Polizeirevier Davidswache (1964)

The film follows the daily lives of several police officers in the heart of St. Pauli’s red-light district over a period of 48 hours. Chief Constables Glantz and Schriever work their shifts at the station named in the title and on the Reeperbahn. Their day-to-day lives consist of countless encounters with the people who live and work there, dealing with their quirks and shortcomings, and handling the small and large problems of St. Pauli’s residents. Glantz and Schriever have to deal with fallen women, scams and other frauds, as well as robbed and swindled tourists, burglaries, shoplifting, and drunken brawls. Court hearings with arrogant defense lawyers are part of the job. A US naval task force is on its way, promising good business for St. Pauli but also a great deal of extra police work. The two sergeants are always ready to listen to the residents’ everyday worries, too, and to offer advice and practical help to people in need. One day, the ruthless major criminal Bruno Kapp, known as Handsome Bruno, is released from prison after four years. His girlfriend Margot is eagerly awaiting him, but she has secretly told Glantz at the station that Bruno is coming, to warn him. Glantz once put Bruno behind bars, and Kapp may want revenge on the beat cop. The respectable Margot is not part of the milieu and works a steady job at a liquor factory in St. Pauli. She has taken out home-savings contracts for herself and Bruno and is looking forward to a future together with him. But he has other plans, which he keeps from her. He wants to rob a jeweler, obtain weapons for the job with the help of his young accomplice Manfred, and win over the young prostitute Chérie, who initially rebuffs him. Early the next morning, the widower Glantz plans to pick up his daughter Lilo from the station. They have not seen each other for quite some time. That night, Kapp breaks into a perfumery to empty the cash register and injures the elderly shop owner on the head. Shortly afterward, he goes to see Chérie and reaches into her cash register. She resists, and Kapp beats her to death. Word spreads across the entire Reeperbahn in no time, and Kapp is trapped. Glantz and Schriever eventually corner the gangster in a lodging house in St. Pauli. Chased by Glantz, he tries to escape across the rooftops of St. Pauli. He manages to disarm Glantz on a rooftop. Then he tosses the gun back to Glantz, laughs at him, and lets himself be arrested. Down on the street, Manfred, carrying weapons arranged by a Bundeswehr soldier, runs into the distraught Margot, whose illusions have now been shattered. As the police take Bruno Kapp away, a shot rings out. Glantz collapses, shot in the back. Margot has fired the shot. Shortly afterward, his daughter arrives at Hamburg Central Station and is asked over the public-address system to report to the railway police immediately.