The big case
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The big case |
| Country of production | German Empire |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1949 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Anton |
| script | Otto Bernhard Wendler |
| production | Karl Anton Robert Wuellner (production group) |
| music | Harald Boehmelt |
| camera | Eduard Hoesch |
| cut | Johanna Meisel |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Große Fall is an adventure and crime film by Karl Anton with Gustav Fröhlich and Lotte Koch in the leading roles. It was made in the early winter of 1944/45 . The story is based on motifs from the novel “Hell ahoi!” (1939) by Georg Mühlen-Schulte .
action
Fred Merkl and his friend and buddy Bert Hube run, not very successfully, a private detective agency called Cerberus. Finally one day they get a seemingly worthwhile order: Fred and Bert are to transport three valuable gemstones safely by plane from Europe to South America on behalf of a Mr. van Velden. The job gives the impression that it is a big case. Since there seem to be crooks everywhere who seem to be after the clunkers, Fred disguises himself as a “Fräulein Sörgel”, an elderly maid, in order to appear inconspicuous to other passengers. Van Velden's daughter Gisa appears as his companion. As soon as they are on board, “Fräulein Sörgel” and “her” companion Gisa have to realize that there are all kinds of light-shy rabble on board. Promptly the thieves strike and Fred's gems are stolen. His companion Bert goes on a search and finds the clunkers in a statue with a secret compartment in the hold.
Until they land in South America, the diamonds will end up in strangers' hands one or the other time. When they arrive at the destination airport, the crooks but also the ominous “Miss Sörgel” and his friend Bert are taken into custody by the local police. Fred and Bert are perplexed when they also meet Mr. van Velden there. Neither of them noticed that he was also on board. To make matters worse, he had the real gems with him the whole time, while Fred and Bert had to watch out for forgeries, for duplicates, just to distract the criminals from van Velden. Fred and Gisa have grown closer during the flight and enjoy each other. Since Fred and Bert have done their job perfectly, van Velden has nothing to object to a marriage between his daughter Gisa and Fred Merkl.
Production notes
The big case began on November 25, 1944 in the Radlitz studio in Prague, shooting ended in January 1945. Since the film was no longer released before the end of the war, it first appeared as a defector on December 30, 1949 in the Soviet sector of Berlin. The West German premiere took place on July 23, 1953 in Hamburg. Later title alternatives were A great case and your great case .
For most of the filmmakers involved in this film, The Great Fall was the last Reich German production. Production group leaders Karl Anton and Robert Wuellner were also production managers , and Wuellner also took over production management. Gottlieb Hesch created the film structures, Margit zur Nieden created the costumes.
Ingeborg von Kusserow sings the two songs in this film:
- I will always be with you
- My friend Hans-look-in-the-air
criticism
"... rather silly criminalistic confusion and disguise game."
Web links
- The big event in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The big case at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Big Case in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on January 11, 2019