Die Ratten on AllMovie

When director Robert Siodmak filmed a German-language version of the Gerhardt Hauptmann play Die Ratten he simultaneously shot an English version of the same film with the same cast, which would later be released in Australia as The Rats. No, this isn't a Willard-style horror film. Maria Schell stars as an East German girl anxious to get a fake passport to the West. To raise the necessary funds, she sells her illegitimate baby to another woman (Barbara Rush), who hopes that the child will bring her closer to her husband. There are rats scampering on the set and chewing up prop food, but the actual "rats" of the title are of the human variety--notably the petty crook (Curt Jurgens) who impregnates Ms. Schell in the first place.