To Monique Planson.
The cult German crime drama A Case for Two (Ein Fall für zwei) ran for 300 episodes from 1981 to 2013 on ZDF. Its second season is now available in France on DVD in the "Un cas pour deux - Intégrale saison 2" boxset (7 one-hour episodes) from Elephant Films (1).
Ein Fall für zwei was born from an idea by scriptwriters/producers Georg Althammer and Karl Heinz Willschrei,
who wanted to create a crime drama whose main character wouldn't be a cop
or an amateur sleuth. Experts in their craft, they worked for Bavaria Atelier on detective dramas like Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre (1967-1976). Karl Heinz Willschrei wrote the espionage series Alexander Zwo (1972) and several episodes of Tatort (2) or Der Alte (between 1977 and 1979). Althammer and Willschrei founded their own production company, called Monaco Film, in 1976. A subsidiary named Galmon-Film (later Odeon Film) was set up in 1981 to produce Ein Fall für zwei for the Freitagskrimi (Friday crime drama) line-up of ZDF. The
concept pitched to the channel was a duo composed of a young lawyer and
an experienced private eye. When Georg Althammer and Karl Heinz
Willschrei were told that the great actor Günter Strack (The Odessa File, Torn Curtain)
wanted to be in a TV series, they changed the tandem for an experienced
lawyer — to be played by Strack — and a young detective.
Georg Althammer gave the role of the private investigator to Claus Theo Gärtner. Regularly on stage like Günter Strack, Gärtner won of the Deutscher Filmpreis of the Best young actor for the film Zoff (1972). He played in the 1977 sci-fi TV movie Operation Ganymed and starred in the series Die Straße (1978). Ein Fall für zwei was launched by ZDF in September 1981 with a 75-minute pilot where Josef Matula (Gärtner), a Frankfurt police officer who quit the force after a romance with the sister of a young delinquent, became the personal P.I. of lawyer Dr. Dieter Renz (Strack). Günter Strack left Ein Fall für zwei
in 1988 after 60 episodes and the billiard player detective teamed up
with three other lawyers during the impressively long run of the series (3). In autumn 2011, Claus Theo Gärtner expressed his desire to leave after 30 years as Josef Matula and he bowed out with the 300th episode in March 2013. Surprisingly, ZDF decided to revamp Ein Fall für Zwei around another attorney and private detective duo. The new version started in May 2014, with the same title and even a cameo of Claus Theo Gärtner (in 2015) but without the famous theme music by jazz musician and television/film composer Klaus Doldinger (4).
Co-produced by ORF (Austria) and SRG (Switzerland) and sold in more than 50 countries, Ein Fall für Zwei arrived
in France in 1991 and the series is regularly repeated there. For a long
time, Klaus Doldinger's theme was replaced by a local intro but it was
restored for French repeats and DVDs. The "Un cas pour deux - Intégrale saison 2" 4-disc DVD boxset from Elephant Films opens with the excellent Tollwut, written by Karl Heinz Willschrei and directed by Theo Metzger (Raumpatrouille Orion). A rich widow and her young son walk in the woods with their dobermans when an aged man shoots the dogs with his riffle. Walther Buschoff (Les nouvelles aventures de Vidocq) plays Johannes Straub. The equally excellent Der Jäger als Hase was penned by jurist, writer, historian and composer Herbert Rosendorfer. Prosecuting attorney Weiermüller (Gerd Böckmann) asks Dr. Renz for advice because he's accused of traffic offenses committed by a vehicle with his license plate. Horst Sachtleben plays Windle in this episode helmed by Peter Weck.
Wilfried Klaus (SOKO 5113/SOKO München) and Charles Brauer (Tatort) are amongst the guest cast of Kratzer im Lack, written by Wolgang Storch (Star Maidens).
After a drunken dinner, a client of Dr. Renz wants to brings back a
young woman to her home but he damages a car. The same night, a murder
is committed in her building. Novelist and scriptwriter Irene Rodrian, author of several Jerry Cotton books, winner of the Edgar Wallace Prize for Tod in St. Pauli (1967) and writer of novels for children and young adults, is behind the both brilliant Überstunden and Alte Pistolen. In the former, Matula has just lost his appartment when Renz asks him to find a missing 14-year old girl (Julia Biedermann). In Alte Pistolen, the lawyer meets a seductive lady (Judy Winter) who says that her husband (Peer Augustinski) wants to kill her. Respectively directed by Wolgang Luderer and Peter Weck. Ulrich Matschoss, best known as the boss of Schimanski in Tatort, is great as Eduard Seifert in Nervenkrieg. Seifert claims that his wife and Otto Cassner, his son-in-law, want to take over his nightclubs and that Otto tried to get him killed. Matula teams up with "Philip Marlowe" (Gerd Baltus). Cassner is played by Sigmar Solbach, who later starred in Dr. Stefan Frank - Der Arzt, dem die Frauen vertrauen (1995-2001). Written by Enno Hollrath and helmed by Peter Weck.
This most satisfying second season concludes with Partner, penned by Peter Hemmer and directed by Michael Lähn. Klaus Sperber hires Matula because he suspects his wife is having an affair with his business partner. Guest starring Robert Atzorn and Ivan Desny. From 2017 and 2019, Claus Theo Gärtner returned to his signature role for three 90-minute specials. Season 8 of the revamped Ein Fall für zwei was shown last spring on ZDF. The 7 episodes of the "Un
cas pour deux - Intégrale saison 2" boxset are available in French or in German (without subtitles). Bonus material is comprised of a
photo gallery and the trailers of some other titles of Elephant
Films, like Mr. Merlin, Der Alte, American Gothic, The Blue and the Gray and From Here to Eternity (the 1979 miniseries).
(1) All Zone. The first episode of this second season is in the "Un cas pour deux - Intégrale saison 1" boxset from Elephant Films.
(2) The crime drama collection of ARD, launched in 1970 and still aired today. Karl Heinz Willschrei penned 10 Tatort TV movies, including the most watched episode ever, Rot - rot - rot (26.57 million viewers on January 1, 1978).
(3) Dr. Rainer Frank (Rainer Hunold, 1988-1997), Dr. Johannes Voss (Mathias Hermann, 1997-2000) and Dr. Markus Lessing (Paul Frielinghaus, 2001-2013).
(4) Founder of the band Passport, Klaus Doldinger composed the music of classics such as The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte, 1984) and Das Boot (1981) or the theme of Tatort.
https://www.zauberspiegel-online.de/index.php/frage-antwort/im-gesprch-mit-mainmenu-179/34716-irene-rodrian-ueber-jerry-cotton-tod-in-st-pauli-und-ihre-barcelona-krimis (An interview of Irene Rodrian)
See also:
https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-case-for-two-ein-fall-fur-zwei-season.html (Ein Fall für zwei - Season 1 on DVD)
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