Hot Picks
|
|
|
Derrick - Waldweg
episode 1
West Germany 1974
produced by Hans Peter Renfranz, Helmut Ringelmann (executive) for Telenova/ZDF
directed by Dietrich Haugk
starring Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Hilde Weissner, Wolfgang Kieling, Lina Carstens, Elinor von Wallerstein, Herbert Bötticher, Klaus Höhne, Karl Lieffen, Siegurd Fitzek, Friedrich G. Beckhaus, Walter Sedlmayr, Ingrid Kannonier, Gabriele Lorenz, Linda Joy, Almut Zilcher
written by Herbert Reinecker, music by Peter Thomas, title theme by Les Humphries
TV-series Derrick, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Somewhere in the Bavarian countryside, night: Ellen (Gabriele Lorenz),
a schoolgirl who has spent the day and evening in Munich, is hurrying back
to her boarding school to not get into trouble when she runs into one of
her teachers, Manger (Wolfgang Kieling), who promises to take her to
school safely and not give her away, and invites her to his nearby house
for a drink, which she stupidly accepts. The next day, she's found dead,
murdered and probably raped, just like another girl, half a year ago.
Inspector Derrick (Horst Tappert) and his assistant Klein (Fritz Wepper)
arrive at the boarding school to investigate. The headmistress of the
school, Dr. Göbel (Hilde Weissner), tries to present her school in the
best light possible, but as Derrick and Klein do a bit of digging, they
soon find out that not all the teachers are the model citizens Dr. Göbel
makes them out to be - however nothing seems to stick enough to make any
of the teachers suspects ... that is until Derrick talks to Manger's
mother (Lina Carstens), who gives him her piece of mind of the lack of
morals of today's youth, which flips a switch with Derrick. The next
day, another girl from the boarding school, Inge (Ingrid Kannonier), calls
at the school at night reaching Manger, and she asks to be picked up from
the train station - which Manger is happy to do himself, only he pretty
much pulls her into his house instead to have his way with her ... but
then runs into Derrick, who has set a trap for him to capture him
red-handed. Actually a spin-off of the then popular krimi
TV-series Der Kommissar (with the character Harry Klein
being transferred over to Derrick), this first episode
(though fourth filmed) is pretty much already the blueprint of the whole
series (which ran from 1974 to 1998 without interruption, and scripted
throughout by Herbert Reinecker, who also wrote all episodes of Der Kommissar): There's little in terms of action or violence (though
the central murder scene was cut by some 24 seconds for German TV), and
the emphasis is on the psychological aspects of the respective murders,
which means long, sometimes poignant and often stilted dialogues, with
Derrick always seeming to be a few steps ahead of everybody, especially
Klein, who still loyally does most of the footwork. As for this
particular episode, it's certainly one of the racier ones, involving
mildly naughty schoolgirls and a sex crime, but as for the series as a
whole, it's good average and doesn't seem as tried and true as later
episodes (though parallels to Der Kommissar
are undeniable),
and certainly fun to watch if you're into German krimi TV from the era, not
only for its strengths but also (or especially) its weaknesses, yet
nothing to write home about. The jazzy, funky score by Peter Thomas is
pretty cool though.
|
|
|