A millionaire businessman with a steely edge can't stand the idea of his money benefitting undeserving people "who haven't worked for it". Nobody ever provided him with a free lunch, so why should he do so for others ? Upon discovering that his wife has been having an affair he is driven to the edge of madness by the prospect of the guilty pair laying their dirty mitts on part of his fortune. Surely both the wife and her lover must be punished for their laziness and presumption...
"Acht Stunden Zeit" is a black-and-white thriller about a rich egomaniac springing a series of terrible surprises on his wife and her lover. The plot is both twisty and complicated.
Now the various makers of the movie understood that a thriller with a complicated intrigue can work only if the viewers are given sufficient information. Unfortunately they decided to provide that information mainly through the medium of talk. The characters talk, talk, talk : they talk while conspiring, they talk while confessing, they talk while deliberating, they talk while hesitating, they talk while comforting.
At least part of the information could have been conveyed through other means - a furtive look, a tender touch, a silent refusal to acknowledge somebody's presence - but no, it's continual talk. (I can't even call it continual dialogue, since some of the speech consists of bursts of monologue.) The actors do their best, but they don't get a real chance to express the full possibilities of their art.
So this is a problem. The static nature of the movie is another one. I don't know whether "Acht Stunden Zeit" was based on a novel, a theatre play or both. However, there's much here that reminds one of a theatre play, and a rather flat and conventional theatre play at that. The material begs in vain for something to liven it up : a change of scenery, a dream sequence, a bit of stunt work, anything. Even a few extra flashbacks would have helped.
Now it is possible that the production budget wasn't all that large - but how much money does it take to film a short scene outside of a church, a municipal museum, a train station ?
In short : a potentially strong and intriguing thriller undone by monotony and a surfeit of talk. I don't say this often, but this looks like a good candidate for a remake.
"Acht Stunden Zeit" is a black-and-white thriller about a rich egomaniac springing a series of terrible surprises on his wife and her lover. The plot is both twisty and complicated.
Now the various makers of the movie understood that a thriller with a complicated intrigue can work only if the viewers are given sufficient information. Unfortunately they decided to provide that information mainly through the medium of talk. The characters talk, talk, talk : they talk while conspiring, they talk while confessing, they talk while deliberating, they talk while hesitating, they talk while comforting.
At least part of the information could have been conveyed through other means - a furtive look, a tender touch, a silent refusal to acknowledge somebody's presence - but no, it's continual talk. (I can't even call it continual dialogue, since some of the speech consists of bursts of monologue.) The actors do their best, but they don't get a real chance to express the full possibilities of their art.
So this is a problem. The static nature of the movie is another one. I don't know whether "Acht Stunden Zeit" was based on a novel, a theatre play or both. However, there's much here that reminds one of a theatre play, and a rather flat and conventional theatre play at that. The material begs in vain for something to liven it up : a change of scenery, a dream sequence, a bit of stunt work, anything. Even a few extra flashbacks would have helped.
Now it is possible that the production budget wasn't all that large - but how much money does it take to film a short scene outside of a church, a municipal museum, a train station ?
In short : a potentially strong and intriguing thriller undone by monotony and a surfeit of talk. I don't say this often, but this looks like a good candidate for a remake.
