Reviews

Godawful utter crap without any connection to the source material. Why, why, why? Zack Snyder's take on the material may have its flaws but is lightyears ahead. Had to watch "Birth of a Nation" & a few instalments of "Amos & Andy" immediately afterwards, just to get another perspective...

This is part of Germany's "heiter bis tödlich" (cheerful to deadly) series of the state controlled ARD TV channel. This installment is located in the North of the country, namely the city of Lübeck (appr. 23.000 inhabitants, located at the "Ostsee" = the baltic sea). The first & second seasons were mainly "cheerful" but still dealt with "murder", afterwards it became more & more bleak & realistic & improved a lot over the "cheerfulness" of the earlier episodes. Most actors (especially Naujoks) are very good & the series even "survived" the introduction of the (always) godawful, non-actress Proschat Madani in a supporting role.

The various, local departments of the German governement controlled TV "ARD" runs a series of mildly funny police "whodunits" under the moniker "heiter bis tödlich" (cheerful to deadly). There are some good ones & some pretty poor ones - this one, located in Quedlinburg (Saxony-Anhalt) is among the latter. The main actors can't act & the dialogues are mainly lousy & only try hard to be funny. The most important character (Wolke Hegenbarth) is eye candy but, as proven in other roles before & after, acts hammy as hell.

Big city cop is sent to a small village in Rhineland-Palatinate after his affair with his boss'es wife comes to light. There he meets the local, female police officer played by Diana Amft & over the instalments of the series they have their personal ups & downs, while solving murders & other crimes. Each part is too long for the storylines & they do not get the local dialect right but it's some nice fluff if you want to kill a few hours.

...but still entertaining. BUT: Scenery, automobiles, clothes, check. Haircuts & make-up, late sixties, definitely NOT early 1930's - WTF.

A very good Hans Albers movie, filmed in 1947 in the American occupation zone. The Albers' character (probably as the actor himself) is not "Der Sieger" anymore (referring to a Albers movie of more than 10 years ago, it means "the victor" & reflects most of Albers' roles) but a de-moralized man who sacrifices his dignity to make ends meet in a devastated Berlin in ruins & hunger. This was not intended as a "tear jerker" back in its day but for me as a German of the baby boomer years (in Germany the vintages 1960 - '65) it makes me shed a tear here & there about the state that my hometown of Berlin (& the rest of the country) was in in those years & how bleak the outlook of people was in the twilight zone between the war's end & the founding of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland in 1949. I am pretty sure, that there is no english version available but if you have at least some basic knowledge about the german language watch it, highly recommended.

...but possibly only if you are from Germany in general & from Bavaria in particular. I only hope, that in this small part of Bavaria (in reality) not that many murder crimes happen. The quirky humour of the two leads is a hoot, especially when telling the "survivors" about the murders. Supporting actors are very fine as well.

...watching them now is nearly unbearable - his "acting style" is annoying, he motor-mouths his lines & his grimacing is terrible. I would say he was the Stepin' Fetchin' of his time. All this is true (imho) for this movie as well. So don't waste your time on this one - thumbs down.