Review: "Freddy und die Melodie der Nacht"/Freddy and the Night's Melody (1960), bet you did not see that one coming

 No. You did not see this one coming. We did not, either. And if it would not have been for our investigation into the life of Kai Fischer, we would have never thought about looking at this movie.

Talking about Krimis, this one is completely omitted. Like totally. There is no book or publication in Germany (or elswhere) that mentions this movie in connection with criminal films. But then it is certainly one.  And it was the second-highest grossing one ever. So why?

The reason for that is Freddy Quinn, the obvious star of the movie. This Irish-Austrian singer (real name: Franz Nidl), became a big star in 1956 with his song "Die Gitarre und das Meer" (The Guitar and the Sea) and starred in about 20 "Freddy"-movies that were not unlike the "Elvis Presley" movies, where the plot is simply an excuse to bring on as many musical numbers as possible.  And, to be honest, most of Freddy's films are as forgettable as Presley's. So is this a real Krimi or a Schlager (Musical)-Film? Well, let's have a look:

Freddy works as a taxi-driver in Berlin. He's a tough but sincere and honorable guy, who is just looking for a decent girl. That he finds in Inge, a student who works at nights selling flowers in bars. 

Freddy, Frau Bremer and Inge

Inge lives with "Frau Bremer", her landlady. She has a son called Willi. Willi and his buddy Karl do armed robbery for a living.

Willi and Karl robbing Paul.

When a friend of Freddy, a taxi-driver called Paul is robbed and heavily injured, Freddy and Inge investigate. 

Inge, informing the police

Things get violent, leading to Will's death and Freddy is in mortal danger.

Willi and Karl, not having seen the warning signs that
they should not play on the tracks.

"Melodie der Nacht" - the Soundtrack's title track.

Not bad at all.

This is a very, very interesting movie as it works as a good krimi and showcases the talent of Freddy Quinn (whose tumultuous life was inspirational to many of his movies). Things are edgy and tough and sincere and romantic and much more authentic than in contemporary star-driven movies. The movie was meant as a perfect combination, appealing both to female fans and to their male friends. In the end, both would go home satisfied and not too scared.

Talk about Freddy Quinn: This guy had been through a lot before becoming a star and this rough edge was part of his appeal to women. His niche were songs about "Sehnsucht" the desire for something that cannot be achieved (and which could only be translated as "non-fulfillable longing"), and this movie here lives in his own world as strangely dislocated from the real Berlin as the Caribbean movies and songs Freddy Quinn was mostly known for. To put his success in perspective, he sold over 60 million vinyl albums back in the 1950s and 1960s making him one of continental Europe's biggest star. 

Talking of women, here we get Heidi Brühl as Inge and clearly the main focus on advertising was to show the two of them together. Brühl had been a big "Heimatfilm" star in Germany at that time, but had also starred in the initial juvenile delinquents smash-hit "Verbrechen nach Schulschluss" (Crimes after School) in 1959, directed by Alfred Vohrer. She later moved and married to Hollywood, appearing (amongst many other tv productions) in the Colombo-episode "The most dangerous Match" bevor dying at the age of 49 due to cancer. Despite her massive Schlager-singing reputation, she was not allowed to sing in this movie here :-(

Heidi Brühl as Inge and Grethe Weiser (one of Nazi-Germany's
biggest stars) as "Frau Bremer".

And, of course, we have Kai Fischer in here as "girlfriend"/"hooker" that has to deliver her hard-earned money to Willi. And now we know that this woman obviously even slept in her corsage. Well, done, Kai.

Kai Fischer, ready for business.

There are numerous showgirls and show acts, as - of course - Freddy does have a job and has to pick up his customers in the Variety bars of Berlin. The movie has a nice balance of romance, crime, and entertainment and is certainly not as far as lightweight as one would expect. It has a certain aimlessness to it that then again reflects the drfting and episodic character of one night out in the metropole as well as the open-ending of the nouvelle vague. 

Director Hans-Christoph Blumenfeld reprised the idea of the taxi driver, being the chauffeur to a young student in his 1983 Mabuse-themed thriller "1000 Augen"/1000 Eyes that has a very similar tone to it but replaced Freddy Quinn with his old Schlager-buddy Peter Kraus (but I would bet that Blumenfeld had Quinn in mind when he wrote the part).

Being a box-office smash-hit (only to be outdone slightly by the Heinz-Rühmann-Father-Brown-top-selling-Krimi-of-all-time "Er kann's nicht lassen"), it injected even more Schlager-music into Krimis, a trend that would end around 1964 with "Hotel der Toten Gäste". Anyway, it far outgrossed the Wallace-hits "Der Rächer" and "Die Bande des Schreckens" of the same year. Even "Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse" could not compete here. 

The German Murnau Foundation restored the movie and published it as a double-bill DVD together with Freddy's biggest movie "Freddy und das Lied der Südsee" again ignoring the krimi content in favor of labeling it under "Freddy"-movie.

Screen-shot from the restored version.