The Last Witness
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.
Director
Wolfgang Staudte
Writer
Robert A. Stemmle, Thomas Keck, Maximilian Vernberg
Cast
Martin Held
Direktor Werner Rameil
Hanns Lothar
Rechtsanwalt Dr. Fox
Ellen Schwiers
Ingrid Bernhardy
Jürgen Goslar
Dr. Heinz Stephan
Werner Hinz
Landgerichtsrat Ricker
Siegfried Wischnewski
Kriminalinspektor Gerhuf
Harald Juhnke
Kriminalsekretär Wenzel
Albert Bessler
Dr. Hollberg
Lucie Mannheim
Frau Bernhardy
