Waiting room to the afterlife
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Waiting room to the afterlife |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Vohrer |
| script |
Eberhard Keindorff , Johanna Sibelius |
| production |
Rialto Film ( Horst Wendlandt , Preben Philipsen ) |
| music | Martin Böttcher |
| camera | Bruno Mondi |
| cut | Hermann Haller |
| occupation | |
| |
Waiting Room to the Beyond is a German crime film that was made in early 1964 under the direction of Alfred Vohrer . It is based on the novel Zahle or Die (Original title: Mission To Siena ) by James Hadley Chase . The black and white film, shot in Ultrascope , premiered on April 23, 1964 in the Gloria in Stuttgart . The nationwide cinema release took place one day later.
action
The extremely rich Sir Cyrus Bradley is blackmailed by the crime syndicate "The Tortoise". The paralyzed gang boss Alsconi, who lives in a richly furnished villa in Trieste , instructs his lover Laura Lorelli and his confidante Crantor to take care of Bradley's murder if he does not pay. In London they hire Shapiro, a knife thrower, who kills Bradley. When Crantor is also supposed to get rid of the student Don Micklem, who is his uncle's heir, Laura warns him by telephone that the attack fails. Alsconi tells her that it would be stupid to get rid of Don, he is the heir after all. Alsconi should try to get from him what Bradley had refused to do. Shortly thereafter, Don is not entirely voluntarily in the hands of Alsconi. The gang boss explains to the young man that Laura has saved his life for the second time. Alsconi quickly gets to the point that he will only release Don for a ransom of 500,000 DM. However, the young student blatantly gives him to understand that he should probably be killed anyway, rather without a ransom.
Laura hands Don’s friend and confidante Harry Mason a letter that contains a ransom note and is addressed to Don’s aunt. He has to make sure that no police are involved. Mason remains suspicious, whereupon Laura assures him that she is personally responsible for ensuring that Don will really be released after the money has been handed over.
Since Alsconi has learned of the betrayal of Laura and some gang members, he ensures that they, together with Don, end up in a windowless room, the ceiling of which is slowly lowering and threatens to crush the people. This leads to dramatic circumstances, in the course of which the two gangsters who are locked up kill each other. At the very last minute, Don manages to outsmart the electronics.
In the meantime, Mason has arrived at the villa from which Alsconi has just started his retreat with the help of Crantor. At the jetty, however, there is a declaration of war between these two, which leads to Crantor Alsconi and his wheelchair being pushed into the water. Don and Laura, who are now free thanks to Mason's help, come to the landing stage where Don Crantor shoots in self-defense. Laura has meanwhile boarded the ship laden with gold and asks Don to loosen the lines, then they will be even. With a smile on his face, he complies with her request.
Production and Background
James Hadley Chase's novel (Ullstein Book No. 882) was originally intended to be entitled The Snake Pit of Dr. Mabuse received. One after the other, the scriptwriters Georg Hurdalek , Will Tremper and Harald G. Petersson tried in vain to work on the material until the script by the married couple Keindorff / Sibelius was accepted. The intended director Robert Siodmak also had to be replaced. The working title of the film was Number or Die .
The film was shot in the Hamburg studio of Real-Film from January 27 to March 8, 1964 and produced by Rialto Film Preben Philipsen. The production costs amounted to 1.5 million DM. The interior shots were made in the Real Film Studios in Hamburg-Wandsbek , the exterior shots in London , Trieste and the area around Miramare Castle . The buildings were by Mathias Matthies and Ellen Schmidt , the costumes by Irms Pauli . Werner Schlagge was responsible for the sound . Wolfgang Kühnlenz was in charge of production. The waiting room to the afterlife was the last feature film by camera veteran Bruno Mondi . The film premiered on April 23, 1964 in the “Gloria” in Stuttgart.
The public interest in waiting rooms to the afterlife was low. The previously announced second film adaptation of Chase, Stupid Don't Die , was therefore dropped. From 1986 the Rialto, still in possession of the production rights, tried repeatedly to film the material, which was only successful in 1998 under director Volker Schlöndorff . The film, made in co-production with American companies, was released in the cinemas in spring 1999 under the title Palmetto - Stupid Do Not Die .
- DVD
Waiting Room for the Hereafter was released on DVD by Universum Film on December 13, 2004.
criticism
Lexicon of international film : "An over-the-top and cold-blooded crime film in the tradition of the Edgar Wallace crime novels popular in the 1960s."
Web links
- Waiting room to the afterlife at filmportal.de
- Waiting Room to the Beyond in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Waiting room to the afterlife information and film programs
- Waiting room for the afterlife film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joachim Kramp: Hello - Here is Edgar Wallace , 2nd ed., P. 272
- ↑ Waiting room to the afterlife DVD palace.de
- ↑ Waiting room to the afterlife. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .