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Speaker(s): Cecile Tresfels

 It’s all over the news: the crazy child murderer, who has been the terror of the town for some time, just claimed another victim. Police Chief Lohman, in charge of the investigation, launches several roundups in the dark corners of the city but in vain. Annoyed by all this turmoil, the mob decides to take the matter into their own hands and make all the beggars and bums keep a close eye on every street… Inspired by the career of a serial killer in Dusseldorf, this German drama-thriller is Fritz Lang’s first sound film, but dialogue is sparingly used.  An oppressive silence accompanies the search for Franz Becker the monster, played by the baby-faced Peter Lorre, only to be broken by his compulsive whistling of the same disturbing tune. This haunting film, that has been credited with founding two genres, the serial killer movie and the police procedural, takes the spectator on an antigenic journey into the darkness of the human soul.