This was not the book I read back in the seventies, and the first movie of 1971 was much better.
I do not mind that the TV play was set in Berlin, 1996 and not in Vienna, 1969. The idea of moving the play closer to nowadays was all right.
Valerie Steinfeld had only one appearance, when she poisoned old Senor Aranda. She was described as quite a character, so why was her part reduced so much? Where was the paternity trial that Valerie Steinfeld attempted during the Third Reich? It was a main issue in the book. Where was the bashful, so-called father of Heinz Steinfeld? Carlo Rola omitted important parts of the original plot, the most interesting characters and concentrated on the love-that-can't-be-story between Manuel Aranda and Irene.
I was not the only one who wept when Manuel Aranda was shot in the first movie, so perhaps the TV play had a better ending.
Sorry, it might be a good movie, but only if you did not read the book or watch the first movie. Alain Noury was a much better Manuel Aranda than Heino Ferch.
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