This is really a little masterpiece! It captures so much of the mood of the late 50's and early 60's in Germany. The solving of a cold case, nowadays a regular subject in any crime show, was pretty new and fascinating in 1962. And to tell the case in flashbacks on a train ride into the mountains, with all the little interruptions to heighten the suspense, was a masterstroke in storytelling. Rudolf Platte in his only appearance in the Stahlnetz series, is the perfect role model of a diligent police officer who doesn't give in when others considered it hopeless.
The whole thing has an eerie feeling, one watches and cannot really believe what he sees. This is really a German crime film that is believable and intelligent and has suspense! Of all episodes this one is my absolute favorite! The way the story unfolds, the mood, the settings, the actors and the story itself fit together like in no other episode.
And it is unique among the other episodes in that it breaks most often the big taboo of the series, WWII. It starts out with visual references of the hardships after the war, the murder has been committed in 1946, just after the war. The victim had served as marine officer in the war, the killings of 100,000's just a year ago is mentioned, someone gets discribed as a true Nazi, the housing shortage after war and many more references. It feels as someone decided to put it all into this episode and call it over and done.
The other amazing thing is the appearance of the long list of actors, who have been in a number of episodes before.. And some actors who are still well known but were just at the beginning of their careers, like Helga Fedderson, Harry Wüstenhagen and Hans Filbich.
