the criminal's blood, that the judicial authorities should thank him for the conviction of such a burdened, morally suspect man; instead he faces an unrepentant murderer in a judge's gown, who scolds him as a Jew. In an argument between the two, Korn is shot in self-defense by Michael with Korn's pistol. Since Korn has activated an emergency call line beforehand, the police are immediately at the scene. On the run, Vierkant is hidden by the artist Maria Jäger, who lives a few houses away in the garage of her house, which was otherwise completely destroyed in the war.

When the police arrested him, he was charged with willful murder. The criminal police are taking the case out of the hands of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, represented by an old Nazi, who constructs an act of political revenge on behalf of communists. Maria discovers in Michael the person she has always been looking for, although she did not recognize him as a former neighbor. To help him, she makes her lawyer available and contacts the director of the prison. He has a guilty conscience because of his participation in the time of National Socialism and allows himself to be persuaded to help. It is foreseeable that the trial against Vierkant will take place behind closed doors and that the real event will therefore not be known. With the support of the journalist Crossert, a visit to an X-ray doctor is used to help Vierkants escape. Maria and Michael spend one night in the hiding place on the boat Crosserts and go the next day to a press conference organized by the latter. Here Michael has the opportunity to find out more about the shooting of Dr. To explain Korns. As a result, the heavy, fabricated charge against Vierkant collapsed and he faces the police again. The process is postponed.

production

The trial is adjourned was shot in black and white and premiered on September 25, 1958 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . It was first broadcast on the DFF on November 22, 1958.

criticism

In the Neue Zeit, Manfred Merz thinks that the film often indulges in dream visions without justification. In the Berliner Zeitung , "_ob" writes that it is the second film after "Lotterieschweden" that has not been able to satisfy for almost the same reasons. Both times the material already contained the half measures. The question remains whether DEFA should not choose clearer, more understandable substances from the outset in order to limit such deficiencies. The Lexicon of International Films wrote that artistic weaknesses and psychological improbabilities hinder the political objectives of DEFA production.

literature

• F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 464-465 .

Web links

• The trial was postponed in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The process is postponed at filmportal.de
• The process is postponed at the DEFA Foundation

References and comments

1. ↑ The name "Michael Vierkant" also appears as a narrator in Leonhard Frank's autobiography Links where the heart is and alludes to Frank's activity in a locksmith 's workshop in Würzburg from 1896 onwards.
2. ^ New Times from October 3, 1958
3. ^ Berliner Zeitung of October 1, 1958
4. ↑ The trial is postponed. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .