Review "Mörderspiel" (Murder Party) 1961 a Masterclass Krimi (that nobody knows)

 

There is a serial killer in town. Already 4 blonde high-society ladies have been killed and they had obviosly invited the assassin into their private chambers. 

The movie starts in the bedroom of victim #5 with the assassin just cleaning up, very methodically and leaving absolutely no trace whatsoever, still having his leather gloves on (which makes him clumsy...). The procedure takes about 10 minutes and is one long POV-take from the assassin's view in which he talks to himself so we can hear his toughts. That is VERY impressive. 

Leaving the vicitm's house he stumbles into a friend who would now be able to identify him. This friend is on his way to a private rooftop-party and the assassin tries to kill him on the way multiple times but in the end both of them end up at that party. 

But look who's there at this party: assassin's wife with her lover. Basically assassin is now out of options but luck for him as the guests decide to play the "Assassination Game" where the lights are out and somebody has to be "killed" and the "inspector" has to find out who the killer was.

Our assassin takes the opportunity when given the character cards to hand out and puts himself and his witness-friend in a position where he could easily finish him off. 

The killing takes place, but in the dark he kills the wrong guy, the lover of his wife. Things are getting tighter and tigher once the police arrives and starts asking questions.

Tidy assassin doing the wash up. He even puts the 
dry glasses back into to the cupboard. Amazing.

Wow. What a movie. Very cleverly scripted, all pieces fall into place at the end, nothing is wasted. When the assassin feels anxiety, the camera switches to POV (like in The Spiral Staircase) and we get ultra-long ultra-accomplished first person takes. A lot of close-ups in eerie angles on everyday items and good performances all around make this movie a little gem.

Countless sequences look like a textbook for later Giallo-aesthetics including the ultra-modern rooftop appartment. What looks and sounds like a stage-play is actually based on a serial novel for a magazine. 

Director Helmuth Ashley was obviously out to prove something, and that he did. The movie is a technical marvel. The script is tight too, but somehow the movie does not achieve the tension it should have, given all the talent involved. Reason for this is that basically everybody in this movie is unsympathic. The killer, of course, but his wife too. There is no-one to identify with, which makes it hard to feel involved.

Wifey, talking to the real inspector, cannot believe
that her husband is a killer, because he's too lousy 
for that. But she has a motive too: Her lover wanted
to leave her for a younger model that was also at the 
party ... yes, it is that kind of movie. Pure fun.

Götz George is the star in this movie, but as the innocent friend he basically plays himself and whether you can identify with him is up to you. The other players are staple second row krimi-veterans who worked for the TV-krimis most of the time and they are doing their job nicely. These are good perfomances.

Play to win: Götz obviously has his eyes on the balls.

There is not much to complain here, with better music and more involving characters, this would be an absolute classic. Still it is on par with classics like "Sleuth" (the old one) and Hichcock's "Rope". A movie every serious connoisseur of krimi-food should have tasted and digested, I might add.

This would be high up on my wish-list of remakes. Please, Netflix..... Daniel Craig??????

They even put out a 7" with Martin Böttcher's (Winnetou)
score. Peter Thomas would have been better, though.

The movie did solid business - even more given the fact that this certainly was not an expensive one to make. With 1.500.000 spectators it just finished outside of the top 50 in Germany in 1961. Although a french co-production I cannot find either title nor figures in the french charts on this movie... Director Ashlay was consequentially chosen to direct a "real" Edgar Wallace (Red Orchids) as his next movie. He went on to become a bigshot  director for TV-krimis while Nyquist, the camera-operater later got an academy award. And you can absolutely believe that.

Original Clapper Board for the movie...

The Pidax DVD has a scan from a theatrical print which is ok. The Friedrich-Wilhem-Murnau (Germany's national institute for Film heritage preservation) Foundation has scanned and restored the movie in beautiful 4K and proper aspect ratio of 1:1.67. But it has not been made available to the public as of yet. Which is a shame.

Simply put, this is the best non-wallace-style krimi of the early 60ies.

Film poster depicting the raving
reviews for this movie: "The
movie has the class of Hichcock".
I do agree.