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Derrick - Kaffee mit Beate
episode 46
West Germany 1978
produced by Claus Legal, Helmut Ringelmann (executive), Gustl Gotzler (executive) for Telenova/ZDF
directed by Alfred Vohrer
starring Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Willy Schäfer, Helga Anders, Agnes Fink, Klaus Herm, Peter Pasetti, Tilly Lauenstein, Christian Quadflieg, Johanna Elbauer, Miriam Mahler, Karl-Heinz Thomas, Will Spindler, Birgit Koch, Willi Röbke
written by Herbert Reinecker, music by Frank Duval, title theme by Les Humphries
TV-series Derrick, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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At an audition, Beate (Helga Anders) gives her friend Helga (Johanna
Elbauer) a bonbon filled with liquor to calm her nerves - but instead the
bonbon kills her as it turns out it was actually filled with poison - as
were the other bonbons in her bag she claims someone left in her room. And
as she lives in a shared apartment with no key to her room, it's really at
anybody's guess who has left them there. Consequently then, whoever left
the poisoned bonbons there must have tried to kill Beate. So Inspector
Derrick (Horst Tappert) decides instead of investigating himself, to
suppress the news about Helga's death and send his assistant Harry (Fritz
Wepper) to take a room in the shared apartment and see what he can find
out. Above all, Harry finds out that Beate is a really charming woman, and
it's not long before they have alove affair. He also learns that
apparently Beate is a very free spirit, and has had love affairs with all
men living in the apartment (Klaus Herm, Peter Pasetti, Christian
Quadflieg), who are from all walks of life and vary vastly in age. So
spurned love might be a motive, but there are also two women in the
apartment, landlady Mrs Pacha (Agnes Fink) and Mrs Wollak (Tilly
Lauenstein), an older woman who seems to be the only one in the apartment
to dislike Beate. So Derrick comes up with a plan, Beate is to invite all
her flat-sharers over to her room from coffeeshe claims to have spiked
with liquer from the poisoned bonbons (which the killer is to think are
still in Beate's possession), and naturally the killer - Mrs Wollak -
gives herself away, for Harry for the picking. An episode where
screenwriter Herbert Reinecker basically revisits some of his favourite
themes: Stories about free-spirited girls whom everybody falls in love
with and who gladly goes to bed with everyone pop up quite regularly, most
notably maybe in the Der
Kommissar-episode Spur
von kleinen Füssen, while Harry Klein having a (rather unethical)
affair with a key witness also pops up in the Der
Kommissar-episode Die
Schrecklichen, with the girl in question also played by Helga
Anders (though playing another character) in that one. So if you want to
be polite, this episode is a bit of a best-of-Reinecker - though less
politely said, over the years, Derrick, especially given it
has grown out of Der
Kommissar, has grown a bit stale, just recycling ideas over
and over again (and that said, the series would continue for another 20
years). And frankly, much of the episode seems a bit forced, from the
set-up to the stunt to find the murderer, to the diverse set of
characters. And the stilted dialogue (one of Reinecker's trademarks) of
course doesn't help - but from a nostalgic point of view, all this is
nothing if not a loveable mess. Nothing great by any meaning of the word,
but fun.
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