Carlo Gormann

Carlo Gormann is the main antagonist in the 1960 German movie Das Mädchen mit den Katzenaugen.

Despite his position as a businessman, Gormann makes his true wealth by selling stolen cars. When a policeman finds out, Gormann has him murdered, indirectly framing his drunken associate Tessmann. Eventually, a policeman affiliated with Tessmann's daughter Katja gets enough evidence to arrest Gorman. Although Gormann is arrested, he murders Tessmann before he can do so.

He is portrayed by Wolfgang Preiss.

Past
Gormann was born in Spain where he grew up in extreme poverty. Gormann despised his upbringing and vowed himself that he would make riches when he grew older, intending to come back to Spain with enough wealth to be able to boss everyone around. Eventually, Gormann was sentenced to prison after stealing a loaf of bread. After leaving Spain, Gormann headed to Germany where he started a destillery in the city of Hamburg.

Gormann eventually brought up a group of criminals. He used the dancers prositutes of one of the clubs in Hamburg, whose owner, Julietta, is his closest associate and in love with him, to lure in wealthy clients, only for the girls to steal the car keys and deliver them to some of Gormann's goons. Gormann's men then steal the cars and have them repainted and souped up at the scrapyard of the old alcoholic Tessmann, who is a business associate of Gormann and is being manipulated by him. Eventually, Gormann's men steal over 35 cars in just one months. By selling the cars, Gormann becomes quite wealthy.

Being investigated
Eventually, Gormann finds out that one of his men has started to steal cars which would gain far too much attention. He confronts the man in the club and orders him to bring the car back to wherever he found it. When the man speaks up, claiming that he only wanted to do a favor, the discussion gets louder and is overheard by Willi Krause, a police officer who is investigating the club undercover. After the man has been sent away, Julietta enters the room and claims that Gormann is only angry with the young goon because Gorman saw him with Marietta, one of the prostitutes Gormann has gotten affiliated with. Gorman denies it and is clearly unhappy to discuss the business further. Gormann leaves the club soon after.

Eventually, Krause pursues one of Gormann's men whom he tracks down to Tessmann's scrapyard. There, Tessmann and some of Gormann's goons are in the middle of souping up stolen cars. Gormann is also present. When the officer reveals himself as a policeman, he is beaten unconscious by Gormann's right hand man. Gormann is horrified. When Tessmann's daughter Katja, who has lost her job and intends to move back in with her father, arrives, Gormann sends Tessmann to distract her while Gormann and his goon drag away Krause's body. While Gormann, the goon and Krause hide in one of the rooms while Gormann talks to his daughter, Gormann realizes that Krause is regaining consciousness. To prevent any further problems, Gormann grabs a paperweight from a neaby shelf and smashes in Krause's head. When Tessmann is about to panic, Gormann claims that if Tessmann leaves the organization now, he would surely be blamed for the murder. He manages to convince Tessmann to drive both of them and the corpse away. They then dump the policeman's body on the tracks of a railway and force Tessmann to drive the truck over the body, making it seem as if the policeman. Back in the club, Gormann gets rid of Marietta and sends her away, having realizes that she is using his criminal empire to make money on her own.

The next day, Gormann heads back to Tessmann's scrapyard where he meets Katja by accident. When he finds out that Katja is looking for work, he tells Katja that she can take the job of a dancer of Marietta at the club. Katja agrees, to the horror of Tessmann. When Tessman finds out that Gormann is about to drag Katja into his business, he threatens to go to the police and reveal everything. However, Gorman then claims that Tessmann would also have to reveal that he 'killed' Krause. Tessmann gets angry, claiming that he was forced to drive over the corpse by Gormann, at gunpoint. However, Gormann hints that Krause might not have been dead after all, which would make Tessmann a murderer. When Katja accepts Gormann's job offer and starts working as a dancer in the club, she soon becomes the favorite of the public and Gormann also starts lusting for her. When a jealous Julietta smugly claims that she might not hire Katja after all, Gormann assures her that he feels nothing for Katja and that he is only offering her the job for Tessmann's sake. Nonetheless, Julietta later confronts Katja, claiming that she is the girlfriend of Gormann and that Katja should not get her hopes up. When one of the guests later approaches Katja, believing her to be one of the prostitutes, Gormann comes to Katja's aid. However, the guest gets affronted and when one of Gormann's henchmen comes to Gormann's aid, a stuggle ensues. The young Policeman Norbert Wilms uses the situation to make contact with Katja, intending to use her to get to Gormann. However, he eventually gets affiliated with Katja.

