The Dead of Amelung

A three part miniseries

(Die Tote von Amelung)

A Rialto Film production directed by Hajo Gies

Cast

The victim   ANDREA HEUER
The detectives   PAUL HERWIG - HEINZ MEIER
The suspects:
JULIA BREMERMANN - HORST-GÜNTER MARX - TILLY LAUENSTEIN - DIETER LASER - BRIGITTE JANNER - MICHAEL GWISDEK
etc.

Crew

Director   HAJO GIES
Screenplay   DR. RAINER BERG - BEATE LANGMAACK
Director of Photography   ACHIM POULHEIM
Sound   ROLAND WINKE
Editor   MOUNE BARIUS
Production Manager   MANFRED LENERT
Producers   MATTHIAS WENDLANDT - SUSAN NIELEBOCK

Plot outline

Why did the pastor's widow have to die?

It is in the middle of a heavy stormy, dark night, when a felony happens on the small island of Amelung. Victim: the widow of the pastor. To clarify the incident, the "mainland" sends out the investigators Jan Mendel and Sigurd Flotow. Jan is really excited, as this is his first "murder case". His colleague Sigurd, on the other hand, takes the case easy going: He is a drinker and lets Jan investigate more or less by himself. Why did the widow of the pastor have to die? Based on new clues and witness testimonies, the young policeman reconstructs the night in which "The Dead of Amelung" met her murderer. He is just about to solve the case, when he realizes that all 36 islanders somehow are suspects, since they all seem to be involved in some way or don't want to testify on the case. Even sympathetic Leander is under suspicion.

Who rang the bell of Amelung in the murder night?

Sheer unsolvable questions pile up: Who rang the bell of Amelung in the murder night? Did a gang of local kids remove crucial traces? What was it with the mysterious invention of the ferry operator? Or with the secret cocaine deliveries for the composer of the music studio?
From the first frames, the audience is drawn into a series of gripping events. In Hajo Gies' masterful direction, the elements of nature play just as an important role as the 36 inhabitants of the island, of whom anybody could be the killer…

The solution to the murder is a well kept secret

Who is the murderer of the "Dead of Amelung"? The solution is a well kept secret. Even the actors got their final lines of dialogue three days before producing of the last scenes. Reason: before the airing of the extraordinary three part mini-series, no hint of "who dunnit" should reach the public. For achieving this, the producers had the following idea: The script and TV master of part three was deposited in a Munich bank vault and was only taken out on the day of the airing of part three. However, if something was to be known before, there would have been only three suspects: the production, the last actors or the director of the bank in Munich…