Gehetzte Menschen (1932)

In the small town of Lonville in southern France, near Marseille, the widowed master carpenter Vincenz Olivier lives the life of a simple but kindhearted citizen, respected by everyone, with his eight-year-old son, Boubou. Since his wife’s death, Boubou has been his greatest treasure. Now the burly craftsman intends at last to marry again—to the mayor’s daughter. But in the middle of the wedding celebration, a police officer suddenly appears and orders the old man to come with him and bring his papers. He is accused of being Léon Bernier, an escaped convict from the penal colony who supposedly murdered the sister of his then lover 20 years ago. Bernier/Olivier had already served ten of his 20 years before escaping from prison. The carpenter was tracked down because a photograph of him with his bride-to-be had been printed in the newspaper. Now, as then, Vincenz emphatically denies committing the murder. With the statute of limitations due to expire in two days, Vincenz sees no other way to remain a father to his son than to flee with little Boubou. To make their escape, the two climb into a coffin he has made, which one of Olivier’s journeymen is supposed to deliver. Meanwhile, the police have issued a wanted notice for the escapee and suspected murderer, and Bernier’s wanted poster, number Z 48, is plastered everywhere. To avoid attracting attention, Olivier shaves off his impressive beard and, as a loving father, dresses his son in a little girl’s clothes, since the police are now looking for him too. Father and son have become the hunted people of the title, sought by everyone. Olivier desperately hopes he will finally be able to prove his innocence. Exhausted, father and son wander through the countryside, trying to reach Marseille, where they hope to find a better hiding place. So as not to frighten Boubou too much, Vincenz tells his little son that they are fleeing only because the “bogeyman” (as in the novel’s title) is after them. Along their escape route, father and son come across a variety show featuring curiosities such as the “woman without a lower body” and the “bearded woman.” Olivier mingles with the crowd to remain unrecognized. At one point, he even poses among the displayed wax criminals in a wax museum. Nevertheless, he is recognized in this very traveling show: the “woman without a lower body” is none other than his former lover, and also the sister of the young woman who was murdered. Of course, the woman knows who the man with the little child at his side is. When she sees Bernier/Olivier, she is deeply shocked. But for entirely different reasons, which only become clear when Bernier is finally discovered, arrested, and taken to the police station. Left behind with Boubou, who is suffering badly from the arrest, crying and frightened, the “woman without a lower body” is moved by her conscience and goes to the police station. There, she confesses that she herself shot her own sister in a fit of jealousy.