El Vampiro Negro (aka The Black Vampire) (1953)

A serial killer (Nathan Pinzon) has been murdering little girls without leaving any clues. A nightclub singer (Olga Zubarry) witnesses a man in the shadows dumping what appears to be a child's body into a sewer drain but when questioned by the police, not wanting to get notoriety, she denies having seen anything. Directed by Roman Vinoly Barreto (THE BEAST MUST DIE), this little known Argentine film is the second remake of Fritz Lang's M following the 1951 Joseph Losey film. It's an unofficial remake as the Lang film is not credited and often referred to as "inspired" by the 1931 Lang movie. On its own, it's an often intense thriller though one finds the police unsavory as they arrest people they know are innocent and often brutalize them. The government prosecutor (Roberto Escalada) in particular is a hypocrite judging the morality of the singer (who's a working single mother) while forcing himself on her. Which leaves Zubarry's nightclub singer to place our empathy with. As the pedophile, Pinzon lacks the strength of Peter's Lorre's performance in M. With Nelly Panizza, Pascual Pelliciota and Gloria Castilla as the prosecutor's wheelchair bound wife, the most sympathetic character in the film.