The Last Witness

The Last Witness

102 mins | Crime | Dec. 30, 1960

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.

The Last Witness

102 mins | Crime | Dec. 30, 1960

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.
IMDb rating 6.9
Producers Kurt Ulrich Filmproduktion
Original title Der letzte Zeuge
Directors Wolfgang Staudte
Writers Maximilian Vernberg, Thomas Keck, Robert A. Stemmle

Cast

Martin Held

as Direktor Werner Rameil

Hanns Lothar

as Rechtsanwalt Dr. Fox

Ellen Schwiers

as Ingrid Bernhardy

Jürgen Goslar

as Dr. Heinz Stephan

Adelheid Seeck

as Gerda Rameil

Werner Hinz

as Landgerichtsrat Ricker

Lore Hartling

as Assessorin Ebeling

Siegfried Wischnewski

as Kriminalinspektor Gerhuf

Harald Juhnke

as Kriminalsekretär Wenzel

Otto Graf

as Anwalt Dr. Beyer

Albert Bessler

as Dr. Hollberg

Lucie Mannheim

as Frau Bernhardy

Hans Hessling

as Vorsitzender des Schwurgerichts

Hellmut Grube

as Staatsanwalt Thalmann

Herbert Tiede

as Dr. Heinz Stephans Anwalt

Blandine Ebinger

as Gymnastiklehrerin

Martin Berliner

as Beamter beim Nachlassgericht

Tilly Lauenstein

as Aufseherin

Alexa von Porembsky

as Sekretärin

Harald Sawade

as Portier