This is a mid sixties German film that was shown on U. S. Television as "Murder By Proxy". The literal translation of the German title is "Breakfast with the Dead". I do not believe that it was ever released theatrically here. Although the film appears to have been filmed in Europe (despite the American cars) it is supposed to take place in the USA, and all characters, despite the nationality of the actors, are portrayed as "American".
The movie, which attempts to be a hard boiled Mickey Spillane type crime thriller, concerns the downfall of a district attorney. He is accused of wrongfully convicting an innocent man by the man's widow and is subsequently framed for her murder by the real culprits. I haven't seen the movie in over 20 years so I don't remember too many specifics. The movie tries a bit too hard and the "tough American" dialogue is stilted to the point of unintentional comedy. However, it contains some effective melodrama,
and Wolfgang Preiss turns in a good performance as the framed D. A. While not great cinema, the movie is interesting and worthwhile to watch, although finding it, especially in English, would probably be very difficult. Any potential film sleuths should be aware that there are quite a number of films with the same (US) title.
The movie, which attempts to be a hard boiled Mickey Spillane type crime thriller, concerns the downfall of a district attorney. He is accused of wrongfully convicting an innocent man by the man's widow and is subsequently framed for her murder by the real culprits. I haven't seen the movie in over 20 years so I don't remember too many specifics. The movie tries a bit too hard and the "tough American" dialogue is stilted to the point of unintentional comedy. However, it contains some effective melodrama,
and Wolfgang Preiss turns in a good performance as the framed D. A. While not great cinema, the movie is interesting and worthwhile to watch, although finding it, especially in English, would probably be very difficult. Any potential film sleuths should be aware that there are quite a number of films with the same (US) title.
