Ipnosi (1962)

Chris Kronberger is a young, dynamic boxer who also works as a flower deliveryman. Evening after evening, he delivers a bouquet of roses to Magda, the lover and stage partner of Georg von Cramer, a well-known magician and ventriloquist. While Cramer is busy performing at the variety theater, Chris finds his dressing room empty. He spots a bundle of banknotes and is just about to steal them when Cramer returns and catches him in the act. Panicking, Chris finds it easy to knock out the ventriloquist. He then flees. Cramer’s assistant, Erik Stein, seizes the opportunity when he sees his boss lying unconscious on the floor and carries out the murder he has been planning for some time. He beats Cramer with a stick until he is dead. Then he calls for help, falsely claiming that he found his boss dead. There is only one “witness” to this terrible deed: Cramer’s most important stage prop, his large puppet, “Grog.” Stein’s motives are the oldest in the world: jealousy, resentment, and envy, because he is in love with Magda, whom he secretly admires. He is also the one who has roses delivered to her evening after evening. With Cramer’s murder, “Grog” disappears too. Inspector Kaufmann takes charge of the case and soon believes that Chris Kronberger is the prime suspect. Chris’s sister Karin firmly believes he is innocent, defends him wherever she can, and has many a heated exchange with the inspector. Some of those involved, whether suspects or witnesses, seem to be playing an inscrutable game. Why, for example, doesn’t Magda tell Inspector Kaufmann everything she knows? In any case, she withholds clues. The variety theater’s choreographer, Katharina, also seems to be hiding something. She indulges in ominous prophecies and claims that “dark forces” are behind the murder. Meanwhile, the murderer Stein remains calm and cool, maintaining control and composure at all times. But then another murder sets things in motion. As Kaufmann pursues the fugitive Chris, he himself is in danger of falling from a great height; the person who saves him is none other than his prime suspect. But what happened to the puppet “Grog”? Evidence increasingly points to it having a life of its own and having become a “perpetrator” itself. Chris, meanwhile, has gone into hiding again and is trying to piece together what happened and catch the murderer on his own, with Karin’s help. In the end, it is none other than the “witness,” “Grog,” who sheds light on the mystery, while Magda uses her skillful double game to lure Erik into a trap and help the police prove that he is the murderer. From the very beginning, all she wanted was to avenge the brutal and senseless death of her friend Georg von Cramer, whom she had truly loved.