Behind These Walls (1959)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Behind these walls |
| Original title | Beyond this place |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jack Cardiff |
| script | Kenneth Taylor |
| production |
Maxwell Setton John R. Sloan |
| music | Douglas Gamley |
| camera | William Cooper |
| cut | Ernest Walter |
| occupation | |
| |
Behind these walls (title in the GDR: Jenseits des Rechts , original title: Beyond this Place ) is a British black and white film by Jack Cardiff from 1959. The screenplay was written by Kenneth Taylor . It is based on the novel “Behind These Walls” by AJ Cronin . The leading roles are cast with Van Johnson and Vera Miles . In Great Britain the film was first seen on the screen on April 28, 1959, in the Federal Republic of Germany on November 18, 1960, and in what was then the GDR on December 2, 1960.
action
Liverpool in World War II . When a girl is murdered during an air strike by the German Wehrmacht , the police arrest the Irish dock worker Patrick Mathry. In the process, the key witness Louise Burt incriminates him so heavily that he is sentenced to death. The death sentence is later commuted to life imprisonment . The convict's wife moves to the United States with her son Paul. When asked about his father, the little one receives the answer that he had to give up his life for the fatherland during the war.
Around 20 years have now passed. In the estate of his mother Paul discovered a document stating what really happened to his father. Since he has remembered him from childhood as a loving and kind person, he does not want to believe that his father is supposed to be a murderer. Because he wanted to find out more about what was happening, he went to Liverpool. But Paul's research turns out to be more difficult than he had imagined; almost everywhere he encounters a wall of silence. This fact reinforces his suspicion that his father was the victim of a miscarriage of justice .
In the city library, Paul looks for newspapers that reported on the trial at the time. In the process he meets the librarian Lena. The two soon became close friends. Paul's research leads him to Prusty, the owner of the small shop on whose upper floor the crime took place. Next up is Paul Swan, the former police officer who was involved in the arrest of his father. This person has since become addicted to alcohol, but Paul feels that the mysterious circumstances of the arrest at the time are a psychological burden on him. After an intensive search Paul even manages to track down the main witness against his father. She, too, has since become hopelessly addicted to alcohol. Paul finds out that Louise Burt has been receiving cash donations for 20 years that buy her silence. With a lot of effort, he succeeds in getting her to speak.
Again and again Paul has to take setbacks; but he doesn't give up. When he felt himself at the end of his tether, he was able to use the press to unmask the real murderer: a respected and benevolent man. Patrick Mathry is then fully rehabilitated, but the long imprisonment has turned the once cheerful man into a person broken in body and soul.
criticism
The lexicon of international film describes the work as "an upscale novel entertainment according to AJ Cronin".
source
Program for the film: Illustrierte Film-Bühne , Vereinigte Verlagsgesellschaft Franke & Co., Munich, number 5521
Web links
- Behind these walls in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Four pictures from the film at Cinema.de
- A description of the film in “Der Film Noir” with a review
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lexicon of international films, rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 from 1988, p. 1626