Rex Resolution 46: Der Neue

And so we enter the eye candy phase......with a stunning debut by Mr. Wet T-Shirt himself, Alex Brandtner, aka Gedeon Burkhard.


If you visit Vienna and happen to stay at Hotel Das Triest, be careful not to open any doors to the next room. When the victim in this episode checks in, he notices the door joining his room to the next is ajar. Instead of closing it, he opens the door to the next room (a what was he thinking moment), discovering a couple of men with some very big guns and copping a broken neck as his reward. Obviously something big is afoot.

Meanwhile Boeck and Hoellerer are taking turns to care for Rex, who is missing Moser and refusing to leave Moser's house. Brandtner turns out to be a bit of a dog whisperer. Soon he's taking over care of Rex and Rex is back on the case.

When the body from the hotel turns up in the Danube, Hoellerer and Boeck are quick on the scene but not as fast as Brandtner, who executes a perfect dive, fully-clothed into the Danube. All to rescue some escaping evidence, the linen bag in which the body was dumped. With the body's face damaged and the finger tips removed, the bag is all the team have to go on.

As a female prosecutor arrives from Rome and meets with a journalist, the base story line becomes clearer. She is looking for evidence of mafia money laundering through Austrian banks and the journalist is set to help her. The guys with the guns? Out to shut her up. Unfortunately for her, they have her secretary in a tight spot, having kidnapped his wife. All her movements are reported back to the guys with guns.

The linen bag gets traced back to the Hotel Das Triest but the mangeress has no time to talk, until she sets her eyes on Brandtner that is. Boeck acts somewhat beleidigt. Aren't blondes supposed to have more fun? It turns out that a guest is missing and now they have the identity of the corpse in the Danube. When the connection to the next hotel room becomes apparent, tracing the Italian guest brings a dead end due to false identity. At that precise moment, the dead man's business contact shows up, picks up the presence of the police and runs for it, getting away. Have no fear though, Rex is back on the trail.

It's another red-herring. Purely about shady business deals.

When a hotel receptionist manages to provide a photofit of the Italian in the next room and the fingerprints of the Italian's Austrian accomplice, a convicted arms dealer, show up on the database, things start moving.

As the prosecuter and journalist set up a meeting in a restaurant with a bank's lawyer. the game is on. Sadly, this means death for some poor old lady who just happens to live in an apartment with a birdeye view of the restaurant. Waiting, waiting, waiting. When the meals on wheels lady gets no response and sees her body through the letterbox, the hitmen are busted. Aware that she has called an ambulance, they won't leave without their shot. Unfortunately for them, pussy has other ideas and stuffs up the hitman's aim. No one seems to notice the shot and they escape the scene.

When Brandtner turns up to investigate the old lady murder, he finds out the Italian was seen leaving the building. Looking around, Brandtner notices a bullet hole in the restaurant building but doesn't put it together unlike Moser would. Beauty versus brains, eh? Brandtner heads off with Boeck to arrest the Austrian accomplice but the accomplice whacks Boeck and escapes. Meanwhile Brandtner is left chasing the Italians. The Austrian gets Brandtner cornered and tells the Italians to leave, which they do but not before threatening to shoot Alex. Rex saves the day again, dropping a gun to Brandtner so he can take out the accomplice, thereby saving his life.

In a tight spot, the accomplice tells Brandtner what he can, which is little except for a mobile number he provided to the Italians. Listening in, they find out about a meeting scheduled for the morning outside of Vienna but the details are vague. When the meeting is set firm the next day, the prosecutor's secretary calls through to give the precise meeting place and time and Brandtner and team have the information they need.

With the pressure on to get there in time, action man Alex directs the search from above, sees the men planting a bomb and parachutes with Rex out of the plane. Good use of stuffed doggy in the distance shots, I think. Can't really be Rex, huh?

The bomb in place, the Italians are ready to take out the prosecutor but they hadn't counted on Alex and Rex. With the road blocked, the car is stopped just in time and the Italians are taken out, although not before setting the bomb off. Rex saves Alex yet again. Welcome back, Rex!

Other players include Maddalena Crippa , above, as prosecutor Lucia Amato, Emilio de Marchi as Mimmo Munafi, Antonio di Mauro , above, as Gianni Fedele, and Andrea Tiziani , above, as Franco Bianci.

Recycled Rexers Josefin Platt, above, here as the journalist Kramer, earlier in 'Blutrote Rosen' (1997) as Ines Dorner, and Andreas Lust, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode but also appearing as Herbert Weninger in 'Blond, huebsch, tot' (2002).

Rex Resolution 36: Jagd nach einer Toten

Subtitled 'Hoellerer gets active'. See above. Even he can't believe it.

A young woman collapses in a busy Viennese street and dies shortly afterwards in hospital. When a mortuary attendant at the hospital is found murdered, Moser becomes involved and soon discovers that the woman's body is missing. This rouses suspicion. Maybe the woman didn't die of heart failure as first thought and the attendant was killed so the body could be removed before autopsy.

The hunt for the body is on!

Neither the woman's husband or friend are able to shed any light on the matter. However, tyre tracks found at the hospital match those reported at a lakeside and Moser deducts the body must have been dumped in the water. With police divers unable to locate it, Moser resorts to SuperSnout Rex to determine where the body is.

With Dr. Graf able to look at the body, it becomes clear that the woman had been acting as a drug courier, her death caused by the bursting of a swallowed condom filled with cocaine. Her body had been cut open to retrieve the rest of the drugs.

Meanwhile the husband has put two and two together for himself and sets out to confront the operators of a dive club. Breaking in, he finds a large chest containing a puddle of blood and the toe tag previously attached to the corpse of his wife, with not a toe in sight. Later, with Hoellerer, hot on his trail, he returns to the club with a sawn-off shotgun, ready to take his revenge on the owners, unaware of the drug history.

Luckily, as always, Moser and Rex arrive to stop him from doing anything too foolish.

Other players include Wolfgang Krewe , above, as Christian Sandner, Atto Suttarp, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Karl Friedrich, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Regina Stoetzl as Barbara Wieland, and Walter Mathes, not credited with IMDB for this episode.

A single Recycled Rexer in Andreas Patton, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode but also appearing in 'Truegerische Naehe' as Guenther Sikora.

A thought....when Rex goes back to Vienna, how about Wolfgang Krewe as Kommissar? Was meinen Sie?

Rex Resolution 35:Unter Hypnose

It's BYO yoga mat as Rex prepares to do the downward facing dog.

Waking up beside your partner to find him stabbed through the heart is probably not a good way to start the day. Small wonder then that the girlfriend in this piece is barely able to mutter anything other than 'Ich habe ihn geliebt' to Moser and crew. When she can't remember events past a certain time, frustration wins out and Moser orders Boeck to arrest her. Not very SNAG of him, eh?`

Obviously not particularly keen on her son's choice of girlfriend, the victim's mother stirs the pot further by pointing out the girl's jealousy.

Moser eventually redeems himself and does the right thing by calling in a psychiatrist. It appears the girlfriend has been hypnotised, specifically to not remember certain events and the challenge is now to reverse this process. Eventually the girl is able to remember that someone else had been in the bedroom.

Meanwhile, Moser finds the victim's mother sitting in a pyramid in an attempt to slow down the process of her bone cancer. This, and a business card, leads him in the direction of the esoteric centre and a bit of a fling with a yoga teacher, and then on to an all-knowing controversial faith healer (no fling here!) to whom the mother is redirecting quite a lot of her finances.

When Moser uncovers the secret of the faith healer's success, finding tapes of eavesdropped conversations, it becomes clear that the healer killed the woman's son when he threatened to expose his phoney operations.

Other players in this episode include Hans Michael Rehberg, above, as Dr. Weiss, the late Gisela Uhlen, above, as Gerda Baumann, Oana Solomonescu as Karin, Sona McDonald, Sona MacDonald, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Christiane Brammer above as the lucky yoga instructor Eva Herzog, and Dagmar Schwarz, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode.

And not a recycler in sight!

Rex Resolution 34: Der Puppenmoerder

Italian again. Just imagine it's Thursday evening.

This happens to be one of my favourites. Christoph Waltz displays just the right amount of creepiness as Martin Wolf, doll manufacturer looking for his ideal 'doll' woman. I'd love to know more about the background that incited such behaviour...sadly, Rex very rarely gives much of a psychological background.

Charming to the extreme, Martin entices several female customers to view his doll collection privately. So benign does he appear, they're happy to dress up like dolls and allow him to apply their lipstick (now, you'd think that should ring alarm bells). All is well and good with the women until he wants racier photos and clothing adjustments. When resist, charming Martin strangles them in the shop and relocates their bodies to a disused Viennese brick factory.

Moser soon identifies a common link between victims - a love of dolls - and when one of Martin's victim manages to escape his clutches by smashing a doll over his head and reports what happened, he's soon on the Martin's trail.

