Review: Der Bettler vom Kölner Dom/The Beggar at Cologne Cathedral 1927 The first Carnival Heist Movie....

I recently discovered the local Krimis, set in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district, starting with „Mädchenjagd auf St. Pauli,“ and as usual I went down this rabbit hole to find out when exactly this whole local crime thing started in cinema history. By that I mean movies that specifically use the location as part of the setting and plot. This led me to the lost silent film „Das Geheimnis von St. Pauli“/The Mystery of St. Pauli 1926, which obviously already had the „Girls drugged for sex traffic“ angle that is common with the St. Pauli movies. This film is presumed to be lost, but director Rolf Randolf made another local Krimi afterwards, the 1927 Cologne-based „Der Bettler vom Kölner Dom“/The Beggar at Cologne Cathedral. That one is available. And as an original Rhinelander, living there, that of course interested me much. It just ticked all the boxes: Krimi, Rhineland, Silent. Deal.

The Plot: An international organisation of thieves robs tourists in different European cities. Local authorities in Cologne have come to the conclusion that they now operate in this city too. Of course, around the world-famous Cathedral. Tom Wilkens, an investigator of the „International Police“ in Brussels, who had dealt successfully with that organization before, is called for help. Soon after his arrival, one police officer, disguised as a beggar, is killed in front of the Cathedral, and a message is left that Wilkens will be next. Wilkens decides to officially leave but returns under the disguise of a rich Indian entrepreneur (who looks like Mandrake), visiting Cologne for the carneval celebrations. Checking in at the best hotel, the Excelsior, right in front of the Cathedral, he deposits a chest of „unbelievably precious jewelry“ in the hotel’s safe (receiving one key of two to unlock it).

Simultanously, the rich daughter of an American car manufacturing boss, tours Europe and gets a telegram from home that, while being in Cologne, she should visit her French uncle. She checks in at Hotel Excelsior too. Her uncle, though, is part of the gang, and the telegram is fake. The plan is to have the girlfriend of the uncle sign an insurance contract (under her name) for 1 million and kill her by manipulating her fancy American sports cabriolet. The „uncle“ now arranges for a dinner table with his „niece“, his girlfriend, and Indian Wilkens, so that his girlfriend can charm Wilkens into giving her the key to the safe.

The insurance contract is sealed, the daughter falls in love with Wilkens, the girlfriend gets the key, and they manipulate the car and rob the chest during an outrageous carnival celebration at the hotel.

The whole gang (uncle, girlfriend, head of beggars, and uncle’s servant—who actually is the head of the gang) meets at the beggar's earthen hole, home to open the chest, only to find themselves fooled by Wilkens.

Daughter drives away, but Wilkens is aware of the manipulation and follows her via car and ship. As do the criminals.

Meanwhile, we get a huge plot twist as the girlfriend of the uncle is actually a secret agent who infiltrated the organization.

The usual happy end emerges with Tom Wilkens ready for more adventures.

Well. I do have a soft spot for silent cinema. There is a certain magic to it that sound films simply do not have. Together with expressionism, they sometimes evoke a dreamlike atmosphere. Sadly, this one does not.

The first reel is quite strong with the murder of the beggar and the introduction of the characters. But from then on it goes downwards as the director cuts down the mystery in favour of comedy, which is not as bad as feared but basically leaves this film undecided as no real tension builds up anymore. Some crafty shots are there, but few and far between, as are local shots in front of the cathedral. This building is so archetypically gothic that a huge chance is missed to use it as a backdrop.

Instead we get overlong festivity shots from the real carneval corso and the staged studio celebrations. It is interesting to see the actual course of 1926, but it does not evoke any kind of suspense.

Even the opening of the treasure chest, which is basically the central part of the movie (we had been informed before that it would contain an explosive device), is played for laughs and not for suspense.

No, this is not a crime drama, lost and forgotten. This is just a semi-funny, far-too-long, ordinary crime-comedy, lost and forgotten if not for the documentary shots around the Cologne Cathedral and Carneval.

The DVD by Germany’s film heritage museum offers a good scan from a reasonably good and watchable print. Region-free and English and French subtitles.

Obviously knowing that the only selling point of this movie were the documentary parts, they put in another DVD with the earliest flicks made in Cologne, starting in 1896. A delight for me, a local boy, but I fear no added value for anyone else who is not a devoted film historian for silent German krimi movies. It's nice to have a look at a lost city that never voted for Hitler but was one of the most severely destroyed in WW2.