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The Devil Strikes at Night main poster

The Devil Strikes at Night

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6.9/10 • 30

1957-09-191h 40m

DramaThrillerCrime

Hamburg, Germany, 1944, during World War II. A serial killer terrorizes the city. When it seems clear that the local police are unable to catch him, forces as dark and terrible as the criminal himself become involved in the case.

Directors
Robert Siodmak
Editors
Walter Boos

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Claus Holm

    Claus Holm

    Police Commissioner Axel Kersten

  2. Mario Adorf

    Mario Adorf

    Bruno Lüdke

  3. Hannes Messemer

    Hannes Messemer

    SS-Gruppenführer Rossdorf

  4. Peter Carsten

    Peter Carsten

    SS-Standartenführer Mollwitz

  5. Carl Lange

    Carl Lange

    Major Thomas Wollenberg

  6. Werner Peters

    Werner Peters

    Willi Keun

  7. Annemarie Düringer

    Annemarie Düringer

    Helga Hornung

  8. Monika John

    Monika John

    Waitress Lucy Hansen

  9. Rosel Schäfer

    Rosel Schäfer

    Anna Hohmann

Reviews1

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

Mar 14, 2016

8/10

Serial Killer - Nazis - Same Thing! 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

Media

  • The Devil Strikes at Night poster
  • The Devil Strikes at Night poster
  • The Devil Strikes at Night poster
  • The Devil Strikes at Night poster
  • The Devil Strikes at Night poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
German
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
world war iiserial killerhamburg, germanynazism1940sbased on magazine, newspaper or article