The Last Witness (1960)

The Last Witness (1960)

1960-12-30 Germany 102 Min. PG-13
6.3 16 votes

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.

Cast

Martin Held is Direktor Werner Rameil
Direktor Werner Rameil
Hanns Lothar is Rechtsanwalt Dr. Fox
Rechtsanwalt Dr. Fox
Ellen Schwiers is Ingrid Bernhardy
Ingrid Bernhardy
Jürgen Goslar is Dr. Heinz Stephan
Dr. Heinz Stephan
Adelheid Seeck is Gerda Rameil
Gerda Rameil
Werner Hinz is Landgerichtsrat Ricker
Landgerichtsrat Ricker
Lore Hartling is Assessorin Ebeling
Assessorin Ebeling
Siegfried Wischnewski is Kriminalinspektor Gerhuf
Kriminalinspektor Gerhuf
Harald Juhnke is Kriminalsekretär Wenzel
Kriminalsekretär Wenzel
Otto Graf is Anwalt Dr. Beyer
Anwalt Dr. Beyer
Albert Bessler is Dr. Hollberg
Dr. Hollberg
Lucie Mannheim is Frau Bernhardy
Frau Bernhardy