It’s the most impressive ‘new’ movie we’ve seen this year: Robert Siodmak’s 1957 political thriller fictionalizes a true mass murder case in 1943 Berlin — one that a high-ranking Nazi wants to justify the extermination of ‘undesirables’ for the furtherance of Aryan white supremacy. The snapshot of home-front Berlin is fascinating, and also the depiction of a complacent public, going along with official lies nobody fully believes. Produced on a big scale, the unjustly obscure show stars Claus Holm, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Peter Carsten, Karl Lange, Werner Peters and Annemarie Düringer. The illuminating audio commentary is by Imogen Sara Smith.
The Devil Strikes at Night
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1957 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 97 min. / Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / Street Date , 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Claus Holm, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Peter Carsten, Karl Lange, Werner Peters, Annemarie Düringer, Monika John, Rose Schäfer, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer, Walter Janssen.
Cinematography:...
The Devil Strikes at Night
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1957 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 97 min. / Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / Street Date , 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Claus Holm, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Peter Carsten, Karl Lange, Werner Peters, Annemarie Düringer, Monika John, Rose Schäfer, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer, Walter Janssen.
Cinematography:...
- 3/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
At the end of his career, Fritz Lang returned to Germany and a producer who gave him a big budget to remake a silent classic in color, with an international cast and locations in remote India, including a palace never seen in a movie before. The two-movie, 200-minute epic was chopped in half for America and dubbed in English. Seen in its full Eastmancolor glory, The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb form an old-fashioned storybook tale, with its special charm lying in our knowledge of Fritz Lang’s fixation on fatalism and intricate patterns of betrayal and intrigue. Plus the films contain the erotic highlight of the decade, the spectacle of star Debra Paget’s scorching ‘temple dances’ before an all-male audience of admirers.
Fritz Lang’s Indian Epic
The Tiger of Eschnapur
and The Indian Tomb
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1959 / Color / 1:33 flat full frame / 203 min. / Street...
Fritz Lang’s Indian Epic
The Tiger of Eschnapur
and The Indian Tomb
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1959 / Color / 1:33 flat full frame / 203 min. / Street...
- 12/3/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Often relegated to a cursory mention as one of the great filmmaker’s late-career trifles, Fritz Lang’s “Indian Epic”—comprising The Tiger of Eschnapur (Der Tiger von Eschnapur) and The Indian Tomb (Das Indische Grabmal), both from 1959—is more like a charming throwback to his earliest work than it is an indication of any waning productivity. Its supporting roots stretch from the early 1920s, when Lang and his soon-to-be-wife Thea von Harbou began drafting an adaptation of her 1918 novel, “The Indian Tomb.” Owing in part to Lang’s relative inexperience, though, the project was turned over to Joe May, who directed the subsequent two-part feature in 1921, which would itself be remade by Richard Eichberg in 1938. Lang bristled at the creative theft (as he saw it anyway) and went packing to Ufa, promptly flourishing as one of the preeminent filmmakers in the world. Later, after more than two decades in Hollywood,...
- 9/26/2019
- MUBI
Marlon Brando had few if any hits in the 1960s, but this wartime spy picture is a not-bad thriller with some tense moments. Both Brando and Yul Brynner have been blackmailed into a risky mission as spy and sea captain; they’re more than a little disillusioned to find themselves transporting a boatload of Nazis and political prisoners headed back to Germany. Persecuted victim Janet Margolin is beyond caring — she’s a victim on a voyage of the damned.
Morituri
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1965 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / The Saboteur, Code Name Morituri / Street Date May 21, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard, Martin Benrath, Hans Christian Blech, Wally Cox, William Redfield.
Cinematography: Conrad Hall
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Werner Jörg Lüddecke
Produced by Aaron Rosenberg
Directed by Bernhard Wicki
The dark, dank, morally murky...
Morituri
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1965 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / The Saboteur, Code Name Morituri / Street Date May 21, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard, Martin Benrath, Hans Christian Blech, Wally Cox, William Redfield.
Cinematography: Conrad Hall
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Werner Jörg Lüddecke
Produced by Aaron Rosenberg
Directed by Bernhard Wicki
The dark, dank, morally murky...
- 6/25/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
'The Devil Strikes at Night,' with Mario Adorf as World War II era serial killer Bruno Lüdke 'The Devil Strikes at Night' movie review: Serial killing vs. mass murder in unsubtle but intriguing World War II political drama After more than a decade in Hollywood, German director Robert Siodmak (Academy Award nominated for the 1946 film noir The Killers) resumed his European career in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he directed The Devil Strikes at Night / Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam, an intriguing, well-crafted crime drama about the pursuit of a serial killer – and its political consequences – during the last months of the mass-murderous Nazi regime. Inspired by real events, The Devil Strikes at Night begins as war-scarred Hamburg is deeply shaken by the horrific murder of a waitress. Through the Homicide Bureau, inspector Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) begins an investigation that leads him to a mentally disabled laborer,...
- 5/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Nachts, WENN Der Teufel Kam / The Devil Strikes At Night (1957) Direction: Robert Siodmak Cast: Claus Holm, Annemarie Düringer, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Carl Lange, Werner Peters Screenplay: Werner Jörg Lüddecke; from an article by Will Berthold Oscar Movies Recommended with Reservations Mario Adorf in The Devil Strikes at Night After more than a decade in Hollywood, German-born director Robert Siodmak (nominated for an Academy Award for The Killers in 1946) resumed his European career in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he directed Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam / The Devil Strikes at Night, an intriguing, well-crafted crime drama about the pursuit of a serial killer — and its political consequences — during the last months of the mass-murderous Nazi regime. Inspired by real events, The Devil Strikes at Night begins as war-scarred Hamburg is deeply shaken by the horrific murder of a waitress. Through the Homicide Bureau, inspector Axel Kersten (Claus [...]...
- 2/5/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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