Überfall review: A 20-minute nightmare about a bad coin

If you have twenty minutes and want to feel slightly uneasy, you should probably watch Überfall. It is a weird little silent film from 1928 that feels like a bad dream you’d have after a heavy dinner.

People who like dark, moody German stuff will love it. If you need a movie to have a happy ending or a clear hero, you will probably hate this one.

It starts out so simple. A guy sees a coin on the ground. He picks it up. Big mistake.

Heinrich Gotho plays the main guy and he has one of those faces that just looks like it was built for tragedy. He looks so happy when he finds that money. It’s almost cute, in a sad way.

But the city around him is just... wrong. The shadows are way too long. The buildings look like they are leaning in to whisper secrets about him.

There is this one shot of a guy in a doorway that actually made me jump a little. It’s just a shadow, but it feels heavy. 🎞️

The movie gets really aggressive once the bad luck starts. He gets lured into this basement or bar area and things go south fast. I noticed the editing gets really choppy here, on purpose.

It’s not like the smooth action you see in something like Avatar. It’s jagged. It feels like someone is poking you in the eye with the film strip.

There is a sequence where the coin starts spinning and the world just dissolves. It’s very experimental for 1928. Ernö Metzner, the guy who wrote/directed it, clearly didn't care about making things look realistic.

He wanted it to feel like panic. And it does.

I forgot Sybille Schmitz was in this until she showed up. She has these eyes that just burn through the screen. She doesn't have to do much, just stand there, and you feel like something bad is about to happen.

The scene where the main guy is stumbling through the streets after getting beaten up is actually hard to watch. The camera is shaking and the lights are blurring together. It’s very modern feeling, honestly.

It reminded me a bit of the intensity in Mannequin, but much grittier. There's no glamour here. Just dirty streets and mean people.

I did find it funny how obsessed everyone is with this one coin. It’s just a small piece of metal, but they act like it’s a cursed diamond. 🪙

The way the thugs look at him is genuinely scary. One guy has this grin that lasts about five seconds too long. It stops being a movie and starts feeling like you’re being watched too.

There’s a weird bit with a clock that I didn't quite get. Maybe it’s symbolic? Or maybe they just liked the way the gears looked. I'm leaning towards the gears.

The ending is just... abrupt. It doesn't wrap anything up. It just stops, leaving you feeling kind of greasy.

I think that’s the point, though. Life is random and sometimes you just find a coin and everything falls apart.

If you’re into the history of weird cinema, this is a must-see. It’s much more interesting than some of the longer, boring stuff from that era like Der Evangelimann which can be a real slog.

Anyway, don't pick up coins on the street. That is the main lesson I took away from this. 😅

It’s a nasty, short, punchy bit of filmmaking. I’m glad it exists, even if it made me want to wash my hands after watching.