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Der Kommissar - Sonderbare Vorfälle im Hause von Professor S.
episode 63
West Germany 1973
produced by Helmut Ringelmann for Neue Münchner Fernsehproduktion/ZDF
directed by Wolfgang Becker
starring Erik Ode, Reinhard Glemnitz, Günther Schramm, Fritz Wepper, Helma Seitz, Mathieu Carrière, Günther Ungeheuer, Margarethe von Trotta, Anita Mally, Lisa Helwig, Hans Caninenberg, Anneliese Uhlig
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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One night, when psychiatrist professor Steger (Hans Caninenberg) and
his wife (Anneliese Uhlig) are out, someone breaks into their apartmen
apartment, and whan caught by the professor's maid (Lisa Helwig), he
murders her - then carries her back to her bed, tugs her in with the
greatest care and then spends several hours in the professor's living
room, wearing his coat, drinking his booze and going through his papers.
Only when Steger and his wife return does the intruder make a hasty
escape. Inspector Keller (Erik Ode) and his men
(Reinhard Glemnitz, Günther Schramm, Fritz Wepper) soon pick up
investigations, but find the psychiatrist strangely reluctant to give out
any useful information, despite him supposedly being a specialist when it
comes to bizarre behaviour. So Keller and company soon zero in on Steger's
estranged son Alfred (Mathieu Carrière) and his secretary Ute (Mararethe
von Trotta), who both deliver pieces to the puzzle but no decisive clues.
Then somebody breaks into artist Erdmann's (Günther Ungeheuer) home and
follows the same pattern (apart from no murder this time around).
Interestingly the first person Erdmann calls is not the police but Steger.
Later, Erdmann tells the police that his brother has suffered from a
schizoid disfunction and was treated by Steger, and breaking into
someone's home to assume their identity would totally fit his condition.
Thus Steger was the first on the scene, but it was ultimatly determined
without a doubt that Erdmann's brother had been in the asylum he has been
admitted to many moons ago, But Erdmann also reveals that Alfred has been
suffering from the same condition, upon which Keller and his boys zero in
on Alfred of course, who also acts very suspicious when he's next
questioned - until he realizes they're actually trying to pin the crime on
him, upon which he breaks out into relieved laughter and tells them that
it was actually secretary Ute who he was talking about ... Lobo's then
very recent I'd Love you To Want Me features very prominently in
this episode. Frankly, a pretty hilarious episode due to its
complete misunderstanding of psychology quite despite making a schizoid
disfunction the center of the episode's attention. And in that respect,
writer Herbert Reinecker's trademark stilted dialogues - especially those
delivered by Mathieu Carrière - are just utterly laugh-inducing. And I
know, all of this doesn't exactly make this episode out to be a prime
example of crime TV - but seen through a nostalgic lense it's also darn
entertaining, that's for sure.
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