This film is the masterpiece of Robert Siodmak's late career, helped by a brilliant performance by Mario Adorf as Bruno Lüdke, which was the starting point for a five decade career. Adorf was reluctant to take the part, but got involved with the script and had access to the police files. He was convinced of Lüdke's guilt at the time.
However, all the "facts" of Will Berthold's "retelling" have been proved wrong by Dutch criminologist Jan Blaaw. After a 3-year-investigation, he came to the conclusion that Lüdke could not have committed a single of the alleged 85 murders. The hero of this film was actually the real-life villain. Commissar Franz, who located and interrogated Lüdke, led his testimonies in a desired direction. His motive was to avoid military conscription through an overwhelming investigative success, which backfired completely in the end.
For this very reason, this is one of the most interesting post-war German films to watch. Siodmak's premise to show how police procedure is warped through political action is still chilling. However, the most important aspect of this film is that you can experience manipulation of facts in fiction first-hand, if you first watch the film and then read in-depth reports about the case.
However, all the "facts" of Will Berthold's "retelling" have been proved wrong by Dutch criminologist Jan Blaaw. After a 3-year-investigation, he came to the conclusion that Lüdke could not have committed a single of the alleged 85 murders. The hero of this film was actually the real-life villain. Commissar Franz, who located and interrogated Lüdke, led his testimonies in a desired direction. His motive was to avoid military conscription through an overwhelming investigative success, which backfired completely in the end.
For this very reason, this is one of the most interesting post-war German films to watch. Siodmak's premise to show how police procedure is warped through political action is still chilling. However, the most important aspect of this film is that you can experience manipulation of facts in fiction first-hand, if you first watch the film and then read in-depth reports about the case.