No evidence of murder

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title No evidence of murder
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1979
length 96 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Konrad Petzold
script Konrad Petzold
production DEFA , KAG "Johannisthal"
music Karl-Ernst Sasse
camera Herbert Kroiss
cut Thea Richter
occupation

A German detective film by DEFA by Konrad Petzold from 1979 is based on motifs from the novel The Man Who Climbs Over Hills by Rudolf Bartsch .

action

Mr. Zinn wants to pick up his wife Steffi from the hairdresser, but misses her. At home, the couple has such a loud argument that the neighbor's daughter bangs on the wall in exasperation. Mr. Zinn goes to the pub opposite the host Zumseil, who also offers him a bed for the night. The next day, Zinn does not find his wife in the apartment. He collapses. About a week later, Steffi Zinn's unclothed body was found in a lake. Captain Lohm is entrusted with the clarification of the case.

Everything points to suicide . Steffi Zinn drowned, there are no signs of violence. Only the broken fingernails and a cotton thread on a fingernail, which could have come from a bandage, make the investigators suspicious. However, the research is stalling. Zinn found his wife as a refugee child in Königsberg and brought her to Berlin to live with his grandmother. When she died, Zinn married the young woman. Neither of them have any friends or relatives, as Zinn's profession - he bred rats for research - seems repulsive to people. Zinn also insists that Steffi did not have an affair. The corpse is released for burial.

At the funeral, Lohm sees a strange man in the distance, who is fleeing from the approaching captain. In turn, Zinn finds a letter from a certain Lorras in his apartment, whom he visits. It becomes clear that they both know each other from before. Tin is really called Dr. Leibchen and was entrusted with inhuman experiments in the Dachau concentration camp during the Second World War . Lorras was his employee. The experiences of the years have broken Lorras, he is terrified of water and believes that he has a part in every murder that happens. Some time ago he had pointed out her husband's machinations to Steffi, but Zinn had always denied this to her.

A little later, Lorras is found dead. He was poisoned with hydrogen cyanide. In the case of the dead, Lohm finds the admission that Lorras killed Steffi Zinn. The previously missing clothing of the dead can also be found in Lorras' cellar. The case seems to have been solved, but Lohm lacks the motive. The fact that Zinn did not know Lorras is exposed as a false statement by the landlord Zumseil. Lorras was in his pub when he spoke to Steffi Zinn and let Zinn say hello through her. He also left the name “Dr. Camisole "fall. In Lorras' apartment there are field post letters in which Lorras complains, among other things, of his cold-hearted and inhumane superior. Lohm also finds Zinn's file that documents his machinations during the war. Zinn is arrested for his war crimes.

Lohm still assumes that Zinn instigated Lorras to murder Steffi. Only a medical report clarifies that Lorras could never have committed a drowning murder because of his panic fear of water. Zinn's colleague Ms. Zoll gives the final clue. Zinn had to bandage his arm the day before the marriage quarrel because of a rat bite. The statement by the neighbor's daughter and her friend that in the said argument, two male voices could be heard in addition to Steffi Zinn - the arguing and another who defended the argument because of the indignant knock on the wall - makes it clear to Lohm that Zinn has the argument The tape ran and Steffi was already dead at the time. When he convicts Zinn of the murder of his wife, Zinn is surprised, because he will receive the maximum sentence for his other crimes anyway.

production

No evidence for murder was filmed in Berlin . The film premiered on April 19, 1979 in the Berlin cosmos .

criticism

The contemporary criticism found that, in contrast to the book on which it was based, the film was neither a criminalist portrait nor “[tell] a criminal case with a political background. This inconsistency is likely to be the decisive cause of the failure, because the material certainly has the prerequisites for a good, committed criminal case. "

The lexicon of international films called Für Mord No Evidence a “crime film that tries to differentiate within the cliché, but which unfolds its political explosiveness inadequately. Still decent, exciting entertainment. "

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Dieter Tok: Missed opportunities . In: Film und Fernsehen , No. 5, 1979, pp. 11-12.
  2. ↑ No evidence of murder. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 2, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used