It Happened in Broad Daylight (Es geschah am hellichten Tag)
Directed by Ladislao Vajda
Written by Friedrich Durrenmatt, Hans Jacoby and Ladislao Vajda from Durrenmatt’s novel
1958/Switzerland/West Germany/Spain
Praesens Film/Central Film Company Film/Chamartin Producciones y Distribuciones
First viewing/Amazon Instant
“When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes a-runnin’, but not to help.” ― Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs
Here is an excellent and creepy police procedural about child murder.
Jacquier (Michel Simon), an old peddler, stumbles upon the body of a young girl in the woods. He reports this to the police but they doubt his story and end by pinning the murder on him. The only person who believes him is Inspector Matthai but he is due to retire the next day and is ordered to stay away from the case. A shocking development makes Matthai determined to hunt down the real killer by himself if necessary.
Matthai follows a series of clues he gleans from the victim’s drawings to an Alpine village. There he hopes to attract his man with a little girl who resembles the victim. He is almost too successful. With Gert Frobe as a bad guy.
Every “year” I look forward to discovering one or more hidden gems. This one was delivered to me courtesy of scanning Amazon Instant, though it also appears to be currently available on YouTube. The version I watched was dubbed but still absorbing. The director has developed a palpable sense of menace and the acting is uniformly excellent. Reportedly, it was Gert Frobe’s performance in this film that drew the producers’ attention to cast him in Goldfinger. Recommended.
