Table of contents (Edgar Wallace Krimis)

This blog is dedicated to covering the whole plethora or classic German Krimis, thrillers etc.

A large chunk of that is of the course the series of 32 Rialto Krimis plus adjacent productions (Bryan Edgar Wallace films or non-Rialto Wallaces).

What was missing so far was a list of all the relevant films with links to show which ones I have already covered and looking at this list, I just realised that there is still a lot that needs to be done.

This document will always be a work in progress that I will keep updated whenever I add some new info to this blog and eventually I can foresee that I will also end up providing similar overview posts for the other franchises as I noticed while compiling this list that I often appear to have posted stuff about the lesser known productions rather than the Edgar Wallace films. (Yes, I know, I'm weird.)

Full reviews are provided by clicking on the title links. Links to promotional material are given after the film title.

This post can also quickly be found by checking out the Featured Post gadget at the top of the side bar on the right.

Edgar Wallace 

Rialto: 

1. Der Frosch mit der Maske/Fellowship of the Frog (1959) 

2. Der Rote Kreis/The Crimson Circle (1959) 

3. Die Bande des Schreckens/The Terrible People (1960) 

4. Der Grüne Bogenschütze/The Green Archer (1961) 

5. Die Toten Augen von London/Dead Eyes of London (1961): Slideshow 

6. Das Geheimnis der grünen Narzissen/The Devil’s Daffodil (1961) 

7. Der Fälscher von London/The Forger of London (1961) 

8. Die seltsame Gräfin/The Strange Countess (1961): Film Program

9. Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee/Secret of the Red Orchid (1962): Film Program

10. Die Tür mit den 7 SchlössernThe Door With Seven Locks (1962)  

11. Das Gasthaus an der Themse/The Inn on the River (1962) 

12. Der Zinker/The Squeaker (1963) 

13. Der schwarze Abt/The Black Abbot (1963) 

14. Das indische Tuch/The Indian Scarf (1963) 

15. Zimmer 13/Room 13 (1964) 

16. Die Gruft mit dem Rätselschloss/The Curse of the Hidden Vault (1964)  

17. Der Hexer/The Ringer (1964): Slideshow, Podcast, Film Poster, Film Program

18. Das Verrätertor/Traitor’s Gate (1964) 

19. Neues vom Hexer 

20. Der unheimliche Mönch/The Sinister Monk (1965) 

21. Der Bucklige von Soho/The Hunchback of Soho (1966) 

22. Das Geheimnis der weissen Nonne/The Trygon Factor (1966) 

23. Die blaue Hand/Creature with the Blue Hand (1967): Lobby Cards

24. Der Mönch mit der Peitsche/The College Girl Murders (1967) 

25. Der Hund von Blackwood Castle/The Monster of Blackwood Castle (1968) 

26. Im Banne des Unheimlichen/The Zombie Walks (1968): Lobby Cards

27. Der Gorilla von Soho/The Gorilla Gang (1968): Lobby Cards

28. Der Mann mit dem Glasauge/The Man With the Glass Eye (1968): The Phantom vs Glass Eye (Death Match), Lobby Cards

29. Das Gesicht im Dunkeln/Double Face/A doppia faccia (1969) 

30. Der Tote aus der Themse/Angels of Terror (1971) 

31. Das Geheimnis der grünen Stecknadel/What Have You Done to Solange?/Cosa avete fatto a Solange? (1972) 

32. Das Rätsel des Silbernen Halbmonds/Seven Blood-Stained Orchids/Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso (1972) 

 Bryan Edgar Wallace: 

1. Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Koffer/The Secret of the Black Trunk (1961)  

2. Der Würger von Schloss Blackmoor/The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle (1963)

3. Der Henker von London/The Mad Executioners (1963): Lobby Cards

4. Das Phantom von Soho/The Phantom of Soho (1963): The Phantom vs Glass Eye (Death Match), Film Program

5. Das Ungeheuer von London City//The Monster of London City (1964) 

6. Das siebente Opfer/The Racetrack Murders (1964): Lobby Cards

7. Der Todesrächer von Soho/The Corpse Packs His Bags (1971): Lobby Cards

 Non-Rialto: 

