It Happened in Broad Daylight (1958)
"Es geschah am hellichten Tag" (original title)

Having doubts about the guilt of the obvious suspect in the murder of an eight year old girl, a police detective decides to investigate the case on his own.

Director:

Ladislao Vajda

Writers:

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (story), Friedrich Dürrenmatt (novel),

Stars:

Heinz Rühmann, Sigfrit Steiner, Siegfried Lowitz

5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Heinz Rühmann	...	Oberleutnant Matthäi
Sigfrit Steiner	...	Detektiv Feller
Siegfried Lowitz	...	Leutnant Henzi
Michel Simon	...	Jacquier
Heinrich Gretler	...	Polizeikommandant
Gert Fröbe	...	Schrott
Berta Drews	...	Frau Schrott
Ewald Balser	...	Professor Manz
Roger Livesey	...	Professor Manz (voice)
María Rosa Salgado	...	Frau Heller
Anita von Ow	...	Annemarie Heller
Barbara Haller	...	Ursula Fehlmann
Emil Hegetschweiler	...	Gemeindepräsident
Rene Magron	...	Polizeibeamter Weber
Max Werner Lenz

Storyline

Several young girls were killed. Policeman Matthaei travels to the region where it happened and searches a child that looks similar to the ones that were murdered. He finds one and stays with her and her mother, not telling them that he is waiting for the killer to start his bloody work one more time ...

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Plot Keywords:

investigation | psychopath | child murder investigation | evidence | suicide | 

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller | Drama

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Details

Country:

West Germany Switzerland Spain

Language:

German Italian

Release Date:

9 June 1958 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

It Happened in Broad Daylight

Filming Locations:

CCC-Atelier, Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 11,578 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Praesens-Film, Central Cinema Company Film (CCC), Chamartín Producciones y Distribuciones

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gert Fröbe's performance in this film prompted Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli to cast Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

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Connections

Version of Es geschah am hellichten Tag (1997)

User Reviews

Haunting, Intense, Terrifying...

Sometimes, a film simply haunts you. You can't even remember its name, but the experience of watching it was so vivid, it remains intact in memory. I saw this stark and grueling flick, with strong thematic and aesthetic similarities to Fritz Lang's "M", some years back on TV (in its dubbed incarnation, of course). It was a full twenty years later when I happened upon a paperback novel called "The Pledge" by Freidrich Duerrenmatt. Upon reading it, I realized it was the story for this film! I was thus thrilled to see this obscure film listed on the impressively comprehensive IMDB. The story as told in the novel is scary enough, but the film manages to create an atmosphere of unbearable tension and palpable terror within the enchanting, brightly-lit lanes of a small German village, no mean feat. The dialogue is kept to a minimum in order to enable mood and nuance to run rampant. The bleak, contrasty b/w cinematography is virtually expressionist at times. You could call this spooky film the (very) dark side of LOLITA. Simply haunting.