Largely built during the reign of Adolph Hitler (who happily took credit for it), the German Autobahn is a federal network of highways, speed-unrestricted in many sections, that helped to modernize the country and accelerate its economic development. Released ten years after the defeat of the Third Reich, Géza von Cziffra’s Banditen der Autobahn (US: Bandits of the Highway) presents the Autobahn as a place of danger and death, where armies of highway patrol officers are required to keep drivers and passengers safe. One such officer, Willi Kollanski (Hans Christian Blech), is on the team assigned to go after a gang of thieves led by Paul Barra (Charles Regnier) who pull over cars to rob them like bandits holding up stagecoaches in the Old West; using an ingenious technique involving a commercial truck owned by businessman Franz Möller (Wolfgang Wahl), the gang has avoided detection for weeks, even police roadblocks incapable of finding them. One night, while patroling a roadblock, Kollanski sprays bullets on a speeding car he mistakes for a gang member, killing an innocent, young driver named Kurt Heinze (Erich Scholz) while sparing his passenger, the pretty Eva Berger (Eva Ingeborg Scholz). Even though he’s cleared of any wrongdoing, public condemnation and personal guilt take an emotional toll, so Kollanski ultimately leaves the force to track down the criminal gang that has caused him so much anguish (he also happens to start a fling with the grieving Eva). With almost every scene taking place at night, the film naturally adopts the noir aesthetic, headlights constantly slicing through the darkness, car crashes and highway skirmishes a nightly occurrence. Some may find the lead performers unmemorable, but the film stands out for its unusual milieu.