''About an Inquest'' (french: Autour d'une enquête) is a 1931 German

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by Henri Chomette and

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as ''The Killers'' (19 ...

and starring Annabella,

Jean Périer Jean (Alexis) Périer (2 February 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French operatic baryton-martin and actor. Although he sang principally within the operetta repertoire, Périer did portray a number of opera roles; mostly within operas by Wolfgang ...

and

Colette Darfeuil Colette Darfeuil (born Emma Henriette Augustine Floquet, 7 February 1906 – 15 October 1998) was a French actress whose film career began at age 14 in 1920 and continued through the early 1950s. Darfeuil made her screen debut in at age 14 ...

. It was produced by

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

, as the French-language version of the studio's film ''

Inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

''. Such

multiple-language version A multiple-language version film, often abbreviated to MLV, is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of making sound films in only one ...

s were common in the early years of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

before

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

became widespread. It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Erich Kettelhut Erich Karl Heinrich Kettelhut (1 November 1893 – 13 March 1979) was a German production designer, Art director#In film, art director and set decorator. Kettelhut is considered one of the most important artists in the history of early German cin ...

Cast

* Annabella as Greta Bienert *

as the judge Conrad Bienert *

as Mella Zier *

Florelle Florelle (born Odette Élisa Joséphine Marguerite Rousseau, 9 August 1898 – 28 September 1974) was a French soprano singer and actress. She gained fame as Polly Peachum in the French film ''The Threepenny Opera'', after which she had numero ...

as Erna Kabisch *

Pierre Richard-Willm Pierre Richard-Willm (3 November 1895 – 12 April 1983) was a French stage and film actor during the 1930s and 1940s."Pierre Richard-Willm" aCiné-Ressources Retrieved 1 November 2020. Biography Pierre Richard-Willm (originally Alexandre-Pi ...

as Paul Brent *

Gaston Modot Gaston Modot (31 December 1887 – 20 February 1970) was a French actor. For more than 50 years he performed for the cinema working with a number of great French directors. Biography Modot lived in Montmartre at the beginning of the 20th cen ...

as Baumann, detective *

Jacques Maury Jacques Maury (10 November 1920 – 12 April 2020) was a French pastor. Biography Jacques was the son of Pierre Maury, a dogmatic professor at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris. Pierre Maury introduced the ideas of Karl Barth in France. ...

as Walter Binert *

Paul Ollivier François Hilarion Paul Olivari, stage name Paul Ollivier (10 February 1876 - 10 June 1948) was a French film actor. Selected filmography * ''The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge'' (1925) * ''The Queen of Moulin Rouge'' (1926) * ''The Imaginary Voyag ...

as old Scherr * Robert Ancelin as Klatte * as concierge Zühlke * Pierre Franck as Brann *

Willy Rozier Willy Rozier (27 June 1901 – 29 May 1983) was a French actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter who also used the pseudonym Xavier Vallier. Filmography Director * ''Les Monts en flammes'' (1931) * ''Calais-Dover'' (1931) * ''Le ...

*Théo Tony *Laila Bensedira as Singer

References

External links

* German crime films 1931 crime films Films directed by Henri Chomette Films directed by Robert Siodmak UFA GmbH films German multilingual films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios Films set in Berlin German black-and-white films 1931 multilingual films 1930s French-language films 1930s German films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub