A rarity among Nazi era productions, Ferryman Maria emanates the Stimmung and fatalistic allure of Weimar's haunted screen. The landscapes and localities may vaguely resemble blood-and-soil iconography, but under Wysbar's direction (and through Franz Weihmayr's always intriguing camera) they take on a fantastic, at times undeniably oneiric aspect. A woman wages a battle of wits with a mysterious stranger, seeking to protect the man she loves: we are clearly on territory reminiscent of Fritz Lang's Destiny. Sibylle Schmitz's performance is galvanizing, a function of her inimitably nervous physiognomy and vulnerable gaze. Contemporary critics chided her as "racially objectionable" as they had earlier attacked Wysbar for his work's "physical and spiritual decadence." The director would emigrate to the United States and later remake Ferryman Maria under the title Strangler of the Swamp.-E.R.