1. Der Rächer/The Avenger (1960): Film Program

2. Der Fluch der gelben Schlange/The Curse of the Yellow Snake (1963)

3. Das Rätsel des silbernen Dreiecks/Circus of Fear (1966) 

4. Die Pagode zum fünften Schrecken/Five Golden Dragons (1967): Podcast

5. Der Teufel kam aus Akasava/The Devil Came from Akasava (1971)

Also check out:

Rialto Wallace Top 5 - Guest Contribution by Douglas Waltz

MAELSTROM 01 - French fanzine dedicated to the Edgar Wallace Krimis

Der unheimliche Mönch/The Sinister Monk (1965)

Der unheimliche Mönch/The Sinister Monk (1965) was Rialto’s 20th Edgar Wallace production and the last to be filmed in black and white (though with full colour credits). 

It was based on Wallace’s play The Terror (1927) that he two years later also released in the form of a novella. And as if to illustrate Wallace’s seemingly endless ability to recycle his own material the play itself was actually also already a stage adaptation of his 1926 novel The Black Abbot (already filmed by Rialto as Der schwarze Abt in 1963). 

That play became his second most popular one after The Ringer and was also quickly adapted for the cinema. The first adaption The Terror (1928), shot the year before the novella came out, is now mainly known for being both the first horror talkie courtesy of the vitaphone system as well as the first lost film talkie. Contemporary critics were not generous and one described it as being “so bad it is almost suicidal”.

 Its accompanying slightly longer silent film version, now also lost, appears to have received slightly better accolades. 

A sequel, The Return of the Terror, followed in 1934, another new adaptation, The Terror, in 1938. 

 Play and book are set in an old country manor built on a monastery that is now being used as a lodging house. The owner and his daughter mysteriously only appeared on the scene just about a decade prior, just at the time of a robbery where the giant loot has not yet been discovered. 

Some of the villains that had been incarcerated for this appear on the scene just to be killed off by a strange hooded monk that haunts the grounds of the estate. 

Scotland Yard begins investigating. An unlikely romance blossoms. And nobody is what they appear to be.

 Whereas the first direct adaptations of this story more or less mirrored that plot, the Rialto movie differed quite extensively. Rialto at that time had reached the stage in their Edgar Wallace series where their films only borrowed some elements of the source novels and instead replaced large chunks with their own brand of successful Krimi tropes. 

What remained was the country manor (named Darkwood Castle in the film) and the murderous monk on a rampage. 

Darkwood Castle is now a boarding school for girls (well, young women by the look of things). Unbeknownst to most of his greedy family, prior to his death the previous Lord has changed his last will and made his granddaughter Gwendolin (Karin Dor) the sole heiress of his fortune. Gwendolin’s father is currently serving time in prison for murder. 

 Gwendolin’s scheming family plot to prevent her from gaining access to her inheritance when the testament appears to have vanished in the fires of a burning car. 

Girls get kidnapped and go missing and the hooded figure of a mysterious monk eliminates some of the main protagonists one by one by breaking their necks with the help of an Australian stock whip. 

 Directed for the last time in the series by Harald Reinl under the typically over the top, idiosyncratic Peter Thomas score, The Sinister Monk is one of the rare instances in the series where at least some parts of it were filmed directly in London. We clearly see some of the characters in front of well known landmarks and in actual fact during the filming some extras in Bobby outfits were spotted by real Bobbies and told to instantly change out of that costume. 

I think it’s safe to say that I’ll watch and rewatch every single one of the Rialto Wallaces whenever the opportunity arises but this film is one of the more middling examples that does just as much right as it does not. 

It yet again successfully mixes action scenes with bizarre murders committed by a masked villain, traditional crime elements with scenes of Gothic horror. The monk with the whip is genuinely one of the most iconic villains of the entire series and his method for murder truly memorable. 

And yet it also often misses the mark. 

The kidnappings and disappearances of young local women, seemingly the aspect that first connects Scotland Yard with Darkwood Castle, is barely mentioned or referenced at all in the first half of this movie so that the all out focus on it during the finale feels somewhat jarring and disconnected. 

Gwendolin would also prove to be Karin Dor’s final role in a Rialto Wallace production and she gives her trademark Damsel in Distress performance that had rightfully gained her the “Miss Krimi” nickname.

 What is missing, however, is someone like Joachim Fuchsberger as a male counterpart for her. Harald Leipnitz as Inspector Bratt excels in the later action scenes but initially has little to do and worst of all lacks any romantic chemistry with Dor. 

His part is so lacklustre that it’s even up to Siegfried Schürenberg’s Sir John to unearth a vital clue. 

The fact that Eddi Arent’s character is allowed to reveal a surprise aspect of his personality (no spoilers!) is to be recommended, however, for a large part his comic relief persona fades much more into the background than in other Wallace movies. 

It is up to some of the other supporting characters to truly shine. Rudolf Schündler’s creepy/eccentric resident “artist” Alfons Short is arguably the most memorable character in this production. He specialises in creating death masks for clients and keeps a collection of his favourites on a wall in his study. School girls he particularly lusts after also get invited for life masks and he also appears to have a penchant for cheesecake photos and carrier pigeons (who at some stage become so crucial to the plot that Scotland Yard uses helicopters to follow them... a bit of an overkill methinks). 

International audiences know Ilse Steppat mainly as the sadistic Irma Bunt in her final film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). In The Sinister Monk, however, she plays a totally different role as a caring matriarch, Lady Patricia, who protects Gwendolin against the vile male members of her clan: Siegfried Lowitz, previously seen as Inspector Warren in Der Hexer/The Ringer (1964), is now a scheming lawyer who attempts to bag the inheritance for himself and deprive Gwendolin of what is rightfully hers. Dieter Eppler’s Sir William is not afraid to use violence to serve his goals. Hartmut Reck as Gwendolin’s cousin Ronny is particularly odious. It is implied that he is Lady Patricia’s sadistic rapist son who may already have been behind the killing of one girl in the past, leaving his mother torn between love and repulsion for her own offspring. Ronny also openly lusts after his cousin and goes as far as offering his hand in marriage in his attempt to gain access to her inheritance.

 And just who is that mysterious new French tutor with zeeee reedeeculous heavy accent? 

Uschi Glas was one of the boarding school girls together with Uta Levka, Dunja Reiter and Susanne Hsiao. This was her first feature film and the beginning of a long career in German cinema and on TV.

 White slavery and exploitation perpetrated behind the gates of an all-female institution full with secret passageways was a popular trope for the Rialto Wallace Krimis just like seeing a heiress threatened or a greedy family with a strong matriarch. In a way this final black and white production was a potpourri of all that had made the previous Krimis so very popular and as such it is little surprise that The Sinister Monk quickly became one of the most popular and successful entries in the series, so popular in fact that just two years later Rialto remade this film in colour as Der Mönch mit der Peitsche/The College Girl Murders (1967) with Uschi Gras in the lead role. 

Talking about KOMMISSAR X for Cult Connections

I had the pleasure to once again guest participate in a podcast. This time I discussed the series of Kommissar X movies from the 1960s. 

Cult Connections was kind enough to invite me again and discuss three of the seven movies as well as give a general overview of the German pulp background for this series. 

The episode is available on Spotify or wherever else you usually get your podcasts from. 

Also check out some other Kommissar X related posts on this blog (including some old film programs and lobby cards.)

Klaus Kinski - Ich bin so wie ich bin (Book review)

Klaus Kinski - Ich bin so wie ich bin (“Klaus Kinski - I’m just the way I am”) is quite possibly the best value film book I have ever discovered. 

Last year I bought this for only €2.76 (plus international postage of about €5 to Ireland) from one of Amazon Germany’s market sellers. Up until very recently it was still available along that priceline though the same seller (MEDIMOPS) that I also got my copy from and who is willing to ship internationally has recently raised the price to around the €15 mark but even at that price it is still a Must Have in my eyes.

This is for what they call the paperback version. The hardcover usually goes for considerably more but even the paperback version is not too far off from being a softcover coffee table book, not a standard sized paperback as one would expect from the description. 

Published in 2001 by DTV this is a 288-page book that is also of interest to international movie fans with no German language skills as it is chock full of often lesser known photos tracing Kinski’s career from his start on the German and Austrian stage to his numerous film parts. 

For those who only know Kinski as a film star, seeing nearly one half of the book dedicated to his theatre work, reciting, recordings etc. will probably come as a surprise but he was indeed first and foremost a serious classical actor, something that from an international point of view had never been that well reported. At one point in his career he had even played with the idea of opening his own theatre and his manic and excessive speech practises had become notorious. 

