User reviews

"Die mörder sind unter uns" takes place in Berlin in ruins and features three main characters:Susanne (Hildegarde Knef),a survivor from the concentration camps;a former army medical officer,haunted and tormented by what he did and saw;a former nazi officer who feels no remorse because "he used to obey".

Susanne ,played by gorgeous Knef,wants to pick up the pieces.She's the strongest character of the movie .She comes back from hell,so what could be worse?To her Xmas means forgiveness and she knows that death breeds death.When he sees her take care of the seedy flat,the doctor first shrugs,but soon he will use his radiographs to replace the panes. Biggest flaw:it's impossible to believe that Susanne is just out of a camp:actually she seems to go out of a beauty parlor.

The doctor is a human wreck who heavily drinks to forget the war horrors.It's only when he meets again his former superior that he rouses himself from his lethargy.Although he feels hatred and thirst of revenge,he is not devoid of compassion:when he takes the man he wants to kill to a desert place among the ruins ,he heeds the call of a desperate mother:it's the most emotional sequence of the movie.

On the other hand,the officer behaves as if the war had never happened:the parallel between the two Xmas celebrations(past and present) climaxes the movie .The director chose a good-natured actor,nothing like the nazi villain we generally meet.

The directing shows Fritz Lang's (and expressionism) influence:the huge shadow on the criminal recalls the little girl with the balloon scene in "M".And along with "the third man",the movie had a strong influence on two movies: -"the man between"(1953),another Carol Reed movie :James Mason's character resembles the doctor of this movie.

-and mainly,mainly, Rosselini's "Germania anno zero"(1948),which dwarves "die mörder sind unter uns".People who enjoyed Staudte's movie should see the Italian genius's masterpiece.

This film is certainly worthwhile for a serious student of movie history, given its circumstances. The first film released in post WW-II Germany, etc...Yes, the plot line development is predictable from the midpoint of the film onwards. And sure, there are the side-stories regarding post-war German guilt and apologia and its role in the making of this film. I'll give you all of that.

But the reason a movie lover wants to watch this film is two-fold. One, the stark B/W cinematography of this film is deeply affecting and very unique for the time period. And two, the wonderful, sublime beauty of a young Hildegard Knef. She is so fragile in this film, it's a real contrast with her later persona of the German song chantreuse of the 60s.

It's hard to find this movie on DVD, but it's out there. If you find it to buy or rent, give it a watch, well worth the time. 8/10 rating.

The opening scene conveys the film's mood. A low-angle camera shot shows bombed-out buildings, rubble in the street, an abandoned war tank, a makeshift wooden cross stuck in the ground, and a middle age man walking alone toward the camera, as three children play amid the ruins. There's no dialogue, just jazzy, bouncy, upbeat piano music that contrasts sharply with the bleak B&W image.

Set in Berlin in 1945, the film tells the fictional story of a former surgeon, the man in the opening scene, whose name is Dr. Mertens (Ernst Borchert). He's dispirited and cynical. He meets up with a young woman, played by Hildegard Knef. The two of them share an uninviting apartment, severely damaged in the recently ended war. Knef's character is attracted to the dejected surgeon. But he's too disheartened to care. The deaths of thousands of people in a war render a surgeon's job of saving one life rather meaningless, according to Dr. Mertens. As the plot moves along, he reunites with an older, prosperous industrialist, a man whose attitude about the war is curiously indifferent.

All of the film's photography was done in Berlin, right after the war. The destroyed buildings and brick rubble are a big part of the story, symbolic of human devastation. B&W, expressionistic cinematography is terrific, with stark shadows amid the ruins, human silhouettes against bleak, cracked walls.

Interiors remind me of those in "The Blue Angel" (1930), dilapidated, dirty, cheap, drab, and very depressing. In "The Murderers Are Among Us", background music is minimal. Most scenes lack music, and the story is more potent for it. Sound effects consist of squeaky doors, footsteps on wooden floors, and other realistic sounds. The film's casting and acting are fine.

Historically significant as the first German film made in Germany following the end of WWII, "The Murderers Are Among Us" reminds us of the horrors of war. One scene near the end is unforgettable in its severity. Outside at night, with snow gently falling, arc lights create ghostly shadows. The surgeon stands alone amid the rubble, outside a damaged church where people inside are singing "Silent Night". Faces of the people are grim. What a bleak period in human history.

Murderers Among Us is the first film made, of a vast trove of films, in the Soviet controlled sector of post-war Germany that was to become East Germany. It is deeply and masterfully immersed in the aesthetic traditions of German Expressionism and /or Film Noir: unusual angles and picture planes, extreme lighting effects, twisted stairs, bombed-out buildings that look like jagged fingers against the sky (it was shot in the ruins of Berlin), a haunted, tormented protagonist, stark black and white atmosphere, and, above all, shadows. Shadows and more shadows of every size, shape, and density. In fact this film could serve as a text book on shadow craft: the scene where a man is screaming from within the vast shadow of a pistol wielding attacker is magnificent. I haven't seen The Third Man recently but I am sure Murderers influenced it profoundly. I would recommend the Third Man as a good double feature with this film.

Murders belongs to a genre called 'rubble films', shot in the rubble of Germany and frequently dealing with issues of German guilt after WW II. Murderers does not seek to deal overmuch with the people who gave the orders, but with the many Germans who followed them with little or no protest. Such as the wounded doctor in this film who stood by while even children were executed as reprisals against resistance fighters in occupied Poland. Plotwise the film works quite nicely, and I liked the atmosphere of renewal, and perhaps relief at the end of a nightmare, amongst all that ruin and rubble as the German people began to pick themselves up.

Having just seen this movie for the first time, I'll agree with some of the other comments.

The acting seems theatrical, at times almost political. The movie would make a great double with "The Third Man".

What struck me was the significance of this movie. That the Soviets are the ones that made it possible. That forgiveness (and legal justice) not revenge were the goals to move past the horrors of life, a message only brought about by the Soviets changing the ending. Not having known the history of this movie, I wondered about the soviet involvement, when in one street scene children were playing within a stones throw of a wrecked soviet tank. (Or was it wrecked?).

It was made in 1946. I can only imagine the hardship for everyone overrun by the wars destructive path. This movie plainly shows that life does continue.

"Die Morder sind unter uns" is a film about guilt,helplessness and incapacity.Its story is told through two main protagonists: Dr.Mertens (Ernst Wilhelm Borchert) and Suzanne Wallner (Hildegard Knef).Mertens is a doctor by profession yet he is an angry man as he hates the fact the war has killed countless innocent people. He is horrified to personally experience that in all wars pawns are always sacrificed to save the king. It is equally hard for the photographer Suzanne Wallner to forget her past. She gets tremendous shock as upon her arrival she finds that her city has turned into a pitiful heap of rubble. Both of them are lonely souls.In this film there is a villain too. He appears in the form of an evil Nazi man Bruckner.Die Morder sind unter uns was the first film made by DEFA (Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft). It might appear rather unusual but this film has film noir kind of looks. Expectations were very high with this film. Staudte was triumphant to have created a ground-breaking film. In the original version of the script Bruckner is shot by Mertens.This end was changed on the wishes of the Soviet Cultural officer Dymshitz as he reckoned that a notion of self justice should not be propagated.Staudte was fortunate enough to have Soviet side willing to produce the film as it was rejected by English and American military authorities.Die Morder sind unter uns occupies a unique place in world cinema history as it established the antifascist genre in DEFA film.

Unit 5 film discussion Matt Butcher The Murderers Are Among Us is a film made immediately after World War II in East Germany. The melancholy of the film is derived from its main characters, a female concentration camp survivor who returns to her old apartment to find it occupied by an ex-military doctor. This military doctor drives the main conflict of the film in that his conscience is slowly eating away at him for his apparent actions during the war.

In this regard, the film acts as a conscience for the people of East Germany, slowly asking themselves about their past and how they are going to live with it. It was a tumultuous period of reconciliation that the Germans were trying to live through. This movie tries to act on those feelings.

Silberman notes that another film of this time, Rotation, "constructs a narration based on identification and emotional catharsis rather than on the cognitive terms of epic distanciation." The Murderers Are Among Us also tries to wipe the slate clean. It comes out and admits that what happened was wrong, hence the horrible feelings that the doctor is going through. They cannot completely distance themselves from these previous events, these earth-shattering events, unless they work through these feelings.

This powerful piece of Historic Fiction shows a realistic look at Post-WWII Germany, and the determination of the shook-up nation to pick up the pieces and survive their darkest chapter in modern history. Many gripping moments include the "return" of a young woman (played by a very young Hildegard Knef) who had spent years in Nazi concentration camps. Her innocence and purity are reflected in the woman's complete willingness to "forgive and forget" the attrocities witnessed and experienced.

A main character was a commanding officer responsible for horrible acts against innocent civilians, while another had refused to take part in such evil. The final scenes "drive home" the message how some feel no remorse for their evil deeds, while others remain plagued with the images of those mercilessly tortured and murdered.

Seeing the young woman who had been victimized by the evil regime step in to prevent a altercation between the man she loves and the man responsible for much of the suffering shows that humans are capable of forgiving and thus surviving into a better life, free of hate and vengeance.

I highly recommend the original German version with or without the subtitles. Many of the effects require the original sound track. This would be a valuable teaching tool for an advanced German class, or a related European History lesson

The strength of this film is its subtlety, rather than hitting you over the head with obvious mechanisms. The cast is well-directed, and the actors are very believable. There are some great lines of dialogue, such as "Life is not a choice between good and evil; it is a choice between the lesser of two evils". How true. The protagonists are a young woman returned from a concentration camp (however, she does not look much worse for the experience), and an alcoholic doctor who looks like he went on a vacation to hell for a few years. (He does look worse for his wartime experience). The most chilling character in the film is the former Captain, who now owns a factory, but is actually a war criminal. We know who the murderer is, but the real mystery of the film is how he will meet his end. Solid filmmaking.

The setting is Berlin immediately after the end of WW2 and Hildegard Knef (Susanne) returns home from time spent in a concentration camp. I must say she looks pretty good considering where she has just been. Anyway, someone else is now living in her apartment – doctor Wilhelm Borchert (Mertens) – and he's not going anywhere. Borchert has lost his mojo when it comes to the medical practice and prefers to spend his days getting drunk. Good man. These two characters share the apartment as they come to terms with what they have lived through during the war. They come from opposing sides but can they unite at the end?

The film has a great setting, especially given the historical significance of Berlin at this time. I have read that it was set in the East part of the city then under the control of Soviet troops and soon to become part of East Germany. The cast are good – Borchert is a bit over-dramatic at times and the film's story gets going with the introduction of former Nazi captain Arno Paulsen (Brueckner). He was in charge of Borchert's unit and callously ordered the execution of civilians one Christmas Eve during the war. Borchert wants retribution for this.

This film is one of two films that are worth having in your film collection from Germany in the 1940s. The other is their version of Titanic (1943).

Hildegarde Knef is released from a concentration camp. She returns to a ruined Berlin and her apartment, where she finds WIlhelm Borchert in possession. He will not leave, so she stays in one room and he in another. He's a drunk, but as the movie progresses, they come to care for each other. He also finds that Arno Paulsen is alive -- a man Borchert must kill for some reason.

Visually, the point of interest in this film is the utter ruin of Berlin; some shots show women engaged in the Augean task of shifting the rubble. The story, which turns out to be about war atrocities and the issue of whom should wield punishment is a telling one even yet. The performances are repressed in the face of such events.

The movie premiered the day before the first war criminals were hanged at.

Immediately after WWII, Italy and Japan developed strong national cinemas. The same thing didn't happen in Germany. I really didn't know they made any films in the aftermath, but apparently they did. The Murderers Are Among us was made just the year after Germany lost the war. It's quite a strong film, feeling a lot like the film noir style that was all the rage in America at the time (which, in turn, was heavily influenced by German silent cinema). Ernst Wilhelm Borchert plays an alcoholic doctor who is haunted by his participation in the war. He hooks up with his new roommate (Hildegard Knef), which helps him a little, but then he runs into his former commanding officer (Arno Paulsen), which sends him into an angry, murderous downward spiral. The film is actually thinly veiled propaganda, expressing that not all Germans (be they soldiers or civilians) were okay with wiping out entire Polish villages or, you know, the Jews. Eh, maybe I can accept that, but, taking the film as some kind of apology, it all feels a tad too little too late. I do, however, like the appeal for peace and justice, as opposed to revenge. The last thing the world needed at the time was more violence. The filmmaking is very beautiful. Sometimes it feels like a dry run for The Third Man. I don't know if Carol Reed saw this film, but one filmmaker who most certainly did was Lars von Trier. His film Europa cribs from this one pretty liberally at times, most notably the image of a snowfall in a bombed-out church.

For a long period Germany forgot that after WWII, the old social infrastructure was leading the land. Because of a lack of new refined persons, the old elite took over the infrastructure of Germany. People which were Judges in the Third Reich, or teachers, etc. were set into the same status after war.

This movies deals with the issue about the old murders who got new jobs in the freed land and how it was for the victims to meet these bad war-criminals back in the everyday life. The movie is well acted by the actors and it's very good stage-managed. The writing is okay, it seems authentic. This is a recommendation for interested people, who want to know more about that time in Germany.

"The murderers are among us" is a remarkable and ground breaking film: the first German film made after the war. Just for this it deserves wider recognition.

Filmed in the actual ruins of Berlin in 1945/46, this film tells many stories on many levels. Excellent black & white imagery and camera work which really captures the mood and setting.

There is emotional, psychological and physical devastation here. Everything and everyone is ruined, the future wiped away replaced only by recent horrors and appalling choices. "War forces us to choose between greater or lesser evils..."

Hildegard Knef (Suzanne) is beautiful and restrained. She wants a "normal life", whatever that is, in post-apocalyptic Berlin, and will fashion it from what comes to hand. Her past, in a concentration camp, is so bad, that it is not mentioned by her or the film makers, only hinted at. Wilhelm Borchert (Dr Hans Mertens) has also returned from war. He is hopelessly damaged... No spoilers.

Although acted expertly, Knef's story doesn't quite hold up, hence the 7 and not higher. But otherwise this film is limited only by the circumstances and zero resources.

A very interesting and worthwhile film. Watch The Murderers Are Among Us and see what you think. T.

"Murderers among us" is a unique film about the Second World War made right after the ending of this war by a German director.

With respect to the actuality, the film resembles "Germania anno zero" (1948, Roberto Rossellini). The images of a totally destroyed Berlin are not unlike later post apocalyptic science fiction films.

Interesting is the view of the German director on the recent history of his own land so close to the end of the war. To be honest I found the self criticism rather courageous. In the Netherlands such self critiscism on the role played in Indonesia just after the war is not self evident, even after more than 70 years.

Central to the film is the relation between Susanne Wallner (Hildegard Knef) and Dr Hans Mertens (Wilhelm Borchert). Susanne wants to forget about the past and look forward to the future. Dr Hans Mertens can and will not forget about the past. This is certainly true when Frerdinand Brueckner (Arno Paulsen) appears on the scene. Brueckner was the commander of Dr Mertens in the German army and did give the orders for excecuting innocent Polish people. In post war Germany he presents himself as a successful businessman and a perfect family man.

The interaction between Susanne and Dr Mertens is fascinating. In the past decade there were films such as "Im Labyrinth des Schweigens" (2014, Giulio Ricciarelli) and "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" (2015, Lars Kraume). These films are about war criminals from the Second World War who managed to built a successful career in post war Germany. Evidently right after the war there were more Susanne's than Dr Mertens in Germany.

In destroyed Berlin, a very beautiful woman comes back to her flat to find an alcoholic doctor living at her place, he won't leave, they will share the flat until more intimaty before History from WWII comes back. "Murderers are among us" is so much important historically, made after the end of WWII, among the ruins of Berlin, certainly influencing other masterpieces shot in Berlin a few years later. It is shot with impressive expressionist cinematography. My great question about this movie is the young woman coming back from concentration camp and being so beautiful (wah Hildegard Knef), and maybe she looks so sad because she had to accept some terrible concessions.

Prior to watching "The Murderers Are among Us", I believed something: if you exaggerate, then you'll fail miserably. This movie is possibly the most exaggerated flick of all time. But, it succeeds in every respect. The movie focuses on Susanne, who has spent time in a concentration camp, returning to a bombed-out Berlin after WWII has ended. She meets Dr. Hans Mertens, who is haunted by his deeds during the war, especially since his commanding officer shows no remorse.

Given that this was Germany's first movie after WWII, it makes sense that they wanted to show that not all Germans were Nazis, and that they were apologizing for what they had done. But mind you, if you watch "The Murderers Are among Us", it will likely blow your mind, just because of how overdone it is. I guess that Germany will never be able to get over the Third Reich.