The Beggar

The police commissioner of Hamburg is clueless: a criminal has already broken in almost twenty houses. The only suspect is a street musician who plays for money. Head inspector Stockner is doing undercover investication - maybe that wasn't his brightest idea given that he easily fall unconscious if put under too much stress.
The Beggar is an impromptu film shot on Rufus' birthday party. It was only decided that I should bring the camera with me, the plot was made on the same day. Additional scenes were shot weeks later in an office. There were only five actors on the birthday party but much more roles. Therefore everyone played more than one role - withough great costumes.
This film without a story board was over sixty minutes long. The Offener Kanal didn't allow a 90 minute broadcast so we split the film into two parts. The side plot of The Beggar is almost as long as the main story. I re-cut the film in 1995 and concentrated only on the Beggar's story: the new film was only about twenty minutes long.
Later I had drawn a comic strip featuring The Beggar during a boring school lession. The comic is about six pages short.

Quote

"Yes, it's great! I have about twenty trials left. The criminals are almost standing in a row, we even had to let a murder go" (Judge Konrad Ahrens)

Info

Booking two air dates in a row was quite uncommon at the Offener Kanal.

The Pinguin TV team was quite proud of the film and even advertised it in school.

The first part was broadcasted together with 325 Hours.

The version from 1995 was accompanied by Street Fighter IV.

Funny notes

The improvised scenes were quite long and didn't use a camera cut. Therefore, the camera was given to someone else while it was still recording.

The side story tells the visit of a grand mother who visits her daughter Sybille. Sybille lives in a house with her husband Eberhardt and her son Harry. Harry and Eberhardt aren't very excited about the visit.

Type of film

Realistic, six actors.