Two German Jack the Rippers

I recently came across two little known German language productions from the 1960s that both feature Jack the Ripper. 

Neither one is a traditional Krimi but both have elements of that genre that warrant an inclusion on this blog. 

 First up Lulu/No Orchids for Lulu (1962), a new adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s plays Erdgeist/Earth Spirit and Die Büchse der Pandora/Pandora’s Box and as such a remake of the classic silent movie Pandora’s Box (1929) with Louise Brooks. 

In line with the original drama, a Jack the Ripper like character - he is never really named as such and though all the tropes are there the time period is wrong - is only introduced towards the end of this “burlesque tragedy” as a cipher for the rise and dramatic fall of the title character. 

This Austrian movie is purposely theatrical and presented as a morality play, even down to having a narrator (a bald Charles Regnier who in real life was actually married to Frank Wedekind’s daughter Pamela) speaking into the camera and commenting on events in this movie. 

When a teenage flower girl tries to steal Dr. Schön’s (O.E. Hasse) pocket watch, he takes her on Pygmalion style to make a lady out of her and eventually marry her off to an influential older medical officer (Hogan’s Heroes’ Leon Askin). Though not explicitly shown it is implied that he didn’t just introduce her to the ways of the world alone. 

The first five minutes of this film are entirely without dialogue and instead filmed dreamlike through a blurry lens and underlined by cheerful music. We never see the face of the girl until we finally cut to her as an adult where she is shown to be portrayed by Austrian actress Nadja Tiller who would eventually appear in eleven movies by Rolf Thiele, the director of this movie. 

All the men in her life project so much into her that throughout the film they all address her differently (Lulu, Nelly, Eva) and yet she eventually leaves a trail of dead husbands and destroyed lives behind her.

 Lulu is portrayed as being both innocent but scheming, temptress and self destructive, Angel and Devil all in one. Her relationship with Hasse’s character bears traces of The Blue Angel and her rise and eventual downfall is mirrored in her appearance and the contrast to a portrait that was done of her by her second artist/husband (Sieghardt Rupp) and her being shaven haired after an escape in a coffin from a prison signals her downward slide. 

Speaking of mirrors: They are ever present for her narcissistic glances. 

Hildegard Knef plays an enigmatic Countess with more than just a maternal interest in Lulu who, to her own detriment, also succumbs to her destructive charms. 

 Also watch out for Mario Adorf as a sleazy acrobat, Rudolf Forster as a bum and the one constant companion of Lulu’s life from teenage years on and Herbert Fux in a bit part as a visitor to a nightclub.

 Overall, Lulu is probably more interesting than genuinely good but definitely well worth a watch. It does appear to at one stage have seen an English language release as No Orchids for Lulu (a play on the then popular No Orchids for Miss Blandish) so there may be an English language version around out there somewhere. 

In the meantime you can watch the original German version on YouTube (embedding on other websites is blocked so you need to visit the site directly).

 

Next up a production that is more overtly Ripper in nature but also at the same time not remotely as interesting. 

Up until about a month ago I had never even heard about Der Mieter [tr. The Lodger] even though it stars Pinkas Braun in the title role. 

This Austrian TV movie is an adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ The Lodger which had previously been adapted by Alfred Hitchcock as a silent movie and subsequently saw other versions featuring the likes of Laird Cregar and Jack Palance. 

It is in fact a German language version of a script by Anthony Skene that had first been aired on July 25, 1965 as part of the third season of UK's "Armchair Mystery Theatre” with Charles Gray in the leading role as Quill, the mysterious lodger. This hour-long episode (as well as the series overall) has long been unavailable and it’s not even certain whether any of it has actually survived in the archives. 

The anthology series was hosted by Donald Pleasance and we can get a glimpse of what this episode was like thanks to Der Mieter which aired on Austrian television on November 30, 1967 and was based on Skene’s script. 

Unfortunately this adaptation is an absolute snoozer. Even in 1967 this must have felt like a very old fashioned, stage bound interpretation. It plays for the most part in one single room of the house where all the events get endlessly discussed with little to no camera movement or cuts. If ever we needed to know that "show don't tell" should rule, then this is it. Because all we get is "tell" which is a pity as Pinkas Braun, enigmatic villain in many a Krimi, could have made a very memorable Jack the Ripper, pardon, Azrael (as he calls himself in this version). 

Whereas the Austrian version is scratching at the two hour mark (two endless long hours!), the much shorter British version sounds like it could have been more palatable.