Argentina

 

 

 (imdb)

EL VAMPIRO NEGRO-1953-This is essentially an Argentine remake/adaptation of Fritz Lang's M with a timid man who is actually a child killer. There are some side stories about the prosecutor who's hunting him, who roughs up a lot of suspects and puts the moves on a night club dancer Rita who rejects his advances. (His wife is an invalid) He plans to have her daughter taken away but "the vampire" (as the killer is known) kidnaps the girl. He's eventually trapped in the sewers by the city's beggars. 

Director Ramon Vinoly Barretto was highly regarded in his home country but died suddenly in 1970 at age 54.

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M2

 

 (letterboxd.com)

M-1951-Los Angeles is terrorized by a child murderer (David Wayne). The police are baffled. Things get so bad, innocent people are attacked. Two cops (Howard DeSilva and Steve Brodie) investigate as the mayor (Jim Backus) blows his top. The killing of a councilman's granddaughter stirs things up. Mobster Charlie Marshall (Martin Gabel), who's gang includes Raymond Burr, Walter Burke and Norman Lloyd, hatches a plot with a drunken lawyer Langley (Luther Adler) to find the killer themselves because the cops are too close to their operations. They hire bums and other street denizens to comb the streets while the cops interrogate recently released mental patients (William Schallert plays one of them). The pathetic whistling killer collects kids' shoes and plays the flute. His problems seem to stem from his mother. When the killer gets himself trapped in a warehouse with a little girl, the gang goes in and gets him (a kind of ridiculous scene). 

The finale is an interesting mock trial where Langley turns the tables on Marshall. Not a bad remake of the classic German thriller (from 1931) with solid acting, by Jospeh Losey (THE BOY WITH THE GREEN HAIR (1948)) who was soon after blacklisted and fled to England.

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