People are voting emotionally.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

"Es geschah am hellichten Tag" or "It Happened in Broad Daylight" is a German 95-minute black-and-white film from the late 1950s, so this one will have its 60th anniversary soon. It was directed by Ladislao Aajda, who also adapted Friedrich Dürrenmatt's novel (with Dürrenmatt himself) for the screen. Today, this one is seen as one of Germany's finest films, especially in terms of crime drama. Heinz Rühmann is almost in every scene from start to finish and he was nominated for a German Film Award for his portrayal here. Same goes for Gert Froebe, who has considerably less screen-time though and does pretty much not appear at all in the first half of the film. This one is really all about the main character's (a police detective's) relationship with his employer and also about a man who was arrested despite being innocent.For Froebe, his villain role here, may have been one of the main reasons who he got cast in his career-defining role as Auric Goldfinger, so even if he lost the German Film Award (just like Rühmann), it was a very important film for him. Rühmann, in his mid 50s here, was mostly known in German for the comedy films he made earlier in his career that made him a big star, but here he shows us that he also definitely has the talent for darker, more gritty films. It was quite fun to watch him with the serious material in here. Overall, this was a quite good watch in terms of story, performances and atmosphere. I think you may want to check this one out. Thumbs up for "Es geschah am hellichten Tag" and I see the film was popular enough that they made a sequel several decades later shortly after Rühmann's death, with Joachim Król playing the main character, but I have not seen that one. And there are more sequels from outside Germany. But this one here is the original. Go see it.

We stand here before one of the most important German speaking movies of the second half of the 20st century, one of the first explicit series (child-) killer movies and one of the most frightful ones. It contains a creme De la creme of the best German actors of the fifties. However, although the movie plays in Switzerland, all Swiss actors speak High-German and are without exception in side roles. The male main role of Kommissar Dr. Matthäi is played by Heinz Rühmann, who was the most popular German actor of the 20st century. The female main role was given by the Hungarian-Catalan director László Vajda to his girlfriend María Rosa Salgado who was dubbed. The fact that not one example of Bündner German is heard in this movie, although the series killer lives obviously in Chur, the capital of the Grisons, is strange. Even stranger is that the only used Bündner German Name "Huonder" is constantly mispronounced (by Max Haufler who should have known it better). However, two questions arise: First, why did the director agree to Rühmann and his scenario-writer to change dramatically the end? In Dürrenmatts novel "Der Verdacht", Schrott is not caught, and the movie has therefore a completely different face. Second, and more important (and hanging together with the first question): What is this movie about, really? Several times, we hear from the mouth of Dr, Matthäi about the importance of using "intution" in clearing a criminal case. But why, then, is it Matthäi who, in the end, is responsible for the suicide of the chap-man? Matthäi is even fully unable to see his guilt: To the question, on the next day, why the innocent chap-man is found hung up in his cell, he laconically answers: Because he was old, sick, did not want to go on anymore ... . What is it then, that drives Matthäi to catch the real killer? Really his pity with the children? - Hardly, because his character does know or at least not admit such feelings. As a proof, he does not doubt one second about the legitimation of his "method" when he engages Mrs. Haller and her daughter, because he intends to (mis-)use the blond little girl as a guinea-pig in order to attract Schrott. Not even then, when he realizes that the little girl has already escaped several times without him knowing it and when he speaks himself about a "miracle" that nothing has yet happened, he stops his action. This means, that Matthäi rather accepts the death of the little girl as long as he is just capable of catching the murderer. This is an idea about police work which is practically identical with the idea of the criminal. Admittedly, the serious killer stands on the other side of Good and Bad than Matthäi, but somebody who is intending to take the loss of the girl in order to solve his case is so-to-say the twin of the criminal, the line between Good and Bad getting almost non-existent.

I became curious about this one after realizing that this was a film based on the same source material as a later adaptation directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Benicio del Toro and Aaron Eckhart.Penn's version is a very bleak, disturbing film with Jack Nicholson actually disappearing into the role of the main detective character, something he so rarely does these days. The unrelenting gloom of the film was probably what made it less palpable for audiences at the time of its release. I have to wonder if that atmosphere of despair was taken from the book, or simply inserted by Penn in his adaptation of the screenplay.This version from the late 50's is nonetheless a very effective thriller in its own way, with great performances and very well directed. Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) gives a very chilling portrait of the killer, while Heinz Ruhmann as Detective Matthai is excellent too, and carries the film well.It's simply one of those solid and well-done black and white thrillers from an earlier era that slips under the wire, and that should be rediscovered again by contemporary audiences. Criterion! Check this one out!

This haunting movie based on a Fredrich Durrenmatt novel concerns about a detective (an obstinate Heinz Ruhmann) becomes involved in the case of a little girl's killing . At the beginning appears as main suspect an unfortunate vagrant (incomparable Michael Simon). Then the policeman hires a gas station and takes employee a single woman (a sweet Maria Rosa Salgado) with a daughter , being his intention of utilizing them as bait for a cruel murderous . The police detective trying to trap a child killer , at the same time his mind on the woman and the little girl . This Spain/German/Switzerland co-production is a well crafted movie with plenty of suspense , thrills and psychological studio . The picture functions on various levels with superb roles nicely played by the entire casting and a well-paced screenplay that leads to the climax with the presence of the serial killer along with the kid and the possible tragedy . Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote the script while at the same time developing the novel form of the story under the title "Das Versprechen" . He completed the book after the movie was finished and gave it a different , much darker ending . Its perfect developing resides not in displays of frenzied action and grisly violence like happens in modern cinema , but rather lies about interesting characters and suspenseful happenings . Atmospheric white and black cinematography by Heinrich Guerner and appropriate musical score with thrilling leitmotif by Bruno Cantafora . The motion picture was well written by Ladislao Vadja (together with Hans Jacoby and Friedrich Durrenmatt) and excellently directed . Vadja was author of magnificent movies , such as : 'The miracle of Marcelino' , 'Angel passed on Brooklyn' , and 'Uncle Jacinto' . In my opinion this is one of the best films to come out of Europe in the decade of the 50s . If you like thoughtful and brooding films that are exciting and rich pace with rhythm but no displaying a great deal of action , you'll like this one . Other movies about this exciting novel are the followings : 'The cold light of day' directed by Rudolf Van Den Berg with Richard E Gant ; a German version (1997) directed by Nick Hoffman ; and American version 'The pledge' by Sean Penn with Jack Nicholson , Benicio Del Toro and Robin Wright Penn .