''All Clues Lead to Berlin'' (german: Die Spur führt nach Berlin) is a 1952 West German
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
František Čáp
František Čáp (7 December 1913 – 12 January 1972), also known as Franz Cap in Germany, was a Czech and later a Yugoslav film director and screenwriter. He directed 32 films between 1939 and 1970. Having created Slovene film classics such as ...
and starring
Gordon Howard,
Irina Garden
Irina ( Cyrillic: Ирина) is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη), an ancient Greek goddess, personification of p ...
and
Kurt Meisel
Kurt Meisel (18 August 1912 – 4 April 1994) was an Austrian actor and film director. He appeared in 65 films between 1934 and 1994. He also directed 21 films between 1949 and 1984. Meisel was married to the actress Ursula Lingen. He was born a ...
. It is also known by the
alternative title
An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the t ...
s ''Adventure in Berlin'' and ''International Counterfeiters''.
It portrays a gang of
counterfeiter
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
s with links to the former
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
regime.
It was shot at the
Spandau Studios
The Spandau Studios or CCC Studios were film and television studios located in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin. They were established in 1949 following the Second World War by the producer Artur Brauner
Artur "Atze" Brauner (born Abraham Brauner; ...
and
on location across
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 ...
including at the ruins of the
Reichstag building
The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament.
It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...
. 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 ...
s
Emil Hasler
Emil Hasler (November 8, 1901 – January 15, 1986) was a German art director who worked on more than a hundred films during his career. These included a number of Weimar classics such as ''Diary of a Lost Girl, M'' and ''The Blue Angel''.Prawe ...
and
Walter Kutz
Walter Kutz (1904 – 1983) was a German art director.Langford p.223
Selected filmography
* ''Nora'' (1944)
* '' Dreaming'' (1944)
* ''The Silent Guest'' (1945)
* ''And the Heavens Above Us'' (1947)
* ''Nights on the Nile'' (1949)
* ''The Chaste ...
. It was given a British release in 1953.
Plot
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 make any obstacles 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 the 'Stern'. The man who was shot also carried the 'star' with him, obviously a mark of identification. After the shooter, whom the woman with the 'star' on the elevator sees for a few seconds, has disappeared, she 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. The dying man tells the father of the family the beginning of his name, Dorn, only twice more... before he dies. When the elevator operator is informed of the murder, those present look down where the killer rushes across the street and sped off in a black limousine that was waiting for him.
The police start a large-scale manhunt and Berlin's cops attach themselves in their VW Beetles to the limousine driven by the crook Martin. 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. The two detectives Wengen and Lüdecke are busy with US dollar bills, which are flooding West Berlin in large numbers, when Lüdecke mentions the murder at the radio tower. Apparently the two cases are related. Meanwhile, an American flies into Tempelhof. It is the lawyer Ronald Roberts who is 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 later murdered man in the radio tower restaurant at the beginning of the film. Roberts explains to Vera that her father inherited a farm in Ohio and $150,000 from his stepbrother. Vera then explains to Roberts that her father is no longer alive and 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. Both are dating. Little does Roberts know that Vera knows a lot more than she lets on. In fact, her father, once a sought-after artist, 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.
Cast
*
Gordon Howard as Ronald Roberts / Claude Norbert in the French version
* as Vera Dornbrink
*
Kurt Meisel
Kurt Meisel (18 August 1912 – 4 April 1994) was an Austrian actor and film director. He appeared in 65 films between 1934 and 1994. He also directed 21 films between 1949 and 1984. Meisel was married to the actress Ursula Lingen. He was born a ...
as Gregor Pratt
*
Hans Nielsen as Kriminalrat Dr. Wangen
*
Wolfgang Neuss
Wolfgang Neuss (3 December 1923 – 5 May 1989) was a German actor and Kabarett artist. Beginning in the mid-1960s, he also became famous for his political engagement, first for the SPD, then for the extra-parliamentary opposition, ''APO''. H ...
as Martin
*
Ernst Konstantin
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst"
* Anton Ernst (1975- ...
as Major Sirotkin
*
Barbara Rütting
Barbara Rütting (21 November 1927 – 28 March 2020)Paul Bildt
Paul Hermann Bildt (19 May 1885 – 13 March 1957) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany.