The book collects essays from a variety of different authors like Georg Seeßlen about the different stages of his life and career as well as a reprint of a famous cover article by leading German news magazine Der Spiegel from as early as 1961. The book also quotes from Kinski’s letters to his first wife. 

The emphasis of this book is very much on Kinski the actor. As such it leaves out most references to his private life. 

Something unknown to me was that prior to any acting success whatsoever Kinski had actually tried making it as an artist and in 1954 even had managed to get a gallery in Berlin to display his charcoal drawings but just two days prior to the opening managed to annoy the gallery owner so much that the grand opening ended up being cancelled on short notice. Kinski, seriously underweight and underfed, had visited the gallery owner at his apartment. The owner took pity on him and gave him a couple of sandwiches that Kinski then shared with the owner’s bull terrier. Despite being repeatedly told not to feed the dog, Kinski kept this up even more aggressively until he was told to leave and to forget about his exhibition. 

Even when Kinski was an up and coming star of the German language stage, he was already prone to scandals and pretty much got fired from just about any theatre that had employed him. He broke stage conventions at the time by throwing kiss hands to an enthusiastic audience or argued excessively when he even heard the slightest murmur from them. 

During stage performances he often changed the classic texts and got in trouble with Bertold Brecht’s wife and publishers over that whereas Schiller had no way to intervene. 

These antics turned him into a Bête Noire for Classic Theatre but also highly successful especially with a younger slightly more rebellious audience. His one-man recitations are sold out. His LP recordings break all sales records for Spoken Word albums. There is traffic chaos at his first public signing and in 1958 he even enthrals an audience of a staggering 80.000 people during an open-air event. 

And as much as he makes financially during that time, it is never enough to finance his life style which eventually brings him to a career in international cinema where he accepts roles based on the money he’ll make with them and only once more in 1971 returns back to the stage in a radical new interpretation of the New Testament that became notorious due to Kinski’s excesses and attacks on audience members. The book highlights how very physically Kinski got involved in the Spaghetti Westerns in scenes that would usually require a stuntman and also points out that in contrast to his stage antics he never really "ruined" a film as such but was often commented upon for his professionalism. This was helped by the fact that he for the most part was never the star of the films and the "lesser" the director the more he could often shine.

 A notable exception to all those points was of course Werner Herzog with whom by chance he had already shared an apartment house for a while when the director was still a teenager. (Of course Kinski ended up being thrown out of the house.) 

Not just his behaviour but also his looks were quite transgressive carrying both male and female traits or looking both young and old. No wonder that he never quite fit into the Hollywood system with his later films but instead had his biggest success with his European roles. 

Klaus Kinski - Ich bin so wie ich bin is an amazing richly illustrated book and at the price this is currently still going for a worthwhile addition to any cult film aficionado's book shelf.

You can BUY THIS BOOK ON AMAZON GERMANY. Please find below some sample images of it.

Guesting on THE BLOODY PIT OF ROD podcast

Seems like the 1960s Dr Mabuses have definitely become "my thing" as I have now also guested on The Bloody Pit of Rod podcast in a 2+ hour episode to discuss this series of movies,

Go check it out....

Sensational Sixties #10

 

Proud as punch that I got my first article into SENSATIONAL SIXTIES #10.

My contribution focuses on the five Dr Mabuse movies of the 1960s not directed by Fritz Lang.

The magazine is a beauty and looking at the contents I find myself in the illustrious company of the likes of Kim Newman, Bruce G. Hallenbeck and Rachael Nisbet.

The magazine can be ordered via Hemlock Books.

MAELSTROM 01 - French fanzine dedicated to the Edgar Wallace Krimis

 I was just browsing through some old files on my laptop and happened to come across a PDF of MAELSTROM 01 - numero spécial Edgar Wallace, a richly illustrated 124-page French language fanzine covering all 32 Rialto Edgar Wallace Krimis.

Other than that it was published more than ten years ago in April 2013 I have no further info about this. It was clearly a one-off and I don't think there were even any other issues of this magazine created. The only thing I found online about this is this French language blog post that had also provided a download link (long since expired). 

To the best of my knowledge this zine had only ever existed as a free PDF for fans of this subgenre.

I have now uploaded this fanzine to archive.org to make this wonderful publication more easily accessible again. Even if you don't speak French, it is well worth exploring and an utter joy.