AllMovie

The German Somnambul raises the question "Can a man be influenced by hypnosis to commit a crime?" The answer is never clearly stated, though it would seem that the filmmakers were inclined to believe that mental suggestion could determine a man's moral makeup. The German censors were none too enchanted by the film and in fact held up its release twice before enough cuts were made to satisfy them. The complaint was not so much the content of the film as the nonjudgemental depiction of the "medium" whose hypnotic spell set the plot in motion. Such dependable Teutonic players as Fritz Kortner, Julius Falkenstein and Fritz Kampers lent a measure of credibility to this highly incredible yarn.