This DEFA/West German coproduction about a daring bank robber was a huge hit on both side of the German border. It’s based on an actual bank robbery…… Read more “The Break-In”
Category: Krimi
Murder on Monday
East Germany dips into the Krimi film genre with a movie about the seedy underbelly of Frankfurt. Germany has given the world plenty of great films and…… Read more “Murder on Monday”
What Should I Watch?
A guide to what to watch while your stuck at home during the pandemic. Here are a few you East German films with English subtitles that are…… Read more “What Should I Watch?”
Pension Boulanka
A murder has been committed at the Pension Boulanka, but there are too many suspects. Here’s a classic example of a German Krimi, East German-style. A few…… Read more “Pension Boulanka”
Interrogating the Witnesses
At first, Interrogating the Witnesses (Vernehmung der Zeugen) looks like it’s going to be a murder mystery, or a police procedural. A boy named Rainer (Mario Gericke)…… Read more “Interrogating the Witnesses”
Radio Killer
It’s no secret that the East Germans and the West Germans spied on each other. Like the characters in Antonio Prohías’ Spy vs. Spy cartoon strip, each…… Read more “Radio Killer”
The Persons Involved
The Persons Involved (Die Beteiligten) came out in June, 1989, and was the last Kriminalfilm DEFA released prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is…… Read more “The Persons Involved”
Track in the Night
In America, we tend to parse out films about crime into specific categories, such as heist films, detective films, film noir, mysteries, and so on. In both…… Read more “Track in the Night”
No Proof for Murder
No Proof for Murder (Für Mord kein Beweis) belongs to the film genre that Germans (East and West) call Krimis. We’d call them “crime films,” although we…… Read more “No Proof for Murder”
Bellboy Ed Martin
Although Bellboy Ed Martin (Hotelboy Ed Martin) is considered a minor film in the DEFA catalog, there is no other DEFA film with quite as interesting a…… Read more “Bellboy Ed Martin”
