The Murderers Are Among Us

The Murderers Are Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns), directed by Wolfgang Staudte, is a German film, recognized as the first major German film made entirely by a German crew after the war, and the first example of the Trümmerfilm ("rubble film") genre that used bombed out Berlin itself as its set. It gave Hildegard Knef, who plays Susanne, a concentration camp survivor, her first leading role, launching her into a career as one of Germany's most famous actresses. Staudte first sought permission to make the film from the American, British, and French occupying powers, all of whom refused; only the Soviets granted approval. The Soviets also demanded a change to the ending: in the original script, the hero shoots the war criminal former commander, but Soviet censors, worried this would legitimize vigilante justice, had it changed so the character instead hands the villain over to the authorities. Who it's for: anyone curious about a historically significant first postwar German film, shot amid the real rubble of Berlin, permitted only by one occupying power that even rewrote its ending. Who it's not for: those expecting to see the film's original, harsher ending, since Soviet censorship softened that final turn.