Allmen, the dandy turned art detective, must find a stolen painting.
Johann Friedrich von Allmen lives in Zurich. He's a bon vivant, a man of culture and taste who likes elegance and refinement. Allmen has no equal when it comes to spending his money, to the point that he squandered the family fortune. Carlos, his faithful Guatemalan manservant, does his best to moderate — not without a touch of irony — the flamboyant "Don John". Thankfully, an expertise in tracing missing artworks allows Allmen to maintain his costly lifestyle.
Created by bestselling Swiss author Martin Suter, Allmen first appeared in Allmen and the Dragonflies (Allmen und die Libellen, 2011), a novel followed by five more. Four Allmen TV movies based on the books were aired by German pubcaster Das Erste since 2017: Allmen und das Geheimnis der Libellen, Allmen und das Geheimnis des rosa Diamanten, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien and Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik. A fifth one, Allmen und der Koi, is in preparation. Those films star Heino Ferch (Nordholm, Anatomy of Evil) as Allmen and Samuel Finzi (Flemming) as Carlos.
Andrea Osvárt (Tranporter: The Series) plays Joelle "Jojo" Hirt, the daughter of one of the richest men in Switzerland and Allmen's love interest. From the second film, Isabella Parkinson joined the cast as Carlos's Colombian girlfriend Maria Moreno. Adapted by scriptwriter Martin Rauhaus (Hotel Heidelberg) from the book Allmen und die Dahlien, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien is directed by Thomas Berger (Kommissarin Lucas).
During a romantic getaway with Jojo at the Grandhotel Gutbauer, Allmen cannot help to notice a facade climber. This leads him in the private suite of the eccentric
Dahlia Gutbauer, the owner of the luxury establishment. Someone has stolen from her a
precious Fantin-Latour entitled Dahlias (of course)
and the old lady wants it back. The founder of Allmen
International Inquiries must find the painting or his valet will have to return to his country.
Maria, who's an illegal immigrant like Carlos, witnessed a
murder and she's wanted by the police. Allmen meets Tino Rebler, a
businessman and a second Dahlia: the beautiful psychologist Dahlia Scheidegger. Most of the charm of these adaptations of Allmen comes from the performances of the both talented Heino Ferch (with an incredible look) and Samuel Finzi as the duo, often compared to P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.
Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien is another fast-paced and humorous adventure of the gentleman detective/philosopher, though the resolution is unsatisfying. The sets and locations of this episode, filmed in Zurich, Prague and Germany, are superb. The pleasant suprise of the excellent guest cast is definitely the presence of Mehdi Nebbou as Rebbler. The French actor, who played in films helmed by Steven Spielberg or Ridley Scott and in the U.S. drama Homeland, regularly works for German TV.
Mehdi Nebbou was recently seen on French private channel TF1 alongside Audrey Fleurot in HPI. This fun and well crafted comedy/crime drama established itself as a ratings phenomenon, beating historic records and ranking amongst the most watched television fictions in Europe. With Katharina Schüttler (Dahlia Scheidegger), Florian Stetter (Claude Tenz), Erni Mangold (Dahlia Gutbauer), Udo Samel (Severin Erlbaum), Christina Hecke (Cheryl Tatfeld), Oscar Ortega Sánchez (Don Gregorrio), Roman Smejkal
(Arnold), etc.
Produced by UFA Fiction for ARD Degeto and Das Erste. Benjamin Benedict and Sinah Swyter are the producers. Karsten Kilian is the production manager. Holger Krenz and Kirsten Frehse (ARD Degeto) are the line producers. Music by Fabian Römer and Mathias Hillebrand-Gonzalez. Benedikt Herforth is the production designer. Cinematography by Frank Küpper. Editing by Lucas Seeberger. Production services in Prague by Michal Pokorný and Zbyněk Pippal for Mia Film (Der Zürich-Krimi).
Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien is now available in the U.S. as Allmen: The Mystery of the Dahlias, thanks to MHz Choice. The SVOD service also has the first two TV films under the titles Allmen: The Secret of the Dragonflies and Allmen: The Pink Diamond. Allmen is distributed by Beta Film.
https://herforth.info/index.html (Benedict Herforth)
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