Selected filmography
* ''Devil in Silk'' (1956)
* ''Ich suche Di ...
as Karl Dornbrink
*
Heinz Engelmann
Heinz Engelmann (1911–1996) was a German film actor. He was married to the actress Gertrud Meyen.
Selected filmography
* '' D III 88'' (1939)
* ''Drei Unteroffiziere'' (1939)
* ''Congo Express'' (1939)
* ''The Girl at the Reception'' (1940)
* ...
as Kommissar Max Lüdecke
*
Heinz Giese
Heinz Giese (June 5, 1919 – October 19, 2010) was a German film and television actor.Hoefert p.97 He was also a voice actor, dubbing foreign-language films for release in Germany.
Selected filmography
* '' All Clues Lead to Berlin'' (1952)
* ' ...
as Richard Browski
*
Herbert Kiper
Herbert Kiper (1897–1978) was a German stage and film actor.Körner p.370
Selected filmography
* ''Dancer of Death'' (1920)
* '' Without Meyer, No Celebration is Complete'' (1931)
* '' Duty Is Duty'' (1931)
* '' Quartet of Five'' (1949)
* '' He ...
as Kommissar Kretschmer
*
Klaus Miedel
Klaus is a German language, German, Dutch language, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas.
Notable persons whose family name is Klaus
*Billy Klau ...
as Vernon, Interpol-Delegierter
*
Werner Schöne
*
Rudi Stöhr
*
Walter Bechmann
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
*
Walter Tarrach
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name)
Walter is a German masculine given name derived from Old High German ''Walthari'', composed of the elements ''walt-'' (Proto-Germanic ''*wald-'') "power", "ruler", and ''hari'' (Proto-Germanic ''*χar ...
as Werner, Zeuge
*
Heinz Oskar Wuttig as Kriminaldezernent Lonergan
*
Willi Braunsdorf as Groß, Fälscher
*
Ruth Nimbach
Ruth (or its variants) may refer to:
Places
France
* Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France
Switzerland
* Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny
United States
* Ruth, Alabama
* Ruth, Ar ...
*
Harro ten Brook as Kriminaldzernent Harris
*
Eric Schildkraut
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
*
Joe Furtner
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
*
Rolf Heydel Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic languages, Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' (Rudolph (name), Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The O ...
as Kriminalkommissar Bludau
*
Josef Kamper
Josef Kamper (1925–1984) was an international Motorcycle speedway, speedway rider from Austria.
Speedway career
Kamper was a five times champion of Austria after winning the Austrian Individual Speedway Championship in 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958 ...
as Kröger, Fälscher
*
Peter Lehmbrock
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
as Wittels, Fälscher
*
Horst Buchholz
Horst Werner Buchholz (4 December 1933 – 3 March 2003) was a German actor who appeared in more than 60 feature films from 1951 to 2002. During his youth, he was sometimes called "the German James Dean". He is perhaps best known in English- ...
as Junger Mann am Funkturm
*
Günter Pfitzmann
Günter Pfitzmann (8 April 1924 – 30 May 2003) was a German film actor who appeared in more than 60 films between 1950 and 2001. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany.
Selected filmography
* ''Only One Night'' (1950)
* ''All Clues Lead ...
as Polizist in Funkzentrale
References
Bibliography
* Baer, Hester. ''Dismantling the Dream Factory: Gender, German Cinema, and the Postwar Quest for a New Film Language''. Berghahn Books, 2012.
External links
* {{IMDb title, 0045185
1952 films
1950s thriller films
German thriller films
West German films
1950s German-language films
Films directed by František Čáp
Films set in Berlin
Films shot in Berlin
German black-and-white films
Films shot at Spandau Studios
1950s German films