O Diabólico Vampiro de Düsseldorf

In the late 20´s, Germany has high inflation rates and unemployment and the rise of the Nazi Party. In this scenario, in Dusseldorf, the worker Peter Kuerten (Robert Hossein), also known as The Vampire of Dusseldorf, commits nine murders.

The weirdo Peter Kuerten is obsessed in the cabaret singer Anna (Marie-France Pisier) and they have a love affair. Meanwhile he kills young women on the desert streets of Dusseldorf. One day, a man escorts Anna to her home and is followed by Peter. When he leaves her, the jealous Peter Kuerten kills him on the street. The Chief of Police Momberg (Roger Dutoit) is pressed by Berlin to hunt down the serial-killer since the victim was an industrialist.

"Le vampire de Düsseldorf" is a little gem by Robert Hossein with the true story of the notorious serial-killer of Dusseldorf. The screenplay is believable and the cinematography in black-and-white is magnificent. The performances are top-notch and the actresses are very beautiful. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Vampiro de Düsseldorf" ("The Vampire of Düsseldorf")

A subject which was already treated by Lang and Siodmak.It's difficult for a French to create a German atmosphere...In spite of Marie-France Pisier's laudable efforts -her song "la Belle De Nuit" is really spellbinding ,Pia Colombo providing the vocal-but the nightclub looks like an American one,which the final fire reinforces.

Hossein was interested in films noirs ("Toi Le Venin" "Le Jeu de La Verite") and he tried to mix suspense with a political context : the crisis, with the unemployment the demonstrations,and the serpent's egg ,to quote Ingmar Bergman .The problem with the hero is that we know too few things about him (just compare with Mario Adorf's part in Siodmak's movie): once he was sadistically punished ,when he was a child,they buried him to the neck in the sand under a blistering sun,and that's it.

Good scenes: Hosssein and Annie Andersson in the park,just like a romantic couple,till Hossein sees the girl's legs.The caretaker,asking the criminal to knock on his door when he comes back at night;she feels safe when he is at home .The scene in the field when Hossein is scared by a pair of lovers.

Like this?try these,these are essential viewing: "M" Fritz Lang ,1933 "Nachts ,wenn der Teufel kam" Robert Siodmak, 1957

A brutal murderer was widely known in the 1920's in Germany, nicknamed The Vampire of Düsseldorf (hence the title). He got captured and he appeared to be Peter Kürten. In this version of events we follow Peter committing his crimes. A laborer who pretends he's from high society. There's much attention for the unstable political situation in the days of the Weimar republic. There are fascist everywhere, burning books, beating people up, etcetera.

Watching a serial killer doing his thing is a actually quite weird type of film to watch. But it exists for decades and keeps on fascinating people, until this day (for example Henry, Portrait of a serial killer, or series like The Fall and Dexter). Le vampire de Düsseldorf is an early example from 1965. But a film about (supposedly, director Fritz Lang denied it) the same killer, M., is even older, even from the same year as when Kürten was executed (1931).

The subject isn't very original. As many others already have mentioned, M. by Fritz Lang is a much better film. It's not so much about the killings, rather about psychology, fear and sentiments. As others also have mentioned, there's not much German about this film, not even an attempt to. This film lacks in original storytelling and in realism.

However, the good thing is: I found this film surprisingly stylish. Robert Hossein (who wrote and directed the film, and played the lead) was by then already an experienced film noir director, who knew how to capture the attention with silence, as he did in La Mort d'un Tueur. The street scenes at night are quite marvelous. The camera movements are lovely to see. Many pretty shots, as for example the distant shot of the bar Eldorado, the shot with Anna and all her mirrors, or the following through the streets. Those are absolutely worthy of the predicate film noir. I rate this 7/10, mostly for style.

Unrelated to the review, but I also like the idea of a bar with phones in which, for example, table 14 could call table 8. Apparently a common thing in the 20's. A funny concept that a smart person perhaps can revive again.

Robert Hossin directed and started in over 25 films. He had a distinctive "Noir" style. Always exquisitely photographed with a haunting original score. His persona, unlike Tritingant's cerebral quietness, is that of a lost soul searching for love only to be interrupted by violent inner demons. The Vampire of Deseldorf is no exception. The vampire here is a blue beard character who is disarmingly charming. Hossein, with little dialogue, captured the character with his eyes revealing a conflicted interior life.

Other Hossien motifs include wide-angle shots with large well-choreographed crowd scenes, long narrow streets shot at night, and a labyrinth this time made of brush.

Marie-France Pisier, in an early ingenue role, co-stars as a Marlene Dietrich-type cabaret singer. Her scenes include a lovely ballad. The film also includes a fine cast of supporting actors, another Hossein specialty.

Skilled direction by the star, Robert Hossein, although the story was full of unsurprises. Hossein's portrayal of real life Weimar-era serial killer Peter Kurten was a little too detached, almost bored. Superb camera work and lighting, although the music grated at times. This movie was unknown to me until I found it online. It appears to have been released the same year as The Night of the Generals, a movie set in Nazi occupied Poland a decade later. With both films featuring Teutonic serial killers, I guess one of them had to step aside. Here there were no subtitles, but the dialogue spoken so clearly and free of argot I missed only a little. The people probably spoke non-colloquial French because they were supposed to be Germans, and everyone knows Germans in the 1930's spoke without argot. Marie-France Pisier was good as the chanteuse of a subterranean boite called El Dorado.