An extraordinary example of trümmerfilm (or “rubble film”), Wolfgang Staudte’s Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns (US: Murderers Among Us) was the first German film produced after the end of World War II and was named in honor of Fritz Lang, Weimar Germany’s native cinematic son, whose M (1931) was originally titled The Murderer is Among Us. The wasteland of bombed out Berlin is the ideal, rat-infested canvas against which Straudte reveals the wasteland of humanity that has crept out from under Hitler’s fist. Ernst Wilhelm Borchert plays Dr. Hans Martens, a military surgeon suffering from both alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder who believes himself morally obligated to murder his brutal Nazi commander Bruckner (Arno Paulsen) who now owns a firm that manufactures pots and pans out of soldiers’ helmets.  The gorgeous Hildegard Knef plays Susanne Wallner, who returns from captivity in a concentration camp to find Martens living in her apartment. Straudte creates a jagged, unbalanced world with extensive overhead shots of crowded trains, dinner tables, and romantic conversations in the rubble as if even God were maintaining his distance. Extreme close-ups, shadowy staircases, and disintegrating interiors combine to form a whirlwind of cinematic anxiety. While not a traditional crime film, it’s a masterpiece of nihilism (“I know there’s no more point in healing mankind,” Martens says) and a glorious repast for noir fanatics.