Hello!

I saw this film in a repertory theater around 12 years ago. It’s black and white, from the 1950’s (I’m pretty sure), was subtitled English and the original dialogue I think was in German.

The plot has a widower and his young son moving to another country – in this case from Germany to somewhere, or vice-versa, and with German and another language present – desperately looking for work.

A school-teacher in the town he lands in falls for him, but he initially rejects her, so she tries to disrupt his life by creating catastrophes around him – fires, flooding, etc – so he is eventually thought of as a criminal by the townsfolk and killed, leaving the boy an orphan. The woman is never found out, and the film ends with her looking at the boy she orphaned and then driving away, leaving the town.

A thoroughly miserable and depressing film, but very well done and one of those things you figure you’d never want to go through again, but something about it draws you back. I’ve been racking my brains for years trying to recall the title and have used up all my Google skills in the meantime, so I’m hoping someone here might have a clue.

Thanks!