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Berneis (Bernhard Wicki), inspector Keller's (Erik Ode) neighbour and owner of the corner store, calls on Keller because he suspects his son Franz (Christoph Bantzer) to have murdered someone because he behaved oddly and came home with a bloodied shirt. At first, Keller thinks little of it, until he talks to Franz, a not very likeable guy who shows over-confidence befitting a murderer. As for the bloodied shirt, it turns out that Franz has burned it, so no evidence. Also he has just now quit his job, but carries wads of money on him. All of this is enough to have Keller curious - thing is, there is no body. In fact there's no unsolved murder or missing person all over town. So Keller can't investigate officially, but what he can do is pay frequent visit to Berneis, to Franz, to Franz's girlfriend Anita (Eleonore Weisgerber), and to Anita's grandma (Rose Renée Roth) who has brought her up. And eventually, he gets Franz talking, pretty much justifying his deed without knowing he does so. And when Keller tells him "gotchya", he does what any amateur murderer would do and goes to see if the body's still well-hidden - where one of Keller's men (Fritz Wepper) gets him for real. Turns out it was one of Anita's bosses at work who wanted to get into her panties by inviting her to join him on a holiday in Spain - and Franz apparently just figured the money might just as well be his, which is why he killed the man ...

The idea to tell this film the wrong way round by presenting the culprit first and the victim last is if not wholly original then at least inspired. And Erik Ode sure does a good enough job to carry this unusual episode as the inspector who annoys his circle of suspects (if you include Anita and also her grandma) just long enough until they break. Where the episode fails though is in its actual premise where a father is convinced that his son's a murderer without a shred of evidence - it's just not how normal people act or react, which is of course the problem with many of screenwriter Herbert Reinecker's characters, not only in this episode but throughout his career. And add to that Reinecker's stilted dialogue and ... you actually have one of the more interesting episodes of Der Kommissar that's as per usual hampered some by not-so-great writing.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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