REVIEW: 12 STUNDEN ANGST / 12 HOURS OF FEAR - A STRANGE EVA BARTOK EXTRAVAGANZA KRIMI (1959)

Ah, yes. So KRIMI! #1 is out now and the usual rush of chaos and adrenaline is gone. Needless to say, I did not feel up to watching Krimis in the last weeks. But then, KRIMI! THE ENCYCLOPEDIA is up next and there are a few movies are still to be watched.

In comes a  good bottle of Port and this very, very good but slightly off excercise by sleaze-specialist Geza Radvanyi (those Hungarians had the funny habit of using both possession-indicating-pronouns - the Hungarian and the German in their movies... so:) sorry, Geza VON Radvanyi (ok, going by this, I want you to call me Boris VON Brosowski from now on...).

This German-French co-production is a very strange one and I am really tempted to find out the story behind the movie, but for now, let's stick to the review:

Two Killers have fled from the prison near Marseilles. They take with them the cell-mate of the leader (Hannes Messemer) as he is interested to find out what is it about the cell-mate's love interest, he went to prison for and about which he has been hallucinating for three years in the cell.

He also has talked about 300.000 Francs that she had taken care of when he was captured by the police. So the plan is to get her and the money, new passports and a ship. Cool.

Boyfriend gets shot during the escape, so he cannot get to Barbara (Eva Bartok), who is now living with the brutal blackmailer/photograph Gert Fröbe, who has imprisoned her. 

When Messemer shows up, Fröbe is gone to take pictures and so he finds out that Eva Bartok is exactly the Fata Morgana in the flesh that his cell-mate has described. He falls for her. And he is the alpha-male here, so she falls for him.

But the money is gone as Fröbe had taken it away from her. Meanwhile, third buddy Lino Ventura takes care of the passports and the female passport forger (none else than silent child-actress turned producer Suzy Prim) while looking after the wounded boyfriend/cellmate. Doing that, a french cop falls in love with Lino in a not-so-very-much-disguised homo-erotic detour.

Eva comes up with a plan to get the needed money nevertheless as she can blackmail a love-interest of hers. That one is about to marry a rich girl. That rich girl is happy to pay Eva the needed money for the waiting ship to get rid of her. All of this has to go quickly as at 6 p.m. the ship will be leaving. 

So they all meet at Gert Fröbe's house: The Alpha-Male, Eva, Gert, the lover, his fiancee and Lino. And so the dance begins to find out who will survive and what will happen with that money.

There is little to complain in the technical department. Radvanyi knows his trade and the camera moves in an out in mesmeriszing black and white. Beautiful shots. And such a beautiful Eva Bartok whose slight Hungarian accent makes her even more appealing when she spoke German. 

Everybody: EVERYBODY is on the money here, delivering top-notch performances: Fröbe does his usual uninhibited manical self right down to severly groping Bartok (a habit we can often witness when he was acting with very beautiful women... (see VIA MALA!)). We get some stellar, totally detached performance by Bartok as the "victim"and Messemer is the quintessential alpha-male: sly and menacing, calculating and dangerous. Lino Ventura also is top-notch here. 

This is a joy to watch. 

Radvanyi, who became big-time with MÄDCHEN IN UNIFORM/GIRLS IN UNIFORM and INGRID-THE STORY OF A PHOTOMODEL would later finish his career on the exceptional PARAPSYCHO-SPECTRUM OF FEAR.

This movie, however, has a few problems. First: The Title. It's neither 12 STUNDEN ANGST/"12 Hours of Fear" as the movie captures only 6 hours of waitng for the ship. Neither is it IHR VERBRECHEN WAR LIEBE/"Their Crime was Love" (alternative title) which is simpy rediculous as the movie is about basically everything concerning relationships between men and woman - but certainly NOT love. More suitable is the 3rd alternative German title AUCH TOTE ZAHLEN DEN VOLLEN PREIS/"Even the Dead Pay the Full Price" which refers to the ship's captain demanding his pay even if the wounded fugitive dies.

Second problem is the imbalance between the comedic (Ventura and his french police "love interest") and the grim situation EVA has found herself in.

And then there is the "summit" which strangely never happens as all the protagonists do not seem to interact. But there is a shootout and a good twist ending and with the credits rolling, the bottle of Port was empty and I sat down to write this review. So please excuse all the alcohol-induced mistakes here.

Good-night.