412:. The movie adopts certain features of the classical Western, while also giving them a unique twist. Hans, although presented as a Western hero, is an atypical one, as he does not give into vengeance at the end of the movie. The style of the domestic melodrama is also given a twist by being awkwardly placed in a Western-like movie. It serves the purpose of wanting to restore order through the character of Susanne and her attempt to establish a household for Hans, cure his precarious emotional state, and re-integrate him in society.
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Most of the reviews were positive, although some criticized the fact that the characters appeared in modern and trendy clothes, which did not reflect the reality of the living conditions of
Berliners in the immediate post-war period. In this film, Staudte was not only dealing with Germany's past, but
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Soon after, Mertens decides to kill Brückner. He leads Brückner away under the pretense of going to a bar and takes him along a purportedly shorter route, through the rubble and abandoned buildings of Berlin. When he thinks they are alone, he draws his gun. As he does so, a woman in need of a doctor
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The film skips forward to
Christmas Eve. Susanne and Mertens are still living together, and Mertens is now a practicing surgeon. Mertens tells Susanne he has to finish something. He goes to Brückner's factory, where Brückner and his employees are singing Christmas carols. Mertens has a flashback,
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They reluctantly live together at first, then become friends. Susanne finds a letter to a Mrs. Brückner in the apartment and confronts
Mertens about it. Mertens tries to get a job at a hospital, but a screaming woman gives him flashbacks and he is left incapacitated. Meanwhile, Susanne meets with
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To get permission for the film, Staudte had gone to the
British, the French, and the Americans, but they all rejected the proposal, citing its political nature as the reason for refusing to grant the film a license. The Soviets, on the other hand, accepted the script with a change to the film's
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runs out of one of the ruined buildings. Brückner tells her that
Mertens is a doctor, but Mertens is reluctant to help. The woman tells him her only child stopped breathing an hour before, and he goes along with her, while Brückner leaves for the bar alone. Mertens performs a
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In the post-war period, it was a goal of both the
American and the Soviet authorities to reeducate the German public. For the Americans, this meant exporting American films to West Germany. For the Soviets, this meant the establishment of
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was also the search toward finding a new German culture. Being a part of German culture, post-war period German cinema had a role to play and embarked on this search by exploring different film styles.
419:“tells us much about the politics of the past in early postwar German culture,” namely the tension between establishing a new society and culture while also coming to terms with a Nazi past.
241:) stumbles down the street, drunk. He suffers from flashbacks of the war and has an aversion to people in pain, which prevents him from practicing medicine. Instead, he spends his days
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Wilhelm Borchert was removed from advertisements for the movie because he had been accused and arrested for lying on
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The melding of these film styles explains why despite being “an often overlooked cinematic legacy”
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Berlin in 1945 after
Germany's defeat in the war. The former military surgeon Dr. Hans Mertens (
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in 1947 later reported that he'd been exonerated by the
Denazification Commission for Artists.
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which reveals that Brückner had ordered the shooting of over a hundred civilians on
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Cinema in
Democratizing Germany: Reconstructing National Identity After Hitler
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on the girl, then Mertens returns home and proclaims his love for Susanne.
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373:. The Soviets believed film could be used to reeducate the public. With
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in progress-film.de, the distributor of the complete DEFA film heritage
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also with his own, as he had been involved in the filming of the
501:. Rochester: Camden House. pp. 200–201, 184–189, 201, 209.
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473:, Heide Fehrenbach, 1995, University of North Carolina Press,
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were afraid that viewers could interpret that as a call for
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Murderers Are Among Us, The (Moerder sind unter uns, Die)
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ending. Originally the film was supposed to be named
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581:Rubble Films: German Cinema in Shadow of 3Rd Reich
564:Rubble Films: German Cinema in Shadow of 3Rd Reich
404:embarks on this search by drawing namely on the
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567:. Temple University Press. p. Chapter 2.
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316:. The title alludes to the initial title of
595:List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
388:paperwork, but an article published in the
196:in the United Kingdom was one of the first
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619:in German-films.de. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
344:, which was at the time the home of the
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225:. The film was written and directed by
584:. Temple University Press. p. 22.
613:in filmref.com. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
548:"Biography of Ernst Wilhelm Borchert"
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427:The picture sold 6,468,921 tickets.
209:. It was produced in 1945/46 in the
184:, a German film known in English as
661:Die Mörder sind unter uns (Germany)
646:Die Mörder sind unter uns (Germany)
287:of 1942 in a Polish village on the
28:Die Mörder sind unter uns (Germany)
932:Films shot at Johannisthal Studios
907:Films directed by Wolfgang Staudte
356:was on 1 November 1955 and in the
340:debuted on 15 October 1946 in the
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499:A Critical History of German Film
840:The Happy Years of the Thorwalds
776:Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck
671:Synopsis and production details
657:The Murderers Are Among Us (UK)
642:The Murderers Are Among Us (UK)
611:Die Mörder sind unter uns, 1946
24:The Murderers Are Among Us (UK)
526:. Berghahn Books. p. 41.
352:. The television debut in the
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927:Films shot at Althoff Studios
524:Dismantling the Dream Factory
16:1946 film by Wolfgang Staudte
917:German black-and-white films
578:Shandley, Robert R. (2001).
561:Shandley, Robert R. (2001).
302:Der Mann den ich töten werde
937:1940s German-language films
636:DVD Review on warinfilm.com
497:Brockmann, Stephen (2010).
249:survivor, Susanne Wallner (
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736:The Adventures of Fridolin
728:The Murderers Are Among Us
605:The Murderers are among us
417:The Murderers Are Among Us
402:The Murderers Are Among Us
375:The Murderers Are Among Us
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193:The Murderers Are Among Us
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181:Die Mörder sind unter uns
137:15 October 1946
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856:Gentlemen in White Vests
816:Roses for the Prosecutor
190:in the United States or
659:Murderers Among Us (US)
644:Murderers Among Us (US)
247:Nazi concentration camp
26:Murderers Among Us (US)
922:Films about war crimes
338:The Murderers Among Us
239:Ernst Wilhelm Borchert
79:Ernst Wilhelm Borchert
630:Original 1946 posters
522:Baer, Hester (2009).
360:on 18 November 1971.
864:Jailbreak in Hamburg
433:Nazi propaganda film
257:Ferdinand Brückner (
203:films and the first
39:British movie poster
912:Films set in Berlin
752:Second Hand Destiny
306:The Man I will kill
897:German drama films
808:Escape from Sahara
706:Films directed by
346:Berlin State Opera
187:Murderers Among Us
902:East German films
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848:Destination Death
768:Poison in the Zoo
533:978-1-84545-605-4
508:978-1-57113-468-4
450:Cinema of Germany
408:and the domestic
332:Murderer Among Us
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881:Categories
800:The Muzzle
792:Rose Bernd
456:References
318:Fritz Lang
268:Stahlhelme
215:Babelsberg
157:91 minutes
141:1946-10-15
55:Written by
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410:melodrama
390:Neue Zeit
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395:Part of
243:drinking
217:and the
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119:Music by
75:Starring
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406:Western
310:Soviets
295:Filming
263:captain
165:Germany
162:Country
139: (
867:(1971)
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