Das Millionenspiel
| Das Millionenspiel | |
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| Directed by | Tom Toelle |
| Produced by | Peter Märthesheimer |
| Written by | Wolfgang Menge |
| Music by | Irmin Schmidt |
| Cinematography | |
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Release date
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18 October 1970 |
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Running time
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95 minutes |
| Country | West Germany |
| Language | German |
Das Millionenspiel ("The Game of Millions"; sometimes translated as "Chance for a Million") is a German action/sci-fi television film of 1970, directed by Tom Toelle and starring Jörg Pleva, Suzanne Roquette and Dieter Thomas Heck. It was aired on 18 October 1970 by the ARD. Wolfgang Menge wrote the screenplay, adapting the short story "The Prize of Peril" by the American writer Robert Sheckley. Wolfgang Menge and Tom Toelle received the 1971 Prix Italia for best television movie.
Das Millionenspiel ("The Game of Millions") is a successful TV show from the private station TETV. To win the grand prize of one million German marks, a candidate has to survive seven days on the run while being hunted by the Köhler gang. Of the first 14 candidates, 8 were killed during the course of the game.
Bernhard Lotz from Leverkusen is the show's 15th candidate. After almost a week without sleep and little food, he is full of agony and on the verge of physical collapse; Lotz could drop out, but there is the prospect of the grand prize of one million marks, and he knows the fate of one of his predecessors: when he forfeited the game, he was so derided as a coward that he eventually committed suicide.
The whole country watches the manhunt on TV, some fascinated, some disgusted. Lotz tries hiding, but he is always recognized. Some want to deliver him to the Köhler gang, but some help him. Throughout the game, the Köhler gang is always hot on his heels.
The action is interspersed with scenes from the studio, where the jovial Thilo Uhlenhorst moderates and shows documentation of Lotz's life. Reporters deliver latest developments, interrupted by sexualized commercials by the (fictional) "Stabil-Elite Group". Behind the scenes, game-makers manipulate the game by helping or harming Lotz.
In the grand finale, Lotz has to pass through the "death spiral" – a 28.40-meter-long tube of bulletproof glass with three openings through which the Köhler gang can shoot him. Lotz, who is on the verge of collapse and had been treated by doctors shortly before, is slightly wounded but reaches the goal and receives the million. But according to a doctor he is in a serious state of shock, and is taken from the studio to a hospital on a stretcher. Moderator Uhlenhorst declares the 15th edition of the game over and announces the next episode three weeks later.
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