Die Nacht der Zwölf

A man prays on rich women, who then happen to die, leaving their money to that man.

A kind of predecessor to Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux, this is an interesting Third Reich attempt at Film Noir. The shooting took place in late 1944 and by the time the Reich collapsed, the film was in editing stages and had to wait for four more years to be released.

It's not what you would expect from the Goebbels cinema industry at that late stage if the war. It's a demoralizing story with no heroes - the man, brilliantly played by Ferdinand Marian (he committed suicide in 1946) is a sociopath, his victims are dumb and unsympathetic. Of course, there's no sign of war, but there's also no escapist optimism or propaganda that is so willingly attributed to the films of that era.

The narrative is well crafted and there are some nifty camera moves. Definitely worth a look.