Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:25:44 | 4,34 Gb
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 128 Kbps + English Commentary track | Subs: English hardcoded
Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller | West Germany
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:25:44 | 4,34 Gb
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 128 Kbps + English Commentary track | Subs: English hardcoded
Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller | West Germany
In 1925, in Germany, Fritz Haarmann is a homosexual, thief and sneak, having a special license from the police. He sells meat in the black market. He also kills boys and young men, drinking their blood, quarter-sewing their bodies and throwing away the parts in a river. Certainly what he sells in the black market is human meat.
IMDB
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
Tenderness of the Wolf (1973) is an excellent film about a serial killer living in war torn Germany. Fritz Haarman was a pedophile psychopath who lived during WWI Germany (the time period in the movie was moved up to WWII). Ulli Lommel's style of directing was a nod to Fritz Lang and the other German expressionist filmmakers of the the 20's and 30's. Beware, I must warn you that this film has some strong adult content matter that most people will find repulsing. But those who are open minded will find this movie an interesting and honest portrait of a madman. Lommel and Kurt Raab (who also wrote the screenplay) portray Fritz Haarman as a tortured soul who can never truly express himself or convey his emotions. In his twisted mind he sees no harm in what he does. Several Fassbinder stock players have supporting and minor roles in this picture including Fassbinder (he cameos as a real shady slug). Kurt Raab does an excellent character study of one of Germany's most notorious serial killers.IMDB Reviewer,
23 out of 25 people found this review useful
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
A wickedly entertaining but harrowing tale of serial killer Fritz Haarmann, a German who was executed in 1925 for the murder of some 30 to 40 boys aged between 13 and 20. The madman who roamed the streets during the post-war Depression years becoming known as the infamous "Vampire of Dusseldorf," who drank the victim's blood and carved up the body parts as meat sold on the black market or served as delicacies for his circle of friends. Haarmann's story was put on film in 1931 in Fritz Lang's M, starring Peter Lorre as the child serial killer. This version keeps the same theme that society by its complicity permits these criminals to exist.
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
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The film goes into great detail to show how the corrupt police are bought off by the killer and never investigate his darker secrets, how the nosy neighbors never report until it's too late his suspicious activities such as boys entering his apartment and never leaving and his carrying out large bundles at night that he dumps in the river, and how his circle of friends look away at his suspicious activities only too glad to do business with such an enterprising person. In director Ulli Lommel's mesmerizing treatment of the con man, black marketer, police informer, and gay serial killer, the story veers back and forth between a Hollywood crime thriller and one that bluntly shows his vampire acts with no holds barred (though never is the gore used as exploitation, it's still a much tougher watch than Lang's masterpiece). Haarmann's pictured as a helpless loser acting resourceful in such dark times, as many Germans wished they could do; it plays as a black comedy of manners, but the crimes are so ghastly that they drown out the comedy.
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
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The film's writer, Kurt Raab, also stars as Haarmann. Raab is brilliant in this bizarre role, as he goes about his sinister business establishing that society is the 'tender wolves.' If it looks like a Fassbinder production, both Lommel and Raab are veterans of Fassbinder's plays and movies. Fassbinder appears in a minor role as a petty criminal and is the producer. It has become recognized as a cult film, one that is tough to watch but is unforgettable. The Expressionist style of filming further creates the chilling mood established by the hard-edged narrative.Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
Based on the same true story that inspired Fritz Lang's M, Ulli Lommel's Tenderness of the Wolves takes an unsettling look at the life of murderer, black marketeer, and police informant Fritz Haarman, a pedophile who used his position to sweep the train stations and pick up young runaway boys. Living in the depression of post-WWI Germany, Haarman lured the boys to his attic apartment with the promise of a warm meal and bed, only to emerge alone the next morning with secondhand clothes and black market "pork." Lommel melds images from M and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu with the elegant camerawork, evocative sets, and tableaux-style direction associated with the films of New German cinema auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who produced the film and appears in a small role.
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
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Screenwriter/star Kurt Raab suggests Peter Lorre by way of the vampire Nosferatu with his shaved head, child-like smile and hunched walk, an insidiously beguiling boy-man who strangles his innocent young victims and feasts on their blood. The film is handsomely photographed and well performed by a cast made up of Fassbinder's regular troupe, but becomes muddled toward the middle, tangling the many threads before finally winding them together in a bold, baroque climax. Though lacking in the rich irony of Fassbinder's works, it's a striking, often startling film dominated by Raab's unsettling performance.
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary By Director Uli Lommel
- Theatrical Trailer
- Talent Bios
Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)
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