Things worsen when a small child observes Martin removing a corpse. He tries to convince the girl that it was a life size doll she saw. Kids aren't that easily duped and, when he feels threatened, he lures the girl into a deadly trap. Unfortunately for Martin, Moser and Rex turn up just in time to foil his plans. No surprises there!

Other players include Christoph Waltz as Martin Wolf, coincidentally set to star in Inglourious Basterds with Gedeon Burkhard, the late Susi Nicoletti, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Paula Polak, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Therese Lohner, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Christine Sommer as Ingrid Czermak, not credited with IMDB for this episode

and Ursula Koban, not credited with IMDB for this episode.

No recycling in this episode.

Rex Resolution 33: Annas Geheimnis

Mahlzeit! Hoellerer does a good turn as Oliver! in this episode. Having dinner at Moser's, he wants more, more, MORE. No wonder I get the 'Fettkiller' and 'Flacherbauch' ads. on my Clustrmaps. Luckily, he gets distracted when Moser takes a call from Dr. Graf, who has discovered that a woman's body released for burial, thought to be a simple overdose case, is anything but.

With suspicions aroused, Moser has only minutes to stop the funeral before the deceased is burnt to a crisp in the crematorium. With the body back in Dr. Graf's hands, it becomes clear that this is a case of murder, made to look like a drug overdose.

The woman's father is a key prosecutor and the family are extremely wealthy but, for some reason, she chose to live in some basic rooms in a nursery where she worked, having contact only with her mother. Moser is intrigued and spends hours watching and falling asleep to family home movies he found in the woman's flat.

Meanwhile, the father is keen to point the finger at a lovelorn gardener at the nursery, who coincidentally, has a drug abuse history. Seems like a good fit and, when the woman's psychiatrist is run down and killed (surviving just long enough to tell Moser the woman was not a drug addict and had been raped), the gardener is arrested.

But things keep eating at Moser (no, not Hoellerer - not sure he's that desperate). The mother doesn't seem to be acting appropriately, the father is getting angrier at Moser's intervention. Alarm bells are ringing. Then Moser suddenly notices on one of the home movies that the girl flinches when her father tries to touch the dog. Suddenly, alles klar!

When Moser goes to confront the mother with his suspicions, he finds her leaving the house and follows her to a bridge where she is intent on throwing herself off. Of course, Rex gets all touchy feely and saves the day and, when the mother tells all, Moser gets his man.

Other players in this episode include Cornelia Froboess , above as Frau Foltyn, Wolfgang Huebsch, above as Georg Foltyn, Luise Prasser, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode,Patricia Hirschbichler, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode, and Maximillian Mueller, not credited for this episiode with IMDB.

One Recycled Rexer in Carl Achleitner, not credited with IMDB for this episode, but appearing as Herbert Toegl in 'Vitamine zum Sterben' (2003)

Rex Resolution 31: Tod im Museum

This episode is probably one of my favourites. Is it the fascination with stuffed, dead animals or the creepy guy who loiters in the museum, wanting to preserve their peace? Hello? They're dead. Can you get any more peaceful? Or is it the fact that I can use this as a training video for my cats......kind of 'behave or you'll end up like this'? Whatever, this one definitely holds up to repeat viewing.

Most of the action takes place inside the Natural History Museum where a photographer is taking photos for a book. When she moves to smooth the ruffled fur of a bear for a photograph, she stumbles across hidden diamonds and can't resist removing a few for herself. Well, they are a girl's best friend, gell?

There's certain a lot of strange men hanging around and when one catches her touching the bear, he warns her that doing so could be 'dangerous' and makes some vague comment about her 'wanting a long life?' He probably should have noted his loaded comments himself because less than a minute late, he's laying face down in the museum foyer, having overlooked the lift and taken a shorter route over the balcony.

Enter Moser and Boeck. Suicide or murder? Moser is convinced the man was pushed and sets out to prove so by having Boeck repeatedly toss a nicely dressed mannequin from the top floor until they can determine how exactly the man went over the balcony. As usual, Moser is proved correct.

When a second man is found dead in the grounds, a discarded bloody tissue provides Moser with just what he needs for super-nose Rex to sniff out a trail. Leading Moser to the bear, the remaining diamonds are discovered and a trap is set. When a third man turns up to collect them, the boys pounce. Hidden booty from a heist years earlier, the two dead men were accomplices also looking to collect the loot.

And the photographer? Moser kindly lets her hand back the other diamonds scot-free and even stops off for a cup of tea. Lucky girl.

Other players include Eugen Stark, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Michael Rast, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode, and Eva Neubauer, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode.

