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Der Kommissar - Die Tote im Park
episode 44
West Germany 1972
produced by Helmut Ringelmann for Neue Münchner Fernsehproduktion/ZDF
directed by Wolfgang Staudte
starring Erik Ode, Reinhard Glemnitz, Günther Schramm, Fritz Wepper, Helma Seitz, Martin Held, Heidelinde Weis, Gaby Gasser, Siegfried Lowitz, Ann Höling, Willy Semmelrogge, Siegfried Wischnewski, Ethel Reschke, Manfred Spies, Gusti Kreissl
written by Herbert Reinecker, series created by Helmut Ringelmann, Herbert Reinecker, title theme by Herbert Jarczyk
TV-series Der Kommissar, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Prostitute Erika (Gaby Gasser) is found dead in the park, murdered.
Which is of double distress to her sister Gertie (Heidelinde Weiss), not
only because of her sister's death but also because their father (Martin
Held), who's coming to town to retrieve the body, didn't know what she
did, and also doesn't know Gertie's a prostitute as well. So Gertie
sublets a room right across the hall from Erika at Mr. and Mrs. Felz
(Siegfried Lowitz, Ann Höling), just to pretend she's an office girl.
Meanwhile, inspector Keller (Erik Ode) and
his team (Günther Schramm, Reinhard Glemnitz, Fritz Wepper) start
investigating, and soon come up with quite a number of suspects, there's
of course Erika's pimp Rotter (Manfred Spies), who has been frantically
looking for her the night of her death, there's bar owner Bernie
(Siegfried Wischnewski), who had an affair with her, Bernie's wife Nina
(Ethel Reschke), who knew about the affair, and then there's also the
janitor (Willy Semmelrogge) of the apartment building Erika lived in whose
alibi is a bit too spotty for Keller's taste. And eventually, the janitor
confesses that Erika's corpse has been dumped into his apartment by a
person or persons unknown, and instead of calling the police, he carried
her to a nearby park to drop her there. So Keller figures Erika wanted to
hide out as she knew Rotter was after her, and where better than in the
apartment across the hall. Only then Felz wanted to have sex with her, she
refused and he killed her - and in his panic then dropped the body in the
janitor's apartment ... On the plus side, Herbert Reinecker's
trademark stilted dialogues are a bit toned down in this episode, and
there are some nice performances in it, too, while the direction is solid.
But the case as a whole seems terribly contrived while Reinecker once
again returns to mainstays already over-used in earlier episodes, while
his portrayal of seedy nightlife fails to ring true and doesn't amount to
more than sensationalism. And the ultimate solution of the case is really
more of the pulled-out-of-a-hat variety than being cleverly constructed.
And this then all amounts to fun crime TV, fun for all the wrong reasons,
but fun still.
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