I was Jack Mortimer (film)

Movie
Original title	I was Jack Mortimer
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1935
length	85 minutes
Rod
Director	Carl Froelich
script	Thea von Harbou R. A. Stemmle
production	Carl Froelich
music	Harald Boehmelt
camera	Reimar Kuntze
cut	Gustav Lohse
occupation
Adolf Wohlbrück : Ferdinand Sponer Eugen Klöpfer : Pedro Montemayor, concert conductor Sybille Schmitz : Winifred Montemayor, his wife Marieluise Claudius : Marie Polikow, Fred's bride Max Gülstorff : Colonel Polikow, your father Maria Loja : Mrs. Polikow, her mother Hilde Hildebrand : Daisy, Sponer's boss Heinz Salfner : Andrassy, ​​Daisy's friend Jochen Hauer : Doering, taxi driver Georg A. Profé : Jack Mortimer Sophie Eschenbach : Daisy's maid Manfred Meurer : detective inspector Josef Reithofer : Police inspector Hugo Drahower : first detective Peter Lau : second detective Albert von Kersten : third detective Eugen Wallrath : traffic policeman Erich Fiedler : shy man Rudolf Essek : receptionist in the hotel Michael von Newlinski : hotel manager Hans Waschatko : Hotel porter Otto Grüneberg: bellhop Jochen Kuhlmey : Salesman in the uniform shop Gerda Preiss : Housekeeping Gaston Briese : Konzerthaus employee Cläre Glib : Kitchen help in the Polikow house

I was Jack Mortimer is a German crime film from 1935 by Carl Froelich with Adolf Wohlbrück in the leading role. The story is based on the novel of the same name by Alexander Lernet-Holenia .

action

In Budapest in the 1920s, the young Ferdinand Sponer earned his living as a taxi driver. One day a passenger gets into his taxi at the main train station, who is lying in the back of the car, shot dead a little later. Sponer panics, believing that he will be mistaken for the dead man's murderer. Ferdinand does not know that a certain Pedro Montemayor, a famous and pathologically jealous concert conductor, saw the passenger named Jack Mortimer climb into his passenger cell. Montemayor controls and watches his still-wife Winifred every step of the way, and since she has asked her childhood friend Jack for help, should the divorce be sought, the musician believes that his wife must have an affair with the same Mr. Mortimer. When Pedro found out that Winifred was staying in the same hotel as Jack Mortimer, he put one and one together and was furious with jealousy. His wife did not appear at the concert rehearsal as agreed, and so Pedro believes he is certain: Winifred must have a lover!

Of course, Ferdinand Sponer does not know any of this when he suddenly sees the dead Jack Mortimer lying in the back seat. He threatens to panic and drives back and forth through town to think about what he could do best now. Ferdinand had the idea to first drive to his new boss Daisy, whom he had only recently met when a car broke down. But the whole story doesn't believe him, and so Ferdinand thinks about what he could do now. The police will probably not believe a word of him either, and so in his fear he decides to let Mortimer's body disappear without further ado. Then Sponer drives home to his girlfriend Marie. First of all, he takes Mortimer's suitcase for himself. Marie believes her lover is innocent, but also points out that the deceased is expected at the hotel and that the fact that Fred Mortimer's suitcase is with him will quickly make him the main suspect.

Ferdinand realizes that Marie is right and decides to temporarily take on the role of Jack Mortimer and to stay as the latter in the booked hotel. Here the receptionist handed him a letter from Winifred. She issues an ominous warning that Sponer expected not to understand. When Winifred calls him in the room and this conversation is strange in their eyes, Jack's childhood friend decides to visit the alleged Mortimer in his room. Of course, Winifred doesn't recognize the fake Jack Mortimer. She storms out of the room, realizing that something terrible must have happened to Jack. She runs into Pedro, who is seething with jealousy and who expected to catch his wife red-handed. Sponer has no choice but to tell the whole truth: Jack Mortimer is dead! He quickly leaves the room and locks the two married couples behind him. During the following discussion, the conductor confesses to his wife that he shot Jack in a fit of jealousy. A little later he turns himself in to the police. Ferdinand Sponer, plagued by remorse, returns to the hotel to explain his strange behavior to everyone. But the case has long since been resolved.

Production notes

I was Jack Mortimer was shot in Froelich's film studio in Berlin-Tempelhof in June 1935 and premiered on October 17, 1935 in the UFA-Palast in Hamburg. The Berlin premiere took place four days later in the Capitol cinema . On November 21, 1990, the film had its German television premiere in the third program of Bavarian Radio .

Friedrich Pflughaupt took over the production management. The film structures come from Franz Schroedter . Rolf Hansen served as Froelich's assistant production and director . Hans Grimm set the tone.

In 1952 a remake was made under the title Adventure in Vienna .

Reviews

The Austrian Film-Zeitung read: “The novel Alexander Lernet-Holenias 'Ich war Jack Mortimer' provided the captivating material for the… crime film; Carl Froelich made it an exciting film. "

The film service read: "The thriller that describes the old Austrian society and officer life was shown again on television for the first time after the Second World War in 1990."

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "I was Jack Mortimer". In:  Österreichische Film-Zeitung , October 18, 1935, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).
2. ↑ I was Jack Mortimer. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 31, 2019 .  

See also

• List of German feature films premiered in the German Reich during the Nazi era

Web links

• I was Jack Mortimer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• I was Jack Mortimer at filmportal.de