Directed by Ladislao Vajda; produced by Lazar Wechsler and Artur Brauner
Oberleutnant Matthäi (Heinz Rühmann) is leaving the Zurich Cantonal Police to take a job re-organising the police in Jordan. Before he leaves Switzerland, however, he is called to one last murder-scene: that of a small child. Matthäi turns over the investigation to his successor, Lieutenant Heinzi (Siegfried Lowitz), who quickly arrests the peddlar who found the body. After an intense interrogation, the peddlar kills himself, and the case is considered closed. But Matthäi doesn’t believe in the peddlar’s guilt, and begins his own inquiries, which could bring himself - and innocent people - into danger.
A very entertaining and involving crime drama, It Happened in Broad Daylight is almost as interesting in its making; it is a very international film. A Swiss-Spanish-West German co-production, its dialogue is in German (the language of the setting) and stars mainly German and Swiss actors. Yet the principal female player (María Rosa Salgado) is Spanish, playing a Swiss, and there’s an Italian actor (Ettore Cella), while the director is a Hungarian, who made movies in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Britain, as well as his homeland. The picture’s cosmopolitan nature is demonstrated in the version I saw: in German with English sub-titles but with Spanish credits (which gives the title as it must be in Spain: El Cebo (The Bait).
Sometimes, such a collaboration can lead to muddle, but It Happened in Broad Daylight runs smoothly, thanks to the direction and script, and the lead actor. Rühmann was one of Germany’s most popular performers, starting in the theatre and moving into comedy films, later taking on more dramatic roles. He is perfectly cast here as the dedicated Matthäi. The other actors are just as good, though it is Rühmann who is the film’s centre. The only face that might be familiar to North American audiences is that of Gert Fröbe, who played the title character in Goldfinger.
The story is tense without being overly dramatic. It creates an intriguing character in Matthäi, who is not the obsessed detective one finds in many similar movies. The parents of the murdered child make him promise to find her killer, and he takes the promise seriously, but it doesn’t overwhelm him. Even leaving the police force in the first place he finds rather regretful, but little more than a natural career move for him. Nonetheless, he becomes dedicated in his hunt for the murderer.
The narrative is not really a mystery for the viewer, since we are shown the killer about three fifths of the way through the movie. But this does not ruin the story. Instead, it adds to the suspense, showing the acceleration toward the next crime from the criminal’s point of view, while Matthäi continues to struggle with finding the culprit.
The setting, for non-Europeans, is also of interest. For the most part, movies provide views and interpretations of Switzerland that look like they are half-travelogue, frequently with obligatory shots of mountains. Switzerland as seen here is rather a more work-a-day country, less intrinsically picturesque, more familiarly bu still exotic.
It Happened in Broad Daylight is an excellent crime and detective film; not a mystery, but exciting and entertaining even so.
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