His Best Friend (1937 Film)
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''His Best Friend'' () is a 1937 German
crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
directed by and starring Harry Piel. It also features Edna Greyff, Henry Lorenzen and Lissy Arna.Rentschler p. 284 It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...
s Karl Weber and Erich Zander. Piel had previously starred in a 1929 film of the same title.


Plot

On a rainy night a German Shepherd appears to be wandering aimlessly down the sidewalk when he bumps into detective Harry Peters. Peters takes the seemingly abandoned dog with him and is soon able to identify the owner, a dog dealer, who agrees to sell him the dog. Harry names the dog "Greif" and decides to train him to be a police dog. He and his dog soon become an unbeatable team when it comes to catching and arresting bad guys. One day Harry meets young Gerda Lind while walking Greif. She works as a dancer and Harry quickly falls in love with her. Harry promises to attend her next dance performance, but something comes up: the house of a Mr. Müller is being raided by burglars and Harry is called to action with the trusty Greif. While Harry stays behind, Greif picks up the trail and quickly confronts the crooks. But Greif reacts completely differently than expected, because the man standing in front of him is Emil Kruppack, Greif's former owner, who used to call his dog Rolf. The animal happily greets its former owner. When Sergeant Schütz catches up with the two, he gets attacked by the dog at Kruppack's command. The officer is completely perplexed and tries to defend himself against the animal attack. Kruppack fires a gun at the officer and then runs off, with the police dog Greif at his side. The police arrest Kruppack's brother Max. Harry finds Schütz seriously injured and later visits him at the hospital. He is shocked to learn that Greif apparently went along with the criminal without hesitation. Harry now knows that if Greif is ever found again, he can no longer rely on him. In the meantime, Emil Kruppack has hired a shady character to kill Greif, since the dog’s behavior would sooner or later betray him to the police. Greif is able to escape and returns to Harry Peters. Both are overjoyed to see each other again. In the meantime, several connections have been uncovered that lead Harry to believe that Gerda could be in cahoots with Kruppack. Harry summons Gerda to police headquarters for interrogation. It turns out that Gerda and Kruppack know each other, because the young woman had once filed charges against the crook, who then swore revenge on her. A new line of enquiry is opened. Emmi Gärtner, the bride of the robbed Mr. Müller, admits that Müller is actually Kruppack's fence and that he short-changed Kruppack some time ago. Fearing for her lover, she reveals anything that could lead to Kruppack's arrest. She tells the officers that a meeting has been arranged between Müller and Kruppack. Harry Peters wants to use the opportunity to arrest the latter. He doesn't want to take Greif with him because he doubts his reliability and he does not want to expose him once more to his conflicting loyalties. But Greif turns out to be Harry's eponymous "best friend" and secretly follows him. When Müller sees the police, he immediately tries to flee, but runs straight into Peters' arms. Kruppack joins them and threatens Harry with a gun. A fight ensues and a shot is fired. The dog throws himself into the fray for Harry and is badly injured by the bullet. Kruppack is arrested. Greif drags himself into a side room where Harry finds his best friend dead. Gerda and he become a couple.


Cast


References


Bibliography

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External links

* {{IMDb title, 0028234 1937 films Films of Nazi Germany German crime films 1937 crime films 1930s German-language films Films directed by Harry Piel German black-and-white films Films shot at Johannisthal Studios Tobis Film films Films shot in Berlin 1930s German films Films scored by Fritz Wenneis