Strafsache van Geldern. Willi Vogel, der Ausbrecherkönig

A murder in a villa in West Berlin. The victim is Martha van Geldern (Ellen Richter), a former revue star and now proprietor of a high-class fashion salon. The accused is her husband (Paul Richter), himself a criminal defense attorney. All evidence points to him until a former client from the Berlin underworld comes to his aid: the jailbreak king, Willi Vogel (Fritz Kampers). Ellen Richter's last surviving feature film is many things at once: a crime thriller, a courtroom drama, and the story of an impossible friendship. Not least, this talkie serves as an archive that preserves the memory of its star’s earlier successes in the silent era. In repurposed footage from the now lost film Die schönsten Beine von Berlin (Saucy Suzanne, 1927), we see Ellen Richter as a star attraction of the Ziegfeld Follies in extravagant costumes, radiant and smiling. A few months later, the Nazis came to power and ended her career for good. (Philipp Stiasny/Oliver Hanley)