Task has to be the stupidest criminal in movie history. He kills the hooker in Paris with no witnesses, and could have just walked away scott free. But instead, he calls Hartmann in and shows him the scene and confesses. Then he lets Hartmann walk away on top of that!
Tanz had to frame Hartmaan because he knew Grau was in Paris and he would have immediately suspected Tanz from the Warsaw murder. Tanz couldn't have killed Hartmaan because then the police would have been looking for his killer. Everyone knew Hartmaan was Tanz's driver.
Aurelia,
You assume that Grau would have found out about the death of some random hooker. There was a ton of things going on in Paris toward the end of the war, and a German officer being called to investigate a routine murder would have been far-fetched. Even more far-fetched would have been the SAME exact German officer who investigated a murder years earlier being called in to investigate this one too.
Sorry Chet, have to disagree. While Grau might not be involved in the murder investigation of a prostitute, I think he would be called in over the murder of a German soldier, Hartmaan. That's why he was involved in the Warsaw murder in the first place, that prostitute was a German agent, otherwise, they've just let the local Polish cops deal with it. While they might have pinned the murder of the Paris pro on Hartmaan (dogtags and fingerprints), they'd still be looking for Hartmaan's killer. So Tanz had to let H walk.
shareIf Hartmann ended up dead, then yes, I fully agree with you that Grau would have been called. But there was no reason for Tanz to call Hartmann up to the apartment. Just leave the dead body and say nothing to Hartmann.
If Tanz just left the apartment after killing the girl, then Yes, there is a chance that the next day Hartmann would have read about the death of a local hooker in the paper. He might have put 2+2 together. But...I have to think that in the middle of the war, there were a lot more important things for the soldiers to worry about than reading about random murders in the local newspapers.
Or else Tanz coulda had Hartmann transferred to someplace else. He was a GENERAL after all, and could have ordered Hartmann to go anywhere in the world. He would never have learned of the murder.
Not far-fetched at all. Grau has already had a chat with his friend Morand about the three generals he has in the frame for a Ripper-style murder of a prostitute in Warsaw in 1942 now all being in Paris; so when Morand finds himself dealing with an identical Ripper-style murder of a prostitute (especially one last seen being driven away from a nightclub in a gleaming swanky car such as very few Parisians could possibly have afforded at the time) there's no way that he isn't going to let Grau know. Grau would probably not be officially allocated to the case, I agree, but he would certainly involve himself.
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