A 1947 Swiss noir where the asylum director dies and everyone's crazy — literally.
If any one man is responsible for the rejuvenation of the postwar Swiss film industry, that man was director Leopold Lindtberg. Matto Regiert (Madness Rules) was co-adapted for the screen by Lindtberg from a novel by Friedrich Glauser. Heinrich Gretler stars as Police Constable Studer, the hero of several of Glauser's most popular works. This time, Studer must solve the murder of the director of an insane asylum -- and it's not (surprise, surprise) the most likely suspect, manic-depressive patient Herbert Caplaun. For box-office purposes, Matto Regiert stresses a romantic subplot involving Caplaun and nurse Irma Wasem.
Acting
Gretler's weary Studer invented the tired detective template.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched asylum corridors that breathe unease.
Production
Postwar Swiss sets built with psychological precision.
Director
Leopold Lindtberg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This revived Swiss cinema after WWII, proving small nations could produce noir as moody as Hollywood's.
Friedrich Glauser's Studer novels were so beloved that Gretler played him four more times — Switzerland's Bond, but depressed.
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