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March 09, 2022

The Devil Strikes at Night

devil strikes at night.jpg

Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam
Robert Siodmak - 1957
Kino Classics BD Region A

The Devil Strikes at Night has several of the narrative elements plus some of the expressionistic cinematography familiar to those familiar with Siodmak's Hollywood films clustered as film noir. An innocent man is framed for murder, the real murderer is lurking in the shadows prior to his one filmed act, and finally, there are acts of erasure of identities. The main story is based on the real life case of an accused serial killer that took place in Germany, in 1944. What is of interest is that what begins as the story of a murder investigation evolves into how the German state chose to manipulate the criminal justice system in the name of the Reich.

An injured former officer, Axel Kersten, has become a top police inspector. By chance, he sees the poster which suggest that there may a connection between a recent case involving strangulation with an older, unsolved murder using a similar method. The recent victims boyfriend, Willi, an older man serving in the SS is accused of the murder simply be being in the victim's room when her body was dragged back. Kersten goes to Hamburg to investigate the recent crime which leads him to Bruno. One of the few young men still a civilian, Bruno possesses extraordinary strength but is also classified as mentally unfit. Even the evidence of Bruno's guilt is not enough to prove Willi's innocence as any public knowledge would suggest possible faults within the legal system. That Willi is guilty of minor crimes involving contraband food is sufficient reason for punishment.

There is one scene that I found curious. Bruno delivers two sack of potatoes to an apartment. It is revealed that the woman living in the apartment is not the owner but a guest. After some casual conversation with Bruno, along with a meal, she drops hints about her identity, stating her husband died in Auschwitz. The name means nothing to Bruno. Hoping that as a delivery helper, Bruno might smuggle her out of Hamburg, she clearly identifies herself as Jewish. It did strike me as odd that someone would place herself in potential jeopardy with a stranger one just met. Even odder is that the Jewish Siodmak, who had to use certain false information to get himself out of Nazi Germany, would have such a scene.

The only depiction of murder does recall Siodmak's films noir, particularly The Spiral Staircase. The murderer in the shadows, the actual act offscreen, and then a deep focus shot of a baby carriage rolling down a dark hallway away from the camera. Going back to Siodmak's beginnings with People of Sunday are a series primarily of remarkable panning shots, taken from a distance, of Mario Adorf as Bruno, running through a forest in a reenactment of one of his crimes.

The commentary by Film Noir scholar Imogen Sara Smith primarily concentrates on fitting this film with Siodmak's other work as well as film noir in general. Among the points of interest are that while such films as the previously mentioned The Spiral Staircase were enthusiastically received in France, German film critics were hostile to the films finally released in post-war Germany. Also discussed is Siodmak's frustration in trying to make more personal films after leaving Hollywood.

Mario Adorf, still active at age 91, is probably the most recognizable cast member here. The other actor who made a name for himself outside Germany, Peter Carsten, tall and blond, has been frequently typecast as a Nazi office in several war films. The Devil Strikes at Night also was a nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1958, and was the winner of the German Film Awards. The blu-ray was sourced from a 2014 digital restoration from a full 104 minute print.

Posted by Peter Nellhaus at March 9, 2022 07:45 AM