O Diabo Ataca à Noite

This Classic film noire combines two main stories: The hunt for a serial killer and the ideologically poisoned mindset of card-carrying Nazis during the end of WWII. For those Germans who were never enthusiastic followers of the extreme nationalist ideas enveloping Germany, the final days of WWII often meant to just "lay low and let it all run past you". But what if the innocent are wrongly condemned to be executed for murder when their innocence becomes unquestioned? Who would defend such a victim of injustice in the face of certain reprisal?

This film introduces Mario Adorf (who deservedly won the award for best newcomer) as Bruno, a dim-witted laborer who wants nothing more than to eat well and drink hard, but seems to be drawn to young women whom he then strangles. When a brilliant detective puzzles together evidence from outstanding murder cases, leading to Bruno, he instantly gains the respect and confidence of the man who turns out to be responsible for some 80 murders. To see the naive Bruno freely confess and cheerfully reenact one of the killings shows how an insane or mentally deficient mind is incapable of grasping the gravity of taking a human life. Now are we to compare Bruno to the countless Nazis who convinced themselves that they were "just following orders" when they participated in genocide? This film is one of many powerful cinematic indictments against the Nazi Regime, and an appeal to the human conscience not ever to idly look on as fellow human beings are wrongly accused, convicted and even murdered by a corrupt and unfair justice system.

Nominee for Best Foreign Film Oscar, which went to Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" that year. The latter will always be my favorite foreign film, however "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" is a formidable contender for the Oscar! Highly recommended!

There is a strange continuity in German movies: about every 20 years someone makes a film about a serial-killer. Apart from "Es geschah am hellichten Tag" (recently remade by Sean Penn) I'm thinking of the following works:

* M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931)

* Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam (1957)

* Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)

* Der Totmacher (1995)

While three of these films are more or less loosely based on the case of Fritz Haarmann who killed more than 24 young men in the 20s, "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" is about Bruno Luebke who murdered several people in Hamburg during WWII (also a true case). In contrast to the picture that many American movies (e.g. "Hannibal") paint of a serial-killer as an evil being who kills for pleasure, these German movies show men who are helpless victims of their urge to kill, to which they succumb not when they want to, but when they 'have' to. Mario Adorf plays Bruno as such a man and his performance is of the same rank as Peter Lorre's in "M" or Götz George's in "Totmacher" IMO.

Even better is Hannes Messemer as an SS-Officer, who, for 'political' reasons, wants another man executed against better judgement. The main forte of the film however, is the depiction of everyday-life in the last years of the third Reich. In the scene where the ugly harvest helpers get their reward from a sweating hanger-on Robert Siodmak perfectly captured the moral corruption (thinly veiled by empty propaganda phrases) within Nazi-Germany. In view of mass-murder of an entirely different caliber (i.e. genocide), the question if the right man is sentenced for a killing series becomes secondary in the end.

"Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" is a film from the second German period of Robert Siodmak. Leaving Germany with the rise of Nazism in 1933 he returned to his home country after the Second World War in 1952. In the USA his film career suffered from his image of being a film noir director, in Germany this same image was more of a blessing. Also "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" is a good example of the film noir genre.

In German films the serial killer is portrayed in a different way than in for example American films. In American films he is portrayed as a savage beast who likes to kill. In German films the serial killer is both perpetrator and victim. He is a psychopat who has to kill. This is most clearly in "M" (1931, Fritz Lang), but is also the case in "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" (1957) and "Es geschah am hellichten Tag" (1958, Ladislao Vajda). Most convincing in his role as psychpat remains however Peter Lorre in his role as Hans Beckert in "M". In "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" Mario Adorf as Bruno Luedke can not match that performance, and he is hardly te blame for that.

In "M" the serial killer is hunted down by organised crime (who wants to keep the level of police activity at a low level). In "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" there is also some sort of organised crime, namely state crime in the form of the Nazi government. They are however not interested in the real killer, whose identity is uncovered by an honest detective. For reasons of public relations they prefer to give a death sentence to an innocent man, thereby showing their contempt for the value of a human live.

"Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" takes place in 1944, at the end of the war. A great deal of the film is devoted to the (miserable) life of German citizens. In this way there are similarities with films such as "Germania anno zero" (1948, Roberto Rossellini) or "Der Untergang" (2004, Oliver Hirschbiegel).

Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam is directed by Robert Siodmak and written by Will Berthold (article) and Werner Jörg Lüddecke. It stars Claus Holm, Annemarie Düringer, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Carl Lange and Werner Peters. Music is by Siegfried Franz and cinematography by Georg Krause.

A serial killer is terrorising Hamburg, Germany, during World War II. When the local police struggle to catch him, the Gestapo are brought in to crack the case.

The basis for the story is that of real life serial killer Bruno Lüdke, here played by Adorf. Yet this is only a side-bar to the actuality of Siodmak's film, for it's a clinical deconstruction of Nazi Germany at the time, a look at the final throes of that regime. It shows how the corrupt powers would do anything to not make their government look bad, with orders even coming from Adolf himself! It's all very fascinating and potent, and well performed. There's some nice visual touches via the night sequences, though you reasonably expect to have more from Siodmak, a fine purveyor of expressionism and noir chiaroscuro. There's some contrivances and a couple of badly staged action sequences, but this remains a tough political drama with mystery shadings. 8/10

I watched The Devil Strikes at Night after browsing Son of Dracula director Robert Siodmak's IMDB credits and reading the film's extremely interesting synopsis.

Disillusioned German detective Axel Kersten investigates the identity of a serial killer who possesses the incredible strength of shattering the tiny u-shaped throat bone in his roughly 80 female victims.

Axel initially finds the full support of the Nazis, until the findings of his investigation threaten public perception of Hitler's SS. What could have been a more straightforward movie about a serial killer during Nazi Germany turns into a story about how quickly the lines of culpability can become blurred in such a bleak place as Germany towards the end of World War II. It's a great movie with excellent performances that really holds your attention for its two-hour runtime of reading subtitles.

It blew my mind to learn after watching The Devil Strikes at Night that it's story was loosely based on real-life serial killer Bruno Lüdke who shares his name with the character in the film.