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Dr. Steiner is a wealthy businessman who has actually been to a prestigious event this evening - and yet he's found dead in the rain in a poor part of the town, apparently murdered. Inspector Keller (Erik Ode) and his assistants Robert (Reinhard Glemnitz), Walter (Günther Schramm) and Harry (Fritz Wepper) investigate, upon Keller's insistance within his family and close relations first. There's his stepson Wolfgang (Friedrich Karl Grund), who hated the man and seems to rather enjoy being a prime suspect, also because he's the main heir to Steiner's fortune - or rather his own deceased mother's fortune Steiner has been the caretaker of - and he hasn't got an alibi, then there's Steiner's young and attractive stepdaughter Inge (Susanne Barth), who Steiner has grown very fond of late, there's Steiner's mistress Marianne (Alwy Becker), whom he apparently treated like trash, Marianne's ex-husband Rothe (Rainer Penkert), who is still good friends with her and still has feelings for her, and even the prostitute (Ingrid Simon) Steiner visited the very night after above mentioned event in the neighbourhood he was killed. While his assistants try to wade through all the suspects a bit cluelessly, Keller himself manages to form an opinion rather quickly after only short interviews and ultimately asks all involved and their close relations to Steiner's home to finger the culprit - who turns out to be Marianne's mother, who always found Steiner unworthy of her daughter.

First episode of a series that would become pretty much a milestone in German krimi TV, as being shot on 35mm rather than on tape, it brought a cinematic feel to the genre, and also tried its hands on more adult themes than usual in 1960s TV, likewise a level of realism uncommon back when, with some episodes seemingly torn from then current headlines. Also, other than American crime shows of the time, Der Kommissar relied more on actual investigations and especially psychological methods than action, only emphasized by the fact that its titular character is a man in his 60s - though that's not to say that several episodes weren't targeted to a teen audience, including performances by then current bands and the like. Now the downside of the series (which is also one of its charms nowadays) is its over-reliance on dialogue, with some of it seeming stilted, unintentionally funny, or dialogues going in circles even, and characters so over-frought with psychology they stop feeling real.

Now this first episode is hardly as hard-hitting as some of the later ones, but it does a good job introducing all the lead characters of the series without making much of an ado about it and concentrating on the main story instead. And in many ways, the episode still owes a lot to the krimis of the 1960s both in the theatres and on TV, which co-creator and writer Herbert Reinecker has written a whole lot of, especially in the scene where the title character invites everyone to the revealing of the culprit, and the culprit being pulled out of a hat rather than having actually been worked towards during the story. Also, not all the dialogue feels very real, some to the point where it verges on parody - but here it feels like a wink to the audience rather than unintentional at least. All that said, it's a solid start to one of the best German crime shows - not only of its era.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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