Das Stundenhotel von St. Pauli (1971)

Inspector Canisius of the Hamburg Criminal Police is sent by his superior, Police Councillor Dr. Marschall, to a hotel by the hour in St. Pauli to investigate a serious crime. A murder has taken place at the “Ostend” hotel. All sorts of people come and go at this seedy establishment, including a gay couple, one of whom is brutally stabbed by an unknown assailant in the shower after an argument. Canisius’s thoughts are actually elsewhere: his own son was badly injured at a demonstration and is now on the operating table at a hospital, fighting for his life. The inspector gets down to work and questions the hotel’s guests one by one. There is, for example, a drug-addicted burglar; a businessman who catches his wife with her much younger lover; a teenage couple from diplomatic families; the porter, who deals drugs; and the lustful wife of a well-known, successful businessman, who is enjoying herself with the gardener. There is even a client dressed as the devil, and, of course, the French chambermaid is also there. Her boyfriend has just come to visit her for a tête-à-tête. Any one of these eccentric hotel guests could have committed the bloody crime, and all the occupants seem to be hiding something. Alongside his investigation, Canisius keeps calling the hospital to ask how his son is doing. Meanwhile, the cleaning lady, Rose Schuh, tries to calm him by pouring him one double cognac after another. Finally, Inspector Canisius corners the murderer in the streets of St. Pauli as he flees the hotel with a hostage. At the very end, Canisius learns in a phone booth that his son has come through the operation successfully.