(I'm afraid there are going to be some spoilers. However, I'll try to limit their number and scope.)An unusually original, clever and intelligent thriller, well capable of competing with the best of American output. There are also some scenes which, once seen, cannot be unseen : I defy anyone to forget Gert Fröbe and his winsome skull-like rictus.However - and in this case it's a rather large "however" - the movie is not without its problems. Problem one : the movie tells of a (retired) police inspector who is determined to catch a child killer. In order to do so he uses another, completely innocent and unsuspecting child as bait, in the same way that a hunter might tie a bleating goat to a tree. This is seriously, seriously unethical behavior, especially if one takes into account the fact that both the little girl and her mother regard the police inspector as their kindly benefactor. The movie does not fully explore the moral (or rather, immoral) weight and ramifications of this act. Problem two concerns the psychological evolution of the (retired) police inspector. When the movie starts, the inspector is shown as a pretty decent policeman - not a saint, perhaps, nor a bundle of laughs, but certainly someone with a working conscience and a sense of right and wrong. This, in other words, is a man who knows there are certain lines one should not cross. Later on, the same man tethers a goat / child to a tree, which is a hideously transgressive act. So where does this ruthlessness (or cruelty, or callousness, or blindness, or fanaticism, or...) come from ? Why, and how, does the man give himself permission to behave like this ? What has happened to his heart, his soul ? Feel free to ask the question, but do not count on the movie to give you an answer, or even a beginning of an answer...

I became curious about this one after realizing that this was a film based on the same source material as a later adaptation directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Benicio del Toro and Aaron Eckhart.Penn's version is a very bleak, disturbing film with Jack Nicholson actually disappearing into the role of the main detective character, something he so rarely does these days. The unrelenting gloom of the film was probably what made it less palpable for audiences at the time of its release. I have to wonder if that atmosphere of despair was taken from the book, or simply inserted by Penn in his adaptation of the screenplay.This version from the late 50's is nonetheless a very effective thriller in its own way, with great performances and very well directed. Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) gives a very chilling portrait of the killer, while Heinz Ruhmann as Detective Matthai is excellent too, and carries the film well.It's simply one of those solid and well-done black and white thrillers from an earlier era that slips under the wire, and that should be rediscovered again by contemporary audiences. Criterion! Check this one out!

Its one of the movies where black&white perfectly fits. Its potential is very impressive; watching Gert Froebe arguing with his wife is high class cinema. This movie is a recommendation for Froebe playing psychotic bad guys in the first place. Although the movie focuses on Detective Matthai (Ruehmann) its Gert Froebe's physical presence and his face impressions that are really admirable.I think the end of this movie will reveal lots of questions. What happens to the murder after he got caught? Will he be transported to jail or a lunatic asylum? Will the Detective marry the lady? Will the little girl get psychological treatment? I admire this dark psycho thriller. I also would like to know what happens after the murder has been caught.I would recommend this movie to watch in darkness without any lights on. Because of the black&white screen, and the music watching this movie gets very intense!

The story of the perverted child murderer SCHROTT (Fröbe) and his hunter MATTHAEI (Rühmann) is still thrilling and frightening. The present events ensure that the story remains current. Fröbe and Rühmann can show their acting skills (what they were not always allowed to do).To keep it short:Ingenious actors in a great film, which is based on a great book, that was written by an ingenious author.I'm waiting for the Hollywood-remake.