In his role as the megalomaniac antagonist Auric Goldfinger, who has to deal with Her Majesty’s secret agent (Sean Connery) in what many fans consider the best 007 film, Gert Fröbe became a hero almost overnight in 1964. world famous superstar. In the decades that followed, the Saxon native with the distinctive accent (which was smoothly dubbed in the original version of “James Bond 007 – Goldfinger”) went on to appear in front of the camera for a host of other international cinema productions.
Without his previous appearance in the black and white classic”It happened in broad daylight“ from 1958, which you can currently stream for free for a few days in the ARD media library, but this career would probably never have happened. Although Fröbe had already appeared in more than thirty films in the 1950s, the James Bond producers only got to know the actor through his brilliant performance in the role of the mentally ill child murderer.
To this day, the crime film milestone of director Ladislao Vajda, who together with Hans Jacoby and Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote the script based on the writer’s idea, is considered one of the best German-language films of all time – even though Dürrenmatt was there himself involved. was not happy at all with the Swiss-German Spanish co-production.
That’s what ‘It Happened in Broad Daylight’ is about
Near the Swiss town of Mägendorf, peddler Jacquier (Michel Simon) makes a gruesome discovery in the forest: He comes across the body of little Gritli Moser, who was murdered with a razor. Jacquier flees to an inn, but gets into trouble there: it is clear to the villagers that only the peddler can kill the eight-year-old. In his distress, Jacquier calls the clever Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Hans Matthäi (Heinz Rühmann) of the Zurich cantonal police arrives – and he arrives just in time to save the innocent Jacquier from the angry crowd.
At headquarters, his colleagues Lieutenant Henzi (Siegfried Lowitz) and Detective Feller (Sigfrit Steiner) take the peddler to task. But Matthäi suspects that Jacquier is not the perpetrator. To find Gritli’s real killer, he ultimately takes a big risk: Matthäi rents a gas station and hires the single woman Heller (María Rosa Salgado) as a housekeeper. There is an ulterior motive: her daughter Annemarie (Anita von Ow) resembles the victim and plays every day on the country road, clearly visible to anyone who drives through…
A memorable performance
Only after more than 45 minutes do we actually see Gert Fröbe in the role of the pedophile Albert Schrott mentioned in the introduction – or rather: the shadow of his gigantic body and his meaty hands. Precise, slightly chunky settings like this are reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock and it becomes unmistakably clear to us: this must be the murderer. Intimidated and enduring the rebuke of his sadistic, dominant wife (Berta Drews), Schrott nervously kneads his fingers and ducks away. A perfect loser who secretly abuses little girls.
This is character drawing with a wooden mallet, because such characters are usually told in a less clichéd way nowadays. But it works incredibly well as a basis for the dangerous opponent of crowd favorite Heinz Rühmann, who, as an unusually serious and persistent identification figure, is even allowed to slip back into his popular role from the cult comedy ‘Die Feuerzangenbowle’. moment during a visit to Gritli’s classroom.
Schrott exudes a fascinating menace in every scene – especially because, unlike the convicted peddler, he comes across so inconspicuous. Thanks to his clever trick as a ‘magician’ with chocolate truffles in the forest, he soon meets little Annemarie. It is not only the parents of small children who are particularly sensitive to this film, who have to fear for the child’s life from this moment until the last minutes of the exciting black-and-white crime thriller. Can Matthäi stop Schrott?
Groundbreaking, also for horror films
In the hunt for the sex offender, the filmmakers also use an effective trick that was often used in horror films: They rely on a creepy child’s drawing as the key to the solution. Before her death, the murdered Gritli painted one of the encounters with the “wizard” – and as so often happens, there are revealing clues hidden in the picture, which is a mystery especially to adult eyes. Matthäi follows Schrott through the drawing, but whether he can stop him remains to be seen until the dramatic confrontation.
Anyone who has read Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s novel “The Promise”, which was published almost at the same time and is based on the film script, will experience the biggest surprise at home. Unlike most viewers, the Swiss author was not satisfied with the ending of the crime thriller, which celebrated its world premiere at the 8th Berlinale in 1958. Sean Penn’s “The Promise” with Jack Nicholson is recommended to anyone who prefers his uncompromisingly sobering novel finale – after years of waiting you can finally enjoy the first-rate thriller insider tip on strictly limited Blu-Ray.