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At a night club, popular singer Maria is shot in her dressing room, but nobody could hear the shot as at the same time trumpeteer Ted Wagner (Adrian Hoven) played one of his trademark solos. Police inspector Bock (Jochen Brockmann) is at first baffled, so much so that at first a suicide isn't totally ruled out - but surprisingly he manages to always keep his eyes on the ball. Reporter Peter Thorsten (Hans von Borsody) smells a big story and starts investigating on his own, which quickly leads him to young waitress Yvonne (Renate Ewert), who claims her mother, also a singer, has been murdered 5 years ago exactly the same way. Only that murder was ruled a suicide and she has been put into a mental institution for not believing the suicide theory. So she's mostly high-strung and keeps information to herself, but she opens up to Peter and tells him before Maria's murder somebody had been whistling a certain melody, just like before the murder of her mother. The coatroom lady promises Peter information about the murderer, but then she's found poisoned, and it's not sure whether the poison was actually for her or for singer Penny (Dany Mann), Maria's replacement. Peter suspects the latter and soon suspects club owner Elena (Bettina Schön), who's also a singer and who wants to take Maria's place next to Ted Wagner. Thing is, eventually everybody else starts to suspect Yvonne, and a warrant is put out for her, leaving Peter with no option but to hide her in his apartment. In a surprise twist though it's revealed that Ted Wagner is indeed the murderer and he could sneak away from his own solo because he never even played the trumpet in the first place ...

A film that's at the same time a murder mystery in the krimi tradition of films and a musical revue - and somehow this works better than expected as the musical numbers lighten things up and keep them from becoming over-convoluted, with director Marischka's light-footed direction keeping things on the move, but never missing a beat with the suspense scenes. Sure, upon closer inspection the mystery's a bit on the light-weight side, and the identity of the killer is actually easily guessable early on. But the performances are at least adequate, and the music, a mix of jazz, schlager from the jazzy end of the spectrum, and some German language versions of then current pop hits, is actually not half bad for a musical review of its time - even if the performances aren't always camp free. In all a fun watch that truth to be told won't stay with you for all that long, but it's fun while it lasts at least.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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