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All Clues Lead to Berlin

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All Clues Lead to Berlin
Scene shot amongst the remains of the ruined Reichstag
Directed byFrantišek Čáp
Written by
Produced byArtur Brauner
Starring
CinematographyHelmut Ashley
Edited byJohanna Meisel
Music byHerbert Trantow
Production
company
Distributed byPrisma-Filmverleih
Associated British-Pathé (UK)
Release date
  • 28 November 1952 (1952-11-28)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman

All Clues Lead to Berlin (German: Die Spur führt nach Berlin) is a 1952 West German thriller film directed by František Čáp and starring Gordon Howard, Irina Garden and Kurt Meisel.[1] It is also known by the alternative titles Adventure in Berlin and International Counterfeiters.

It portrays a gang of counterfeiters with links to the former Nazi regime.

It was shot at the Spandau Studios and on location across Berlin including at the ruins of the Reichstag building. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Emil Hasler and Walter Kutz. It was given a British release in 1953.

Plot[edit]

Berlin in the early 1950s. Two men take the elevator up the Berlin radio tower. A heated argument ensues between the two. One man asks the other, reluctantly, not to resist and to come with him. "She informed us," he says ambiguously. When the other refuses, the first pulls out a revolver. A scuffle ensues, then a shot is fired, which is drowned out by a plane flying over the top of the radio tower. The gunman flees back down with the elevator. Meanwhile, on the floor with the restaurant below, a young, elegant woman is waiting, drinking a coffee and reading 'Stern' magazine. The man who was shot also had a copy of 'Stern' on him, obviously an agreed sign to ensure the two would recognize one another. The woman sees the shooter for a few seconds in front of the elevator, then rushes up to the viewing platform and sees the fatally wounded man dying. Blood trickles from his chest. Another man with his wife and two young children have also arrived on the platform. With his dying breath, the man tells the father of the family the first syllable of his name, Dorn. Down at street level, the killer can be seen rushing across the street and speeding off in a black limousine that was waiting for him. The limousine driven by a crook called Martin races eastwards with police cars in hot pursuit. When the gangsters are about to be caught, Martin dashes through the police blockade and escapes through the Brandenburg Gate to the east of the city.

Wengen and Lüdecke, two local detectives, are working a case involving large amounts of US dollar bills flooding West Berlin. When they hear of the shooting, they have a hunch that the two cases are related. Meanwhile, American lawyer Ronald Roberts arrives in Berlin, looking for a Karl Dornbrink. Since he cannot find him, he first looks up his daughter Vera Dornbrink, who works as a ballet teacher. She is the woman who was waiting for the murder victim in the restaurant. Roberts explains to Vera that her father inherited a farm in Ohio and $150,000 (approximately $1,700,000 in today's money[2]) from his stepbrother. Vera then explains to Roberts that her father died in a labor camp in Austria shortly before the end of the war. Roberts quickly takes a liking to Vera and tries to get to know her better. The two start dating. However, Vera knows a lot more than she lets on. In fact, her father, who used to work as a graphic artist at the government printing office, is still alive.

Gregor Pratt, head of a counterfeiting ring, has been pressuring Vera to cooperate with him for some time. Pratt holds Vera's 65-year-old father captive and forces the graphic artist to help make the fake dollar bills. The gang also includes Browski. He is the man who shot the dropout Groß, who also belongs to the gang, on the radio tower. Roberts quickly realizes that Vera didn't tell him the whole truth and confronts her with his findings. Things soon come to a head. A trail leads Roberts to Humboldthafen, where the American is attacked by Martin and Browski and finally knocked out. Eventually he ends up in the water, wakes up in a convalescent home apparently in East Berlin and is questioned by a Soviet interpreter named Tamara on behalf of her superior, the Soviet Major Sirotkin. The Berlin police have now determined that the dollar bills that have appeared in large numbers are counterfeits. As a result, the American occupation forces in Berlin pricked up their ears, and Kriminalrat Wengen joined forces with his US colleague, Kriminaldezernaut Harris. The British also intervene through the crime department head Lonergan.

Gradually, the ring around the criminal gang tightens, the police and the members of the counterfeiting ring deliver fast-paced chases all over West Berlin. Roberts and Vera are now caught between the fronts, and Pratt, hypocritically claiming his love for Vera, has made her his prisoner. The gangsters have set up their workshop at the interface between the west and east sectors, under the ruined Reichstag building, where you least expect them to be. Roberts, with a head injury, shows up to rescue Pratt and Vera's father, Karl Dornbrink, from the villains' hands. Gang leader Pratt drags Vera away, pursued by Roberts. In the meantime, the Berlin police stormed the hiding place to dig it out. This eventually leads to a fight with the gangsters.[3]

Cast[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Baer p.106
  2. ^ https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=150000&year=1952
  3. ^ Cáp, Frantisek (1958-02-14), Die Spur führt nach Berlin (Crime, Thriller), Central Cinema Company Film (CCC), retrieved 2022-05-02

Bibliography[edit]

  • Baer, Hester. Dismantling the Dream Factory: Gender, German Cinema, and the Postwar Quest for a New Film Language. Berghahn Books, 2012.

External links[edit]

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