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Rather by accident, an ornithologist records an apparent murder on tape, and really, where his microphone was pointed at, he finds the dead body of Lizy. When inspector Derrick (Horst Tappert) and his assistant Harry (Fritz Wepper) investigate they find Lizy's brother Paul (Thomas Schücke) and sister Gabriele (Carolin Fink) reacting weirdly detached to the fact that Lizy was murdered even though they've been living together in a nice house, while her mother, Mrs Kraus (Sonja Sutter) pretty much overreacts, given that she had left all three kids to their own devices years ago and now doesn't even know what they're doing professionally - and that's the point, neither Paul nor Gabriele seem to have a job, even though they're quite well off, only Lizy has actually worked ... as an escort. Derrick and Lizy's mother visit the bar of the hotel she's been at most often and find a pianist (Volker Lechtenbrink), who has been friends with Lizy and can actually point Derrick to three of her clients. The first one is Ruperti (Werner Schnitzer), a widower whose relationship with Lizy was rather harmless though, he needed her for solace not for sex. Then there's Reuter (Wolf Roth), who says he has just enjoyed Lizy's company when his wife (Susanne Uhlen) wasn't in the mood to go out, but she was perfectly aware of this, which she freely admits to. Third on the list is Kranz (Henry van Lyck), who admits to having had sex with Lizy, but has been photographed doing so, and blackmailed with the photos. It doesn't Derrick long to figure out that Lizy's siblings are behind this operation, but they claim some Italian gangsters having instigated the whole affair - however, the kingpin of that organisation manages to escape arrest. And then Derrick also pulls the murderer out of the hat, it was actually Reuter's wife, as Reuter was among the blackmail victims but confessed everything to her - and she then met with and killed Lizy, and confesses to it when Derrick plays her the ornithologist's tape.

The opening with the ornithologist unwittingly recording a murder is somewhat reminiscent of 1970s giallos that never shied away from eccentric plot devices. However, after showing promise at first, the audience is quickly brought down to earth and into a very mundane German crime show, where writer Herbert Reinecker just plays variations on themes he has been handling on and off during his long career in German crime TV, from secret prostitution to blackmail to dysfunctional families. And that he just fails to get natural actions and reactions out of his characters, loses himself in stilted dialogues, and over-relies on tired sensationalism doesn't make things any better, nor does lead Horst Tappert whose performance is as tired as his 75 years of age suggest. And director Alfred Weidenmann, at the end of his more career that lasted for more than 60 years (and started with Nazi probaganda movies), sure has seen better days. So basically a rather boring affair to be honest.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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