The Counterfeiters is centred on Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsh, a Jewish criminal who manages to avoid the Nazi gas chambers because of a unique talent. Recognised by one of the soldiers, Sally is transferred to a more "luxurious" concentration camp (the luxuries maxing out at a ping-pong table!), so he can continue using his formidable forgery skills, this time in aid of Operation Bernhard, a scheme to ruin the economies of Britain and the US.

The Counterfeiters won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film (not that you'd know from WIN/Nine TV's coverage this year ((ndash)) shame, Eddie and co., shame! But I digress...), and it stands up well in the company of recent winners like The Lives of Others and The Sea Inside. It's another telling of a relatively unknown aspect of World War 2, and the events will astonish you. That said, it also has occasional bits of humour, and some of it even plays out like an adventure/thriller. Karl Markovics is mesmerising as Sally, and contributions like the score and cinematography highlight the feel of the dilemma he and his fellow inmates go through. A poignant and compelling war drama that shouldn't be missed.

The film's story was inspired by the career of a serial killer in Dusseldorf. Frank Becker (Lorre) preys on children (whilst whistling a tune from Greig's 'Peer Gynt'), offering candy and then murdering them. The city is in turmoil, and the police put all their best men on the case, making life unbearable for the criminal underworld. To reduce the heat, the city's criminals conduct their own search for the child killer. In the powerful finale, Becker is put on trial by the underworld in a travesty of justice and compels his accusers (and the audience) to see the murderous nature that exists in all of us. Director Fritz Lang, who made the silent classic Metropolis (1927), explored societal hysteria at a time when the Weimar republic was on the verge of becoming kaput. Later, with the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, he would flee to the United States and direct film noir. Peter Lorre's fine performance in this film would forever typecast him as a psychopath, or other slimy characters, in Hollywood films.

(This print provided courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive)