The Black Vampire

Roman Vinoly Barreto's 1953 Argentine film is a reworking of Fritz Lang's M. While the investigation into a child killer continues, a woman working in a cabaret has seen him and is caught between testifying and protecting her daughter. What distinguishes the adaptation is its point of view. Where Lang's film is about the relationship between the killer and the city, this version builds the case through a woman's eyes. The character played by Olga Zubarry has to protect herself from the killer and from the prosecutor pressing her; both exert power over her in different ways. The cinematography is among the finest examples of noir in Argentine cinema. The sewer and night street sequences show what Buenos Aires studio production could do. Nathan Pinzon plays the killer. Who it's for: those who like noir and local reworkings of classic material. Who it's not for: viewers who do not want to approach violence against children; the film keeps it central even without showing it.