Quiet Is the Night 1978 detective movie

Quiet Is the Night (1978, Poland)

Original title: Wsrod nocnej ciszy

In the early 20th century, in some coastal city in Poland, a serial killer lures young boys to secluded places and shoots them dead. Detective Teofil Herman is put in charge of the investigation, his superiors push him to find the killer as soon as possible because the public begins to question if the police is even trying to protect the children. But with very few clues available, the investigation does not seem to be moving forward. There is only one thing the police are certain of, the killer uses a simple toy with an image of a cat on top to lure the victims away from the crowd, but even though it became common knowledge among the population of the city, the murders still occur. Herman is a very strict and uncompromising man, which makes him a good cop, but at the same time makes him a terrible father for his 15-year-old son Wiktor. Teofil is a single parent and tries to cope with difficult investigation and raise his only child, but right now fails in both. Wiktor, on the other hand, despite the distance and cold relationship between them, looks up to his father. He looks up to the point that he starts investigating the murders, hoping in some way to impress his father. But this journey will take them both to a turning point in their lives.

Quiet Is the Night is an unusual film in Polish cinema, especially since it was made in the 1970s - while the rest of the productions were mostly light comedies or social-themed dramas, here we have an overwhelming dark atmosphere, murder mystery plot and a bit of psychological thriller. The script was based on a novel by Czech author Ladislav Fuks and in some ways it reminds the classic Fritz Lang’s "M".

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