Man in the shade
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Man in the shade |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1961 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Arthur Maria Rabenalt |
| script | Wolfgang crowd |
| production | Alfred Lehr for Austrian Film GmbH (ÖFA) |
| music | Friedrich Gulda |
| camera | Elio Carniel |
| cut | Hermione Diethelm |
| occupation | |
| |
Mann im Schatten is an Austrian crime film from 1961 that was directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt . As in his work for the popular Stahlnetz series, the screenplay was written by Wolfgang Menge , based on a true criminal case. The world premiere took place on August 25, 1961 in Vienna .
action
Vienna in April 1961. The wealthy knitwear manufacturer Miriam Capell is found murdered in her bathtub, which is filled with constantly running water. The day before, after a business meeting in her apartment, she had not returned to her office as originally advised. The meeting was supposed to be with a mysterious Dr. Melchers, who wanted to provide her urgently needed, modern knitting machines without the usual delivery period of several years. After she did not show up at her company the next day either, her former lover Franz Villinger, who also works as an employee in her company, filed a notice of absence with the police. Together with a police officer, he found the dead woman that same evening.
Both Franz Villinger, who fell in love with Miriam's niece Barbara Jäger, who recently started living with her aunt, and Miriam Capell's mysterious guest are now targeted by the investigators in the security office led by police advisor Dr. Radosh. He receives support from Kriminalrat Born from Düsseldorf, who traveled to Vienna at short notice. There a similar crime was committed against a wealthy businesswoman who was also found in her bathtub. The investigators can trace the first lead to the undetectable Dr. Record Melchers. Josef Kaschubek, the brother of an employee from the company of the murdered people and who often travels for work, claims that a Dr. To have met Melchers in the dining car of a train to Vienna. Other people are also checked by the police. For example Professor Höfner, who teaches at the Vienna Fashion School and receives orders from the knitwear factory through the school. He is also in a relationship with the Directrice Vera Valentin.
A sales representative named Melchers, who was also in Düsseldorf at the time of the crime, is arrested. But the witness Josef Kaschubek clearly rules out in a comparison that this is the acquaintance from the train. Investigators continue to worry about the exact time of the crime, as the running water makes it much more difficult to find out. First of all, they assume that the murder took place on the day they were found and check the suspects' alibis accordingly . Meanwhile, Barbara Jäger makes an appointment with Franz Villinger so that he can accompany her to the apartment of the dead. She wants to get a much-needed book. When Villinger does not appear, she goes into the apartment alone. There she surprises an intruder who immediately stabs her. Barbara is hospitalized injured.
When visiting a restaurant, Dr. Radosch a decisive thought after reading the menu. Miriam Capell ate her last meal, spinach, not the day she was found, but the day before, the day she disappeared. Franz Villinger thus has no alibi for the time of the crime. He is taken into custody. He is also suspected of stabbing Barbara in the apartment after failing to provide an explanation for his no-show. Dr. Radosch is not yet satisfied with Villinger's arrest. A non-wound alarm clock and a visit to the Central Telecommunications Office lead him to the real culprit. His chess partner and pianist Hofleitner is hurriedly brought in for a confrontation, since the description of Dr. Melchers also takes care of him. But again the witness Josef Kaschubek states that he does not include Dr. Melchers can be recognized from the train.
Dr. Radosch confronts Kaschubek with the fact that he is the only one to whom Dr. Melchers wants to have seen. When he then continued to deny that he was involved in the crime and demanded evidence, he showed him the handwritten original of a telegram to the murdered woman in which Dr. Melchers suggests the last business meeting on the day of the incident. It clearly bears Kashubek's signature, as a comparison with some of Kashubek's official papers shows. Josef Kaschubek is arrested. When Hofleitner complains that he has to hurry, otherwise he would be late for his performance and he would be killed, advises Dr. Radosch: "Say you just killed someone!"
background
The film was originally supposed to be made as a television production. The script by Wolfgang Menge took the so-called "Bathtub Murder", which caused a sensation in Vienna in the 1940s, as a template.
Herbert Fux appears in Mann im Schatten for the first time as a (supposed) film villain. Ossy Kolmann has his first film appearance, he plays the detective Stanzl.
The film structures are made by Fritz Mögle and Heinz Ockermüller .
criticism
Der Spiegel describes the film in its contemporary review:
"Veteran director Arthur Maria Rabenalt [...] has created a kind of Viennese homeland thriller based on a comfortably tinkered book by Wolfgang Menge, in which a police adviser investigates the murder of a knitwear producer in an allegedly characteristic Austrian way: pseudo-phlegmatic and playfully cheerful. This way of life is effortlessly demonstrated by a non-standard actor example: the extensive, amiable walrus cabaret artist Helmut Qualtinger. "
The Filmarchiv Austria comments on Helmut Qualtinger's portrayal:
"Chief Police Officer Dr. Radosch determines [...] in his own way, which from today's perspective brings to mind Colombo as well as Kottan. "
The viewer of the Cologne Conference highlights the script by Wolfgang Menge:
"Menges restrained yet exciting style combines with specifically Viennese charm to create an ambiguous mélange: superficially harmless and nice, behind it precise and revealing."
Web links
- Man in the Shadows in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Man in the shadow at filmportal.de
- Man in the Shadow Meeting by curator Florian Widegger on filmarchiv.at (video)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Mann im Schatten at the Cologne Conference , accessed on archiv.filmfestival.cologne on August 1, 2020
- ↑ Mann im Schatten from film.at, accessed on October 24, 2012
- ^ Film - New in Germany . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1961, pp. 63 ( online ).
- ↑ Man in the Shadow ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . om at filmarchiv.at, accessed on October 24, 2012
