'Es Geschah...' has one really big problem, in my opinion: the lead character, policeman (or, at that that time, former policeman) Matthäi takes too big risks with the little child. Up until then, he has been a brilliant and feeling (police)man, and to let the child wander off alone on several occasions - making her a sitting duck for a perverted killer - is completely out of character. Beyond that, this was a fast paced, at times very atmospheric crime thriller concerning a daring subject for its time. The use of a psychiatrist looks to be something that may have inspired Hitchcock for 'Psycho', but I'm only guessing there. The opening with the peddler makes a clear statement, reminiscent (well, the other way around, really) of 'Jagten' (2012). The use of children's drawings and fantasy is, it's been said before, a terrific idea. And finally, the creating of a bad guy like Schrott, with his all that puppet play and such, as performed by Fröbe, is eerie as you'll not much see it.Still, I can't go any higher than a big 5 out of 10, on account of the lack of credibility beyond a certain point... such a shame.

Its one of the movies where black&white perfectly fits. Its potential is very impressive; watching Gert Froebe arguing with his wife is high class cinema. This movie is a recommendation for Froebe playing psychotic bad guys in the first place. Although the movie focuses on Detective Matthai (Ruehmann) its Gert Froebe's physical presence and his face impressions that are really admirable.I think the end of this movie will reveal lots of questions. What happens to the murder after he got caught? Will he be transported to jail or a lunatic asylum? Will the Detective marry the lady? Will the little girl get psychological treatment? I admire this dark psycho thriller. I also would like to know what happens after the murder has been caught.I would recommend this movie to watch in darkness without any lights on. Because of the black&white screen, and the music watching this movie gets very intense!

This Swiss movie, originally made for TV, was dismissed by Durrenmatt because he felt it didn't probe deeply enough into the driven character of the Inspector. I totally disagree with him. This version is powerfully realized and stunningly acted. Durrenmatt's literary version, The Pledge, undercuts the power of the theme and registers the Inspector's commitment as hollow and pointless. The American movie version of the Pledge was a conceptual, execution and box-office disaster.What Durrenmatt does in The Pledge is to book-end this satisfying story with a narrative overlay that only revokes all the drama and suspense of the central story. This is as pointless and destructive as book-end CASABLANCA with a narrator that claims that Rick was really a scoundrel working for the Nazis the whole time.

Once I met an arabian, and while talking about cinema, he said, for knowing this movie he would forget five of his lovely movies, after watching it ! G. Fröbe and H. Rühmann are playing such fabulous, that you think somebody inconvenient is entering your near forest. Everybody I know is worn down after this Horror-criminal, where NO violence or anything bizarre is shown! Turn off the lights.One of the best movies of the 1950ies.