After Katja finds out that her father is being manipulated and blackmailed by Gormann, she confronts Gormann in his office. She reveals that she is aware of Gormann's illegal business and that she wants Gormann to leave her father alone. Gormann, in turn, reveals to her his past as a poor beggar and that he intends to return to Spain with wealth. He tells Katja that he will leave his business in Germany far sooner than expected and that he will take Tessmann back to Spain with him to save Tessmann from being pursued by the police. He also states that Katja could come with them in turn for marrying him. However, Katja is apalled and wrenches free from Gorman's grip. She storms out of Gormann's office.

Although he knows that Katja works for Gormann, Wilms does not know that she is the daughter of Tessmann. When Wilms accidentally lets slip that the police is planning a raid on Gormann's company, Katja starts to get afraid that Gormann will shift all the blame on her alcoholic father. When she later warns her father and tells him to surrender himself to the police and to testify against Gormann, the drunk Tessmann directly heads to Gormann and warns him. Now aware of the upcoming raid, Gormann is able to move all the stolen cars to his warehouse at the harbor. While the cars are being driven away, Gormann smugly thanks Tessmann and Katja for warning him of the police raid. Katja is shocked, as she did not know that her father warned Gormann. He also approaches Katja once more and despite her disgust, invites her to a drink. However, Tessmann intervenes and even gets hostile. Gormann's right-hand man drags Tessmann off of Gormann and Gormann drives to the harbor in order to look over the transport of his cars.When the police arrives, they find traces of motor oil and a door hidden in the wall but cannot directly link Gormann to the hidden cars.

At the club, Katja is confronted by Wilms who believes she willingly warned Gormann. After Gorman, who has headed to the club as well, sees Wilms, he is afraid that Katja has talked and visits her in her room after Wilms has left. He realizes that Wilms found out nothing and even brags that the police found nothing at all. However, Katja uses information she obtained from her father to hint that she knows the other crime Gormann commited. Gormann is visibly afraid and tries to convince Katja to remain silent, as informing the police would mean that her father would go to prison for murder as well. Thus, Gormann accidentally lets slip that he is at least connected to the death of Krause and that it was no accident but murder. Gormann tries to calm Katja, remembering her of the offer he made to bring her and Tessmann to Spain. However, they are overheard by Julietta who believes Gormann is cheating on her with Katja. She is not aware that Gormann is merely lying to calm Katja and that he has no intention at all to take her with him.

Fed up with Gormann's lies, she follows him on the next morning while he intends to head out to the harbor to flee the country by ship. At first, Gormann and his right hand head to Tessmann's scrapyard where they collect Tessmann. On their way out, Gormann is confronted by Julietta. She accuses him of betraying her and trying to leave without her. However, as he has more pressing matters to solve, he grabs and brutally beats her up, then tosses her aside and leaves with Tessmann and his remaining goon. Meanwhile, Katja rounds up the police and informs them about the murder of Krause. When the police storm the scrapyard, they find Julietta who reveals to them that Gormann has headed to the harbor with Katja and Tessmann. However, she then spots Katja amid the police and realizes that Gormann has not betrayed her at all. She tries to take back her statement but the police heads out to the harbor immediately. They arrive at the harbor where Gormann and his remaining Goon are being confronted by a large crowd of people. While Gormann and the goon defend themselves, claiming that they did not see what happened and that "he" was simply too drunk, the crown claims that either Gormann or the goon pushed "him" into the harbor. When Wilms and Katja arrive, they realize that Gormann has killed Tessmann by pushing him into the harbor, intending to remove all evidence before fleeing the country. Although Tessmann cannot be saved, Gormann is arrested by the police. When Wilms approaches him, Gorman shifts all blame to the goon who in turn tells Wilms that it was Gormann who killed Krause.