Review "Grabenplatz 17" / Sinister Street 17 1958 The first "proper" Krimi

(... and the last of the old-school ones...)

If there is one movie that could be called a proto-Rialto-Wallace, "Grabenplatz 17" (Trench Plaza 17) comes close. Already filmed in Hamburg, already establishing the funny sidekick, the tough but soft-hearted nightclub singer and a mad scientist, by still putting on some nice noir filming and some good music, this is not yet there. But you can see where things will be going.

Starring Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Wolfgang Peters, Charles Regnier, and Kai Fischer, these are faces that would become very familiar in the Krimi cycle.

The story: A young boy witnesses the murder of his mother, a call girl, in her flat and runs away. As the police try to find him, so do the killers, who have time on their side as the boy is terminally ill and needs his medication. As the story unfolds, one of the killers is able to kidnap the child with the help of his lover, a nightclub singer (which gives chansonette/actress Kai Fischer a good scene to shine). The police now find a trace that leads exactly to this club called "Black Spider" and lots of seedy doings with gambling and prostitution AND WOMEN WRESTLING (of course).

The inspector is able to pin down the head of the organization, but he refuses to talk, and so they let him escape, hoping that he will lead them to the boy in time. For that purpose they attach a radioactive device secretly on him and would now be able to follow him using a Geiger counter. This is an odd feature, as it introduces the "mad scientist" into the plot. Well, of course they lose the suspect anyway, and now things get uncomfortable.

"Tight Skirts and Stilettos"....
is the Italian title ...
well,well.

The story does not sound much like a Wallace movie, and that is right, because it is not. The child witness plot takes center stage, and we still lack the overt sensationalism attached to the Rialto cycle. But the film moves at a good pace and is highly digestible. I was not bored a minute, although things are quite old-fashioned. This is clearly the 50is and not the 60is.

Red-haired Krimi-Vixen Kai Fischer
trying hard to look like Hildegard
Knef

Filmed in Göttingen, the old university town of Germany where the (west-) German film production found its new center in post-war Germany for about 10 years before moving to Munich. The reason for that is that Göttingen survived the war mostly undamaged so that movies could be made without showing all the rubble and ruins and was close to the Soviet-occupied German zone, which made it ideal for spy activity. ("Coincidentally," Göttingen would lose all of its film producers after the GDR had built "The Wall"...). The outdoor-shots were done in Hamburg too, to produce that special harbour-city feeling.

Some sources state that the movie was based on true facts (probably caused by the insert that the movie is based on a "True-Crime-Novel" in the opening credits). I seriously doubt that as the killer can be traced by using good old (or still-to-come) Mabuse SF devices. But then, this had worked for "Dr. Crippen" 15 years earlier, so why not?

Belgian Poster (The Black Spider)

These movies clearly were prudent and careful, and this movie is too. The actors deliver good performances; Peters and Fröbe really shine. Fröbe here plays a restrained mobster, which helps a lot. The director Erich Engels is one of the pioneers of the "Krimi," starting off in 1931 with "Das Geheimnis der Roten Katze"/The Mystery of the Red Cat (already starring Heinz Rühmann) and finding success with "Das Geheimnis des blauen Zimmers" (1932), which was remade in the USA three times by Universal as The Secret of the Blue Room (1933), The Missing Guest (1938), and Murder in the Blue Room (1944). 

He stayed in Germany during WW2 and produced a few Krimis in this time with "Dr. Crippen an Bord"/Dr. Crippen on Board (that one was based on a pulp novel by Walter Ebert, who was one of the most famous Krimi authors in the 40s-60s), being the outstanding Krimi of the Third Reich. He even produced a horror-comedy-krimi called "Freitag der 13./Friday 13" in 1944 (which should be investigated by KRIMI! for sure!). He commenced doing English-inspired krimis until this one here and then went to television as the author for the successful krimi TV series "Hafenpolizei"/Harbour Police.

This is the reason why this movie feels a little bit old-fashioned. It was done by the OGs of Krimi filmmaking, trying to adapt to a new time. This is a fairly unknown movie, stuck between the grandpa's good old crime movies and film noir and the upcoming 60s Wallace wave. It was released in Germany and Italy, there having the nice title of "Tight Skirts and Stilettos," which is a bit misleading. With the Wallace-wave going strong, it was released in Spain in 1964 with the meager attendance of 200,000 tickets sold. Interestingly, here the production company obviously has moved from Germany to the tax haven Liechtenstein... whatever...

 

On the KRIMIETER, it scores a high 7.5 out of 10 but is still missing the lurid craziness of the Wallace movies.

The US-DVD called "Sinister Street 17" is a lousy affair, the german DVD by Filmjuwelen has a good quality but sadly  no english subs/dubs.

It is worthwhile, though. 

Kai Fischer as Black Spider
lip-synching to:...

Renée Franke and her song:
"Sag doch bitte Du zu mir". The 
only 7" release however is sung
by Illo Schieder and the B-side
of her Single "Franz". puh. And no,
this 7" does not have a 
picture sleeve.