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Derrick - Kamillas junger Freund
episode 13
West Germany 1975
produced by Claus Legal, Helmut Ringelmann (executive) for Telenova/ZDF
directed by Alfred Vohrer
starring Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Luitgard Im, Siegfried Wischnewski, Harry Meyen, Kerstin De Ahna, Karl Walter Diess, Hans Georg Panczak, Gerd Böckmann, Käte Jaenicke, Günther Stoll, Achim Strietzel, Willy Schäfer, Bruno Dallansky, Mascha Gonska, Werner Schnitzer, Hans Baur, Ilse Pagé, Albert Bessler, Konrad Georg, Paul Glawion
written by Herbert Reinecker, music by Hans-Martin Majewski
TV-series Derrick, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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A masked man (Karl Walter Diess) breaks into Kessler's (Siegfried
Wischnewski), forces him to write a check over a large sum at gunpoint,
then holds him hostage waiting for the check to be cashed. Thing is,
Kessler's maid Martha (Käte Jaenicke) interferes and the intruder kills
her before taking off. At the same time at the bank the check isn't cashed
because the bank clerk found some irregularities - but as the clerk got a
look at the intruder's accomplice (Albert Bessler), that's one of the best
leads investigating inspector Derrick (Horst Tappert) and his assistant
Harry (Fritz Wepper) have. It's not long before the masked man breaks into
the home of Dr. Hauffe (Harry Meyen) and forces him to make out a check,
holding him hostage until the check's cashed - and this time the plan
works like a charm. For the longest time, searching for the intruder's
accomplice adds up to very little, but Derrick and Harry come up with
another clue, as both Kessler and Hauffe's wives (Luitgard Im and Kerstin
De Ahna, respectively) weren't very happy in their marriages and thus time
and again acquired the services of gigolo Kaub (Gerd Böckmann), who's
apparently in league with the intruder, having given him details about his
victims. However, during an interrogation, Kaub doesn't crack, so they set
up a trap for him during which he gives away the intruder's name - which
is all they need to make an arrest - but not without a shoot-out. An
interesting episode inasmuch as it's the first TV crime show by director
Alfred Vohrer [Alfred
Vohrer bio - click here], who in the 1960s had been pretty
much the lead director of the German krimi craze, having directed no less
than 14 films of Rialto's
Edgar Wallace cycle - among others -, and in the last two of
these, Der Mann mit dem
Glasauge/The Man with
the Glass Eye and Der
Gorilla von Soho/Gorilla
Gang, he actually cast Horst Tappert as Inspector
Perkins, a sort-of dry run for Derrick, a series
Vohrer would actually direct 28 episodes of up to 1986. Also, Ilse Pagé,
a recurring character in the Edgar
Wallace movies
as the Scotland Yard's chief's sexy secretary, has a fun cameo in this
one. That all said though, Kamillas junger Freund bears little
resemblance to Vohrer's efforts in the Edgar
Wallace cycle, there's little in terms of eccentricity, whimsy
or irony, as the story is well fit into the Derrick formula
screenwriter Herbert Reinecker has a firm hold on, which means this is a
slightly talky murder mystery with stilted dialogue (as one would expect
from Reinecker), bits of suspense but a too omniscient lead in the
character of Derrick. Fun to watch though, if mostly for nostalgic
reasons.
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