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.

• Release date
• December 30, 1960
• Runtime
• 102 min
• Genres
• Crime, Drama
• Director
• Wolfgang Staudte

Cast

Martin Held Direktor Werner Rameil Hanns Lothar Rechtsanwalt Dr. Fox Ellen Schwiers Ingrid Bernhardy Jürgen Goslar Dr. Heinz Stephan

A

Adelheid Seeck Gerda Rameil Werner Hinz Landgerichtsrat Ricker

L

Lore Hartling Assessorin Ebeling Siegfried Wischnewski Kriminalinspektor Gerhuf