Weimar Pitaval: The Saffran Case
| Episode in the Weimar Pitaval series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Saffran case |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
German television broadcasting |
| length | 74 minutes |
| classification | Episode 1 |
| First broadcast | November 25, 1958 on DFF |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Luderer |
| camera |
Herbert Eckert (film) Heinz Böhme (television) Hanna Janowitz (television) Rosemarie Sundt (television) |
| occupation | |
| |
The Saffran case is a crime film in the TV epitaval series of German TV radio by Wolfgang Luderer from 1958.
action
In a morgue , the police commissioner, the family doctor, the wife and the hit accountant Robert Kipnik and the authorized representative Ella Augustin Company Saffran to the corpse Fritz Saffrans identify who died in a fire in the office of his company killed. Since the corpse is disfigured beyond recognition, it can only be recognized on the basis of the evidence found on it, such as the wedding ring with the engraving Martha, June 3, 1928 , a signet ring and a gold capsule watch . The family doctor looks back two years in his mind, as he can still remember the day of the wedding very clearly, when Saffran married the daughter of the furniture manufacturer Klotz and thereby became a co-owner of the company.
A little later, the detective assistant Wehler brings the Saffran file to his chief detective inspector Maurer, as it is supposed to be locked. When almost everything has already been clarified, the insurance agent Schmitz from Berlin joins them and throws a completely new light on the death. With his insurance company, Allianz , Mr. Saffran is insured with a life and accident insurance in the amount of 300,000 Marks in favor of his wife. Since the various insurance companies work together with such large sums of money, they find out that at the end of August 1930, Mr. Saffran had three more deals worth over a million marks, but Ella Augustin is the beneficiary. A fifth life insurance is taken out with VICTORIA at the end of May 1930 in favor of his wife. Fritz Saffran died in the fire in September 1930, so the criminalists had to reconsider the case with the knowledge they had gained.
Ella Augustin presents herself as a suspect, who could have killed him because she is being favored. An interrogation with the accountant Kipnik brought nothing new, but a little later, Ms. Augustin admits that she knew about the insurance contracts and Kipnik would also be informed about it. Saffran closed this because the company is not doing well financially due to the global economic crisis and the moneylender wants security. The two criminalists are now wondering why the accountant lied. Ms. Saffran is also asked to speak with us. But she only has knowledge of a life insurance policy in her favor and when she hears that 3 insurance policies have been taken out for Ella Augustin, she has a crying fit and admits to know about her husband's relationship with his clerk.
The famous Commissioner Zufall contributed to the solution of the case. The pharmacist Rössner recognizes Fritz Saffran when he gets off the train in Spandau and immediately reports to the police that he is on his way to Wittenberge . Here he is expected on arrival and arrested. During his interrogation, he explained to the criminal police about the context of his disappearance:
The debts in his company kept increasing, so that Robert Kipnik had the idea to redeem the insurance policies . But this requires Saffran's demise, for which Kipnik also has a proposal that will then be implemented. While driving Saffrans with Kipnik, they see a wanderer on the roadside , simulate a breakdown and offer to take him part of the way with them. They let him sit in the passenger seat and Kipnik shoots him from the back seat. Then they take him to the office of the furniture factory and set everything on fire, not without changing his clothes and slipping a few things so that he can be identified as Fritz Saffran. Saffran also explains to the police that he wants to spend his future with his lover Ella Augustin in Brazil. But here, too, a disillusionment ensues, because Robert Kipnik and Ella Augustin were already a couple before she started working in the furniture factory. She has only maintained the connection to Saffran under Robert's compulsion.
Since it is in the Pitaval is an actual murder, we learn at the end of the co-author and lawyer Friedrich Karl Kaul judgment: On September 12, 1931 Fritz Saffran and Robert Kipnik be from the Circuit Court Wattenscheid to death and the 12 years prison sentenced. Ella Augustin receives 5 years in prison. In November 1931, Saffran and Kipnik were pardoned and sentenced to life in prison.
production
The television film was released as the first episode of the Weimar Pitaval film series and was first broadcast on November 25, 1958.
The book was written by Friedrich Karl Kaul , who also speaks the connecting texts, and Walter Jupé based on authentic court records. Aenne Keller was responsible for the dramaturgy .
criticism
Erwin Reich judges the film in the Berliner Zeitung as a dramaturgically flawless piece, which Aenne Keller's adaptation arouses tense interest and a pounding heart at the same time. Wolfgang Luderer's staging, sure, of course, down to the last detail in the management of people and camera, is to be counted among the best of recent times.
Web links
- Weimar Pitaval: The case Saffran in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Saffran case in the online dictionary of GDR television
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 2, 1958, p. 3