I was absolutely riveted while watching this film. The opening scene exhibits astonishingly masterful camera work and editing, especially for its time. You can tell they put money into the movie, and the production values are surprisingly high so soon after the war. There are also a lot of characters and the quality of acting is high all around.
Though filmed in 1949, the action takes place earlier. Without giving any of the plot points away, the recollected story must take place around 1895/6, as the X-ray machine has recently been invented. Due to timelines mentioned in the movie, we can extrapolate that the framing story probably takes place around 1910 or so.
I couldn't find any versions subtitled in English, unfortunately, but I hope someday this movie will be opened to the English-speaking world as well.
I hope I'm not overselling it, but compare this film to American movies from the same time period and you'll be impressed with what the Germans did here.
