CINEPUNKED just published my review of Nicholas G. Schlegel's German Popular Cinema and the Rialto Phenomenon: Dark Eyes of London, the first full length English language book on Rialto's Edgar Wallace Krimis.
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Der Würger vom Tower/Strangler of the Tower (1966) is one of the lesser known Krimis. It’s a standalone entry not based on any literary source. Instead Swiss exploitation legend Erwin C. Dietrich, who also produced this film, wrote the script under the pseudonym “Michael Thomas”.
For director Hans Mehringer this would prove to be his one and only feature film. Mehringer would go on to focus exclusively on TV work.
No doubt about it, Strangler of the Tower is a fun film that at first glance ticks off all the right boxes: Adi Berber as the brutish killer, a complex mystery, bizarrely masqueraded members of a secret society congregating in underground chambers, some innocent striptease scenes and less innocent whippings combined with a superior jazzy soundtrack by Swiss composer and electronic music legend Bruno Spoerri ensures that time passes in a breeze.
And yet, one also cannot shake off the feeling that something is often amiss and with just a few minor tweaks this could have been elevated from a passable time waster to an all time cult classic.
The powers of Scotland Yard are primarily represented by Hans Reiser as Inspector Harvey, one of the least charismatic detectives in Krimiland.
Fresh from the first Kommissar X - Jagd auf Unbekannt/Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill (1966), Christa Linder here plays the daughter of the first victim who inherits her mother’s jewellery and quickly gets abducted and tortured in an underground cavern. Linder’s character is introduced as a potential leading lady but then disappears again for far too long.
Another potential heroine is played by Kai Fischer (from Zimmer 13/Room 13 (1964) and a small number of other Krimis). Her Grace Harrison is the prolific author of some popular crime novels, a kind of modern day Edgar Wallace. In a jibe to rival medium TV she tells a postman that writing “more than two books in a week is too tiring. Otherwise I’d be writing for television.”
Linder, Fischer and Ellen Schwiers (as Lady Trenton) make up a female triumvirate that is a joy to watch, even though each one of them is simply not given enough to do in this production to properly shine.
Their male counterpart is Charles Regnier in a double role both as a dubious jeweller and his louchy twin brother who lives an alcohol fuelled life on the run from the police after some dodgy business deals went wrong.
Released posthumously Strangler of the Tower would prove to be Ady Berber’s final film. He had passed away from cancer at the untimely age of 53 on January 03, 1966.
All those as well as a range of other characters ensure that the viewer is never bored, even though one would have wished there’d be more of an anchor character to focus on in a story that at times gets quite muddled up and borderline incomprehensible.
Special mention must go to the “Brothers of Poetic Justice” (“Brüder der ausgleichenden Gerechtigkeit, in the English dub: “Brothers in the Holy Order of Righteousness”), a most unfortunately named Secret Society with members who have no calms removing their hoods in front of witnesses when enraged. As secretive as they are, they also keep approaching rich sponsors in trying to convince them to sign over their possessions to them as if they were a registered charity. And then we even discover how badly they were manipulated by a truly raving madman!
This film is at times a mess but it’s a joyful and fast moving mess that is worth exploring once you already took some large sips of the regular Edgar Wallace drink and have also tasted some of the other better known copy cats.
Both the original German version as well as the English language dub are currently available on YouTube.
TRAILER
GERMAN VERSION
ENGLISH VERSION
