Nachts, Wenn der Teufel Kam (Nights, When the Devil Came) (The Devil Strikes at Night) (1958)

• 83% of critics liked it
  (6 reviews)

• 75% of users liked it
  (152 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