Recycled Rexers Hanna Clementi, not listed with IMDB for this episode but also appearing as a prostitute in 'Ueber den Daechern von Wien' (1996) and as Gaby Schmoelzer in 'Gafaehrliche Jagd' (1995), Harald Posch, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode, as Horst Bacher in 'Kinder auf der Flucht' (2000) and as Fritz Urban in 'Wofuer Kinder leiden muessen' (2003), Klaus Ofczarek, above, not credited for this episode but also appearing as Hubert Kolar in 'Das Maechen und der Moerder' (2001) and as Klaus Dworschak in 'Wofuer Kinder leiden muessen' (2003), Hannes Fretzer, here as Hubmann but also appearing in 'Stockis letzter Fall' but uncredited for that.

Rex Resolution 30: Stadt in Angst

Episode 30. I have to admit I'm feeling a little Rexed-out because, of course, I also watched Italian Rex last night.

Remember that old Pepsi ad? The one that went 'Lip smacking, thirst quenching, ace tasting, motivating, good buzzing, cool talking,high walking, fast living, ever giving, cool fizzing, Pepsi! And the paraody of that which went something like 's**t tasting, gut rotting, heart stopping.....'? Well, the latter would probably apply to the soft drink featured in this episode.

When a young woman suddenly dies from cyanide poisoning after drinking a soft drink whilst skating, all eyes are on her brother who gave her the drink and was seen arguing with her shortly before her death. When it turns out that the pair are due to share a massive inheritance, with each one's share due to go to the other should they die prematurely, and the brother has enormous debts, suddenly motive and opportunity are clear. The team start putting the pressure on. Luckily, for the brother, he is able to find a witness who can confirm the canned drink was unopened when the sister took it.

Moser is immediately switched on to the idea that someone may be tampering with the cans and blackmailing the soft drink company, a fact the company initially deny. However, when a man is later hit by a tram, on investigation by Dr. Graf, it becomes apparent he is the second victim of cyanide poisoning. The firm finally has to admit it's under threat and work with the police to trap the blackmailer.

An attempt to nail the perpetrator when he tries to pick up the money fails when Boeck leaps out to grab him prematurely but Rex, true to form, is soon on his trail and the team manage to save a child from drinking a poisoned soft drink in the nick of time. With no suspect in mind, Boeck notes an elderly man in the crowd and, following a hunch, makes up for his earlier error by securing his first homicide arrest. Gut gemacht, Boeck!






Other players include Rudolf Wessely , above, as Theo Kern, Paul Matic, above, not listed with IMDB for this episode, Kathrin Pilz , above, as Karin Lobner, Rainer Friedrichsen as Fritz Weiss, Gabriela Schmoll , above, not listed for this episode with IMDB, and Ernst Josef Lauscher in his recurring role as forensic expert.



A single Recycled Rexer Christoph Faelbl, above, not credited with IMDB for this episode but later appearing in 'Der schoene Tod' (2001) as Ober Franz and 'Die Leiche lebte noch' (2004).

Rex Resolution 29: Todesrennen

Another day, another Rex series. Series Three with another six to go. And, finally, a clip just as it should be, in German.

This episode is Rex meets 'The need for speed' and introduces us to Boeck, although we know him first as Christian Schuh, orange Ford Escort driver extraordinaire. Looking sharp in his leather jacket, tight jeans and studded boots, Schuh is upset when a co-racer cheats by blinding him with a light and beats him to the finish line.

When the co-racer is later found dead, Schuh becomes the prime suspect but, again, all is not as it seems and while the group remain tight-lipped, more comes out when Moser takes on Schuh and wins. Moser discovers the group's mechanic recently lost his son in a race with the murdered boy. Meanwhile, Schuh confronts the mechanic that he murdered the boy after he found out that he'd tried to blind Schuh, knowing that he must have done the same to his son and caused his fatal accident.

Bad news for Schuh because he gets knocked unconscious and left for dead in a burning workshop. Lucky for him, Rex is there to save the day. Exit Schuh, enter der Boeck!

Other players include Nina Proll, not listed for this episode in IMDB, Guenther Gillian, not listed for this episode with IMDB, Tatjana Alexander, not listed for this episode in IMDB but appearing also in Stockinger, Georg Prokop, appearing as Gasser Jr., Werner Brix, not listed for this episode with IMDB but also appearing in Stockinger, and Akbaba Oezaydun, not listed for this episode with IMDB.

One Recycled Rexer in Michael Rastl, here as Gasser, earlier in 'Ein Perfekter Mord' (1994) as Hans Felsner, later in 'Sein letzter Sonntag' as Thomas Faerber and also appearing in Stockinger (1997)