several years later, in 1947, german cultural critic siegfried kracauer, writing in his book "from caligari to hitler", accuses the film of "repetitious shock effects [which] tend to neutralize each other, [resulting in] monotony rather than an increase in suspense." he deems the film to be inferior to lang's 1931 film "m". nevertheless, he goes on the describe several sequences in the film which illustrate lang's "'uncanny genius for evoking terror out of the simplest things.'" he also finds fault with the lack of any strong positive character the audience can identify with, since the police captain who destroys the criminal organization is a colorless bureaucratic official whose "victory lacks moral significance". if any in the film's audience was aware of any allegorical connection between the criminals and the nazis, there is no-one for them to turn to as an alternative to the nazis. "as so often with lang," kracauer writes, "the law triumphs and the lawless glitters. this anti-nazi film betrays the power of nazi spirit over minds insufficiently equipped to counter its peculiar fascination."