Poison in the Zoo

Poison in the Zoo (German: Gift im Zoo) is a 1952 West German thriller film directed by Hans Müller and Wolfgang Staudte and starring Irene von Meyendorff, Carl Raddatz and Petra Peters.

Poison in the Zoo
Directed by	Hans Müller Wolfgang Staudte
Written by	Edgar Kahn
Produced by	Werner Ludwig
Starring	Irene von Meyendorff Carl Raddatz Petra Peters
Cinematography	Ekkehard Kyrath
Edited by	Anneliese Schönnenbeck
Music by	Marc Hendriks
Production company	Camera-Filmproduktion
Distributed by	National-Film
Release date	24 January 1952 (1952-01-24)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

Production

During production in 1951, director Wolfgang Staudte was removed and replaced when the West German authorities refused to consider the production eligible for state subsidies unless Staudte declared that he would no longer work for the DEFA studios of the Communist East German state. Staudte, who had made several major productions for DEFA, refused and was replaced by Müller.

The film was shot at the Wandsbek Studios in Hamburg and on location in the city's Tierpark Hagenbeck. The sets were designed by Albrecht Becker and Herbert Kirchhoff.

Synopsis

After a series of mysterious deaths of animals at a zoo the police are called in to investigate.

Cast

• Irene von Meyendorff as Vera Pauly
• Carl Raddatz as Dr. Martin Rettberg
• Petra Peters as Jutta Flamm
• Ernst Schröder as Oskar Beck
• Hermann Speelmans as Kriminalrat Walter Glasbrenner
• Nicolas Koline as Wärter Mathias
• Kurt Meister as Oberwärter Kruschke
• Otto Reimer as Wärter Robby
• Helmut Peine as Kriminalkommissar Werner
• Tilla Hohmann as Wirtschafterin Karola
• Hella Attenberger as Gaby Rettberg
• Alwin Pauli as Oberwärter Berger
• Bruno Klockmann as Polizeichef Dr. Wöltje

Bibliography

• Hans-Michael Bock and Tim Bergfelder. The Concise Cinegraph: An Encyclopedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books, 2009.
• Hanna Schissler. The Miracle Years: A Cultural History of West Germany, 1949–1968. Princeton University Press, 2001.

External links

• Poison in the Zoo at IMDb