Review: "Freitag, der 13."/Friday 13th 1944 A Nazi-Krimi-Horror-Comedy??!!!

Sometimes the road just leads you there. Having watched "Grabenplatz 17" and researching it, I found out that director Erich Engels was an OG im Krimis, doing it from the early 30s and being successful and even influential with it. 

While most of the other folks, like Lang, the Siodmaks, Sirk, and Wilder, emigrated and created Film Noir, he stayed, although his style of British-influenced Krimis (The Blue Room and The Red Cat) was not liked by the Nazis, who were keen to create something entertaining AND German... well. 

As with all authoritarian dictatorships of all colors, domestic crime is not something to be touched upon, as too many corpses would eventually surface in their own yards, and so it is no wonder that the enormously successful production of Krimis pre-1933 basically stopped. 

The few examples that survived were either started before 1933 (like "Fährmann Maria") or completely watered down. Even more so, the audience had to be either educated or distracted. So political propaganda, war, comedies, and musicals were produced at a high rate and a high standard (it helped that directors and actors would have been drafted if they would not produce movies for the Reich).

Sometimes, though, things would slip through the cracks if done correctly, like the Conan Doyle Spoof "Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war" (The Man who would be Sherlock Holmes), for which major stars Rühmann and Albers personally went to Adolf to fight for the release of this movie.

In this case, "Freitag der 13." had been a stage play by Engels and had proven both popular and completely harmless to the system. It even takes the Nazi subject of "Revenge on the Exploiters" into account, and Engl's previous Krimi, "Dr. Crippen an Bord"/Dr. Crippen on Board, had been exceptionally successful. 

The Story:

The owner of the castle wants to sell it to move into something cozier and nearer to civilization. We start off with a sales talk to a potential client, who is willing to pay the high price asked. We meet the prototype of Eddie Arent (and Hatler from "Wixxer"!!!) with the butler who always knows too much and is both creepy and funny. Then in comes the young, single stepdaughter and castle owner's right-hand dame for the administration of the building. Guests arrive too: two journalists, making reportages about the castles in the area, and a clock collector who wants to buy some old device that is recorded to be in the castle. 

A storm closes in, and all gather around the fireplace, having a hot bowl of Glühwein as the servants prepare for the night. 

Stories are being told with the one about the "Grey Chamber" catching the attention of all, specifically that of the potential buyer. The story goes that 300 years ago the count killed his untrue wife in that chamber, and from that on, she haunts the castle as the "Black Lady," and everybody that is in that chamber alone and locked-in vanishes at precisely 01:00 a.m., leaving just a few traces like blood or personal belongings. The last case was recorded 30 years ago when the old count still had the castle. 

Of course we get a volunteer (one of the three young men) who fearlessly enters the chamber, gets locked in, and is never to be seen again.

The same happens the next night as the second of the young men tries again.

The police are called, and the castle and the surroundings are searched without result. Then the third, now the love interest of the stepdaughter, enters the chamber. As the clock strikes twelve, they remark that now Friday the 13th has arrived...

I will not spoil it for you, but you will get very early on the general direction where the film is heading, though you might not be aware of the execution. And I have to admit that I absolutely did not see the "twist" coming in the end. I'm just too harmless.

This movie has everything you would expect from a 1940s Krimi: a de facto English setting, heritages, greedy people, sweet love interests, a seedy bar (! don't ask me!), a very, very good comedic sidekick butler, and there is even shooting, knife throwing, and alcohol involved. And I should mention the Lady in Black is there, walking through the halls, too.

And the first twenty minutes are absolutely fine old-school crime stuff, competently done and even more competently played. Then the director significantly tones the suspense down so that we never really think something bad could have happened. Things do not deteriorate, though, and the movie finishes swiftly and competently. 

I did not mind seeing it, though it is not a standout movie. 

The most notable actor here is Rudolf Fernau, who throughout his career, which lasted 50 years, basically just played krimis. Before this one, he was the lead in the "Dr. Crippen" movie, and with the Krimi-wave going strong, he would be a staple player in the Rialto, CCC, and Urania/Monachia productions. He became very popular for his fatalistic and sarcastic books on history, like "Caesar lässt grüßen" (Greetings from Caesar), which took a decidedly heretical standpoint on national histories and are still in print in Germany, 70 years after their release. Here he is, the servant Robert, and what a tremendous performance that is. No wonder that Christoph Maria Herbst copied him in the "Wixxer" series.

The other interesting actor is Albert Hehn, who starred in the "lost" smuggler-Krimi "Heiße Ware" and became a very popular TV actor. He also starred in the "lost" Delirio-Caldo-Cat-O-Nine-Tails crossover "Y+XX Formel des Bösen.". 

The movie was not released in the Reich before the war ended but shown for the occupational troops in other countries. This might explain the extremely high quota of infidelity that is apparent throughout the movie. 

This could easily be the backbone of a Wallace-Style Krimi in 1966 if spiced up and relocated to England.

It was then officially released in 1950 as one of the first Krimis of the newly founded Federal Republic. As most things in Krimiland, the foundations had been there earlier and it is no surprise that a lot of Nazi-time big stars show up in the Krimis as they were not employed in the big productions of this time. Well, everybody's got his history.