Murder Trial Dr. Jordan
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Murder Trial Dr. Jordan |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1949 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Erich Engels |
| script |
Erich Engels , Wolf Neumeister |
| production | Comedia film ( Heinz Rühmann , Alf Teichs ) |
| music | Wolfgang Zeller |
| camera | Werner Krien |
| cut | Gertrud Hinz |
| occupation | |
| |
Murder Trial Dr. Jordan (also spelled Murder Trial Dr. Jordan ) is a German crime film that was shot in 1949 under the direction of Erich Engels . The black and white film is based on the true story of the lawyer Carl Hau . The premiere took place on October 28, 1949 in the two cinemas Thalia-Theater and Walhalla-Theater in Wiesbaden .
action
Cologne , November 7, 1912: Dr. Alexander Jordan has a fake beard made for him by a hairdresser and takes the train to Wiesbaden , the home of his mother-in-law, Frau Leborius, and his sister-in-law Leonie Leborius. He spends the time before dark in a park. Shortly after 8 o'clock he called Frau Leborius under a false name to lure her to the post office under a pretext. On the way there, she picks up her daughter Leonie from friends. A shot is fired as the two of them run through the park. Frau Leborius sags to the ground and is dead.
On the basis of several witness statements and pieces of evidence, the public prosecutor's suspicion quickly falls on Dr. Alexander Jordan. The investigator learns that the doctor who works at the Tropical Institute in Batavia is currently in Europe with his wife Constanze and their little daughter Evelyn. Constanze Jordan had already been informed about her mother's fate by her excited sister Leonie when Jordan returned to the hotel in Rotterdam . Shortly after his arrival, he was arrested on suspicion of murder and extradited to Germany. Constanze and Leonie Leborius find out from the family lawyer that Jordan is bankrupt and, among other things , has speculated on his wife's entire dowry . Since Leonie vehemently defends her brother-in-law against the suspicions, Constanze suspects that her husband and sister have more in common than a friendly relationship. Constanze visits her husband in prison and gives him an ampoule of poison. While the imprisoned Dr. While Jordan awaits trial, his wife commits suicide . At the request of the mother, the daughter is placed in the care of a friendly family.
Jordan protests his innocence at the trial. However, he admits that he was in Wiesbaden at the time of the crime to meet Leonie in secret. He tells of a trip to Paris that took place shortly before the murder and that Constanze had to watch as he and Leonie got closer. The jealous Constanze then wrote a telegram with which Frau Leborius was lured to Paris to pick up Leonie. Some time later he went to Wiesbaden to talk to his lover about the future. Jordan claims to have lured his mother-in-law out of the house to be alone with Leonie. When he noticed that Leonie was accompanying her mother to the post office, he turned back to the train station. Jordan doesn't want to have heard the shot. During the hearing of the witnesses, Leonie Leborius confesses to her love affair with Jordan. She does not express any suspicion as to who might have killed her mother.
More witnesses will be heard on the second day of the trial. A cab driver who took a suspect to the train station shortly after the murder does not recognize any resemblance between his passenger and the accused. Two women who met Frau Leborius and her daughter before the act saw a man a few steps behind them who was clearly not the accused. Dr. Lehnhardt, Dr. Jordan's defense attorney hands the court an anonymous letter in which a stranger confesses to the murder. Nevertheless, Dr. Jordan sentenced to death on the fourth day of the trial on the basis of the available evidence . Due to a pardon , the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment . From now on Jordan writes to Leonie again and again, but her aunt Livia secretly intercepts the letters. Dr. Lehnhardt's investigations, which are supposed to prove the innocence of the prisoner, ultimately come to nothing.
After 15 years, on May 5, 1928, Jordan was released in view of his impeccable conduct - on condition that he did not make his story the subject of sensational presentations. There is a warm reunion with his father, who, however, dies after a few days. At the funeral he meets his friend and lawyer Dr. Lehnhardt again. This reports of new knowledge about a suspect. But Jordan's main interest is in seeing Leonie again, who has since passed away. First of all, he meets his daughter Evelyn. When he realizes that she is calling another man her father, he leaves the foster family's house disappointed.
