THE DEVIL STRIKES AT NIGHT by Robert Siodmak
by Andre Soares
Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam / The Devil Strikes at Night (1957) 
Direction: Robert Siodmak. Screenplay: Werner Jörg Lüddecke, from an article by Will Berthold. Cast: Claus Holm, Annemarie Düringer, Mario Adorf, Hannes Messemer, Carl Lange, Werner Peters
MURDER IS ALL AROUND
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, a well-crafted crime drama about the pursuit of a serial killer during the last months of the mass-murderous Nazi regime. (See synopsis.) Despite its grim (and somewhat ironic) basic plot, Siodmak’s second German film of the 1950s has few stylistic similarities to his expressionistic Hollywood thrillers.
Such difference in style may be explained by the fact that The Devil Strikes at Night is really less of a suspense thriller than a straightforward political drama. Even though the film begins with a harrowing murder sequence that takes place during an air raid, the story quickly veers toward the increasingly intimate relationship between investigator Alex Kersten (Claus Holm) and a young clerk, Helga (Annemarie Düringer), and toward the dangerous consequences of unearthing inconvenient sociopolitical truths.
Despite a couple of unexplained "coincidences" (which, admittedly, may have been caused by gaps in the English-language subtitles), Werner Jörg Lüddecke’s script weaves a generally gripping tale while providing a fascinating look into the moribund Third Reich. Robert Siodmak directs the proceedings with a sure hand, only missing out on a poorly staged fight between Alex and serial killer Bruno (Mario Adorf).
Claus Holm is a solid, fully convincing hero, while Mario Adorf is an outstanding psychopathic villain. Instead of a caricature of a mentally ill murderer, Adorf’s Bruno is particularly horrifying because he is so pathetically real. (The film is based on the actual case of Bruno Lüdke [1908-1944], who confessed to having committed dozens of murders. Questions remain, however, whether Lüdke was actually responsible for all those crimes.)
Yet, Bruno’s importance to the plot is actually secondary, for the focus of The Devil Strikes at Night is its critique of governments and politicians who will do their utmost to both perpetuate and extend their grip on power.
The Devil Strikes at Night was nominated for a best foreign language film Academy Award, and received nine German Film Awards, including best film.
During the last months of the Hitler regime, Hamburg is shaken by the horrific murder of a waitress. Through the Homicide Bureau, inspector Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) begins an investigation on the case that leads him to a mentally retarded laborer, Bruno Lüdke (Mario Adorf), who confesses to having committed that crime and many others.
The criminal has been caught, but Gestapo officer Rossdorf (Hannes Messemer) points out that there are a couple of major problems with the case: another man has already been convicted of the Hamburg murder — and the German Justice System never makes any mistakes; also, the Nazi Party would have to explain to the German people that they have left a serial killer on the loose for more than a decade — in other words, Bruno cannot really exist and his arrest cannot be publicized.
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