Le dernier alibi

Austrian horror crime thriller with Ruth Leuwerik and Peter van Eyck

Three years after their joint appearance in the Renate Müller biopic "Liebling der Götter / Liebling of the Gods" (1960), this dream couple of German cinema could be seen together again in a film. The career of the West German super star Ruth Leuwerik had suffered a few blows in the meantime (her appearance as "Die Rote" at the Berlinale 1962 was mercilessly destroyed), so this time it should be a crime thriller riding on the Edgar Wallace wave of success. And the film, shot in Vienna and in the Rosenhügel studios there, turned out to be very interesting. The script comes from the Derrick (famous German crime series from 1974 to 1998) legend Herbert Reinecker, the director was Alfred Vohrer, who not only Quentin Tarantino considers to be "a genius".

Ruth Leuwerik (1924-2016) plays Dr. Maria Rohn, a public defender. Efficient in his job and happily married to the architect Günther Rohn (Peter van Eyck, 1913-1969), who promoted the expansion of Vienna's satellite cities. One day, the clever Rohn gets the case of a truck driver who is involved in a strange accident that looks like a mysterious man was deliberately run over. At first she doesn't believe her client's assurances at all, but gradually the public defender uncovers a plot in which her own husband also appears to be involved.

Charles Regnier (1914-2001), who was most recently married to the wonderful Sonja Ziemann, and Sieghardt Rupp (1931-2015) and Hannelore Elsner (1942-2019) shine in other roles in this unusual film as an unscrupulous married couple.

The superficial crime plot skilfully plays with the dark shadows of the recent past. This is exciting and dramatically staged in this black and white film. Ruth Leuwerik impresses as usual as a modern and independent woman, but here she finds herself in a hopeless situation. Sieghardt Rupp also plays great, who perfectly embodies the demonic depths of his character despite, or perhaps because of, his good looks. This paved the way for casting in international productions such as "Among Vultures" and "For a Fistful of Dollars". For the great Hannelore Elsner, this film was one of the first appearances in her long and successful career. Her performance as "Die Unberührbare / The Untouchable" (2000), with which she also caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival, will never be forgotten.

Unfortunately, this film was not particularly successful at the box office. Ruth Leuwerik's great film career ended during this time. The audience was now more into Edgar Wallace-typical horror thrillers with bizarre murders and funny nonsense to relax in between.

If you want to admire Ruth Leuwerik in another crime thriller role, the Derrick episode "Ein Hinterhalt / An Ambush" (1978) is highly recommended.

After a decade of success as Germany's most popular female star, elegant Ruth Leuwerik retired shortly after this out-and-out disaster, that ruined her remaining box-office lure.

Why she choose to film this knife-in-the-back story is known only to Miss Leuwerik, because the film is surely the most abysmal effort in what was a really lean year by any standards.

Once the star of lushly produced romantic extravaganzas opposite stalwart male co-stars of first magnitude like O.W. Fischer, she is relegated to B-film standards in this run-of-the-mill cheapie. The story is hackneyed, everybody is acting at fever's pitch and even the usually cool Miss Leuwerik is over-the-top, giving the only bad performance of her short but memorable career.

Hannelore Elsner in one of her earliest roles is in it, too, but when you glimpse, you miss her. Shot to fame later in the decade, the talented Miss Elsner enjoyed an even bigger vogue in the late 90's as the mature First Lady of German TV.