Lehnhardt persuades Jordan to write a series of articles about his history. Because he violated the terms of his early release, a new arrest warrant was issued against him. The lawyer can also inform Jordan that Leonie now lives in a villa in Florence . With a wrong passport, Jordan can get there. But the reunion with the woman he still loves turns into a bitter disappointment. Leonie married her aunt Livia's son years ago and is the mother of one daughter. Jordan makes a confession. He admits to having shot his mother-in-law. He also identifies himself as the author of the telegram to Paris. When Leonie has to leave the room for a moment and return, her former lover is gone. Dr. Alexander Jordan, who now has nothing more to lose, runs to a railway line and dies of his own free will.
History of origin
Background and script
In 1947, Heinz Rühmann and Alf Teichs founded the Comedia-Film production company in the American zone of occupation in post-war Germany . After some notable successes such as the Berlin Ballade and The Secret of the Red Cat , one devoted to the adaptation of the true and still popular story of the lawyer Carl Hau in 1949 . The murder and its consequences, which occurred early 20th century theme, were already the 1925/1926 directed by Lupu Pick incurred silent film Karl Hau - carrier of a human destiny . In 1928 Jakob Wassermann dealt with the circumstances of the crime in his novel The Maurizius case .
Producer Alf Teichs, under whose production management the successful crime film Dr. Crippen on board was created and worked again with the director Erich Engels and the main actor Rudolf Fernau . Together with Wolf Neumeister , Engels also wrote the script in which the locations were relocated and the names of those involved were changed. The lawyer Dr. Carl Hau the tropical doctor Dr. Alexander Jordan. And while the actual murder took place in Baden-Baden in 1906 , the event in the film takes place in Wiesbaden in 1912 .
production
Murder Trial Dr. Jordan was the first film that was made in the AFIFA studios in Wiesbaden . The outdoor shots were made in Wiesbaden and the surrounding area. The film constructions came from Carl L. Kirmse and Kurt Herlth . Harald Peter Prochnow was responsible for the costume advice. Production manager was Viktor von Struve .
reception
publication
The FSK released the film on October 12, 1949, from the age of 16. The premiere took place on October 28, 1949 in the Thalia Theater and the Walhalla Theater in Wiesbaden . The present Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden, Hans Heinrich Redlhammer , expressed himself proudly in a speech about the first production of the local film studios: “Today a film is having its world premiere, which is produced by a Wiesbaden film company in a Wiesbaden studio with a large part of Wiesbaden artists was, whereby the city itself and some Wiesbaden houses have given the scenery. So this film is a real child of our city and called to advertise Wiesbaden, its tenacious will to build up and its striving for culture. Lucky for the first-born of the Wiesbaden film production! "
On January 5, 1950, the premiere took place in West Berlin . From March 14, 1950 the film was shown in cinemas in Austria . The film was released on DVD in 2010 .
Reviews
“Although most of the film is devoted to the trial, it is less about the crime and more about the accused. That's why the plot, which was already very exciting until then, only glows when it collapses. "
"Well-staged and exciting crime film in the leading role until the end."
Web links
- Murder Trial Dr. Jordan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Murder Trial Dr. Jordan at filmportal.de
- Alexander Tschukalin, Jennifer Grunert: Film interpretation “Murder Trial Dr. Jordan".
Individual evidence
- ↑ 90 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 86 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2461 meters
- ↑ In the original film opening credits, the spelling is “Mordproze ss ”, although spelling was incorrect in Germany at the time (but correct in Switzerland). On the movie poster and in secondary sources, the spelling is mostly “murder trial ß ”.
- ↑ Wiesbaden's cinema history at fernsehmuseum.info
- ↑ Murder Trial of Dr. Jordan . In: Paimann's film lists . No. 1777 , March 2, 1950 ( Reizfeld.net ). Reizfeld.net ( Memento from February 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Murder Trial of Dr. Jordan. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
