For a French audience ,it may seem strange to find Michel Simon in a West Germany/Switzerland/Spanish co-production;but you should remember that this monstre sacré of the French seventh art was born in Switzerland and became a stage actor in Genova .
He's remembered for so many masterpieces I won't mention them here ,but his part recalls that of Julien Duvivier's "panique" (1945) :the scapegoat ; too bad he had to disappear so soon.
Now for the film :it's an excellent thriller ,which could teach a lesson or two to many of today's directors. Its treatment is very modern and it keeps the viewer glued to his chair till the magical -in every sense of the term - final scene.
A pupil's drawing or essay can be revealing and be a pivotal clue in an investigation ; the trick of the man on the plane seems incongruous ,but it thoroughly makes sense; the shrink's help predates all today's profiler ;add a sense of mystery and touches of fairy tales and you have a gripping screenplay.
The way they introduce the killer ,whose nervous hands are shot in close shot (but not his face) , is not derivative ; When Gert Froebe looks at himself in the mirror,one can't help but think of Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang's "M" (1933). Using the little girl as a bait is not perhaps very sensible ,coming from so human a man -his defence of the peddler against the populace is astute-,but it inspires the extraordinary scenes between the girlie who dreams of the castle of the Sleeping Beauty and this "giant" who lures her into his trap .That they can meet before the cop intervenes is perhaps the low point of the screenplay,but ,considering the high quality of the rest ,this reservation seems irrelevant.
He's remembered for so many masterpieces I won't mention them here ,but his part recalls that of Julien Duvivier's "panique" (1945) :the scapegoat ; too bad he had to disappear so soon.
Now for the film :it's an excellent thriller ,which could teach a lesson or two to many of today's directors. Its treatment is very modern and it keeps the viewer glued to his chair till the magical -in every sense of the term - final scene.
A pupil's drawing or essay can be revealing and be a pivotal clue in an investigation ; the trick of the man on the plane seems incongruous ,but it thoroughly makes sense; the shrink's help predates all today's profiler ;add a sense of mystery and touches of fairy tales and you have a gripping screenplay.
The way they introduce the killer ,whose nervous hands are shot in close shot (but not his face) , is not derivative ; When Gert Froebe looks at himself in the mirror,one can't help but think of Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang's "M" (1933). Using the little girl as a bait is not perhaps very sensible ,coming from so human a man -his defence of the peddler against the populace is astute-,but it inspires the extraordinary scenes between the girlie who dreams of the castle of the Sleeping Beauty and this "giant" who lures her into his trap .That they can meet before the cop intervenes is perhaps the low point of the screenplay,but ,considering the high quality of the rest ,this reservation seems irrelevant.