Nachts, Wenn der Teufel Kam (Nights, When the Devil Came) (The Devil Strikes at Night) (1958)
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83% of critics liked it
(6 reviews) -
67% of users liked it
(157 ratings)
Writer/director Robert Siodmak based his German-filmed The Devil Strikes at Night on an actual case. Set during the last months of the Hitler regime, the film concerns a series of rapes and stranglings of young women. Gestapo officer Rossdorf (Hannes Messemer) and non-party member Axel Kersten… More Writer/director Robert Siodmak based his German-filmed The Devil Strikes at Night on an actual case. Set during the last months of the Hitler regime, the film concerns a series of rapes and stranglings of young women. Gestapo officer Rossdorf (Hannes Messemer) and non-party member Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) investigate the trail of evidence. They discover that the criminal is Bruno Leudke, a mental defective (played by Mario Adorf). An open-and-shut case...except for the fact that Adorf is a loyal Nazi Party member! The dilemma now is to stem the crime spree without publicizing the embarrassing fact that "Aryan supremacy" is capable of yielding a monster like Adorf. Originally titled Nachts, Wenn der Teufel Kam, The Devil Strikes at Night has also been released as Nazi Terror at Night and Nights When the Devil Came. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Robert Siodmak
- Written By
- Will Berthold, Werner Jörg Lüddecke
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Sep 19, 1957 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Howard Thompson, New York Times
It crouches but -- alas -- never springs.
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, Time Out
Werner Peters enjoyably essays another of his sweaty losers and the depiction of Bruno as a squalid dimwit makes a change from the Hannibal Lecter fantasy of the suave serial-killing mastermind.
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Fred Camper, Chicago Reader
This fascinating 1957 film, based on a true story, concerns the hunt for a serial killer by the Nazi regime.
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, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Fascinating study of criminal justice in the crumbling Nazi empire of 1944.
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Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
If Siodmak was less a determinist than Lang, he was also less icy -- he views the fall-guy ordeal of piggy, pathetically lecherous officer Werner Peters with characteristic sympathy.
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Cast
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Mario Adorf
as Bruno Ludke
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Claus Holm
as Axel Kersten
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Hannes Messemer
as Rossdorf
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Werner Peters
as Willi Keun
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Carl Lange
as Maj. Wollenberg
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Peter Carsten
as Mollwitz
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Monika John
as Lucy Hanson
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Annemarie Düringer
as Helga Hornung
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Margaret Jahnen
as Frau Weinberger
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Walter Janssen
as Kriminalrat Dr. Boehm
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Ernst F. Furbringer
as Dr. Schleffien
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Helmut Brasch
as SS-Truppenfuehrer Scharf
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Kaethe Itter
as Portiersfrau
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Georg Lehn
as Kriminalassistent Bruehl
