The Last Witness

Overview

Director Wolfgang Staudte who left East Germany in 1953 to make movies in West Germany, takes a few swipes at the West German judicial system in this fairly effective courtroom drama about the murder of a four-month-old baby. Police almost immediately arrest the mother Ingrid who is the mistress of the father, a rich business VIP married to another woman. His position and wealth keep him insulated from suspicion. A hot-shot lawyer has to overcome the unaccountably biased perceptions of the police, the judge, the prosecutor and almost everyone else in the judicial system. The defence lawyer, driven to an extreme, knows he has to find the real killer or his client will be convicted.

Details

Cast

Martin Held

Direktor Werner Rameil

Hanns Lothar

Rechtsanwalt Dr. Fox

Ellen Schwiers

Ingrid Bernhardy

Jürgen Goslar

Dr. Heinz Stephan

Adelheid Seeck

Gerda Rameil

Werner Hinz

Landgerichtsrat Ricker

Lore Hartling

Assessorin Ebeling

Siegfried Wischnewski

Kriminalinspektor Gerhuf

Harald Juhnke

Kriminalsekretär Wenzel

Otto Graf

Anwalt Dr. Beyer

Albert Bessler

Dr. Hollberg

Lucie Mannheim

Frau Bernhardy

Hans Hessling

Vorsitzender des Schwurgerichts

Hellmut Grube

Staatsanwalt Thalmann

Rudi Schmitt

Herbert Tiede

Dr. Heinz Stephans Anwalt

Blandine Ebinger

Gymnastiklehrerin

Martin Berliner

Beamter beim Nachlassgericht

Tilly Lauenstein

Aufseherin

Ursula Diestel