Der Mörder mit dem Seidenschal/Killer with a Silk Scarf (1966)

A young girl (Susanne Uhlen) witnesses the murder of her mother (Helga Liné) and subsequently gets chased by her killer (Carl Möhner) who is afraid of being identified by her. 

 Killer with a Silk Scarf is one of those productions that has so much going for it and then shoots off most of its ammunition in the first quarter of an hour before meandering along for the rest of its running time. 

It is the directing debut of Adrian Hoven who also produced the film and appeared uncredited in the role of a sleazy gambler and would-be debonair member of the demi-monde. Hoven was a popular actor who can also be seen in the Rialto Wallace Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee/Secret of the Red Orchid (1962) and the non-Wallace Krimi Die schwarze Kobra/The Black Cobra (1963). He would later gain notoriety by producing the Mark of the Devil (1970) and then directing its notorious sequel.

 This is a modern and contemporary crime thriller set in Vienna based on a novel by female author Thea Tauentzien and distributed by Constantin Film. 

 We are clearly no longer in cosy Edgar Wallace territory when right at the start we are being introduced to a "bar singer" (Helga Line) arguing with her beau, Boris (Carl Möhner), while being observed by her illegitimate daughter (Susanne Uhlen) through the letter slot and subsequently strangled. 

 The daughter is living with a greedy foster family who only cares about the money they make of her. A neighbour comments that Lineés character was a good'un despite her disreputable profession as she otherwise would have simply got an abortion rather than give birth. 

All those topics bring us closer to a much more realistic approach to the thriller genre than what we would otherwise expect from a 1960s Krimi. 

Adi Berber is briefly shown as a police inspector, a very welcome change of pace for the actor who was often typecast as a threatening menace. It would have been welcome if his part could have been extended. Berber died of cancer before the film was released and his lines had to be dubbed by somebody else.

 

Berber is not the only actor to get short shrift. Liné is very prominently placed in the credits and yet her part may be crucial to the plot but she is also just on screen for a few short minutes. Again, quite shocking for black and white Krimis of the time, we see Boris put his hands down her blouse and over her braless breast as a forceful display of possessive behaviour. 

Silk Scarf further breaks with established traditions in that it is not a Whodunnit and that the main protagonist is a young girl physically threatened by the villain. The killer is clearly known right from the start and the focus is on the hunt for 10-year old Susanne Uhlen’s character. 

Uhlen is the true discovery of this film in which she gave her debut. She would subsequently become a very popular TV Star in Germany with a career lasting up until very recent years. 

 In the later part of the film Hoven is edging again by introducing some mild nudity and showing a chase sequence in the sewers of Vienna (clearly inspired by The Third Man) that culminates in seeing the corpse of a burning man surrounded by sewer rats. Little wonder that the sadistic Mark of the Devil was not far around the corner for him as he was clearly aiming to break some boundaries. 

 The trouble with this production is that despite a strong start and somewhat arresting finish, the plot dawdles aimlessly for a large part of its running time. 

With the killer being known it would have been important to create genuine tension yet even some of the chase sequences are lacklustre and a lot of time is spent with police interviews that for the viewer (who knows the culprit) just aren’t terribly involving. The one thing that positively sticks out in that part of the film are the scenes on contemporary Vienna, most notably of the amusement park Prater. 

Even introducing a further element of chasing a large sum of money that the victim had brought in from abroad is not majorly adding to the excitement. 

The main inspector is played by Folco Lulli, largely unknown in Germany, but obviously hired on behalf of the Italian co-financiers Sagittario Film. 

Lulli’s character is assisted by Herald Juhnke (Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse/The Terror of Dr. Mabuse, 1962) as a mild comic relief character. 

We are led to believe that no matter where she goes the girl just happens to stumble upon Boris and yet at the same time the police are incapable of locating her after a journalist revealed that she can identify her mother’s killer. 

From a distance of nearly 60 years watching how this girl gets treated by the authorities is an eye opener: being lied to about her mother’s death and told she’d just be in hospital is considered a blessing; even when she is aware of her mother’s death she is expected to show up in school (but doesn’t); the threat of an orphanage is always looming over her and her foster parents do not show the slightest bit of interest in her other than as seeing her as an extra source of income. 

 Upon release Silk Scarf flopped. On the list of the most successful German Krimis this production ranks as #82 and in 1966, the year of its release, with just 204,000 tickets sold in Germany it barely broke into the country’s Top 200. It appears that an English version may at one stage have been shown on US TV.

It is a film that showed a lot of promise and willingness to break established Krimi boundaries but ultimately wasted them with a stale execution.

CREATURE WITH THE BLUE HAND Blu-ray

 Today is the official release day of the Creature with the Blue Hand/Web of the Spider Klaus Kinski Double Feature Blu-ray release by Film Masters.

One of the biggest draw backs for anyone outside of Germany trying to get into the Rialto Edgar Wallace Krimi series has always been the lack of English friendly versions of the films.

True, you could get the complete German box set either from Amazon UK or Amazon DE but only about 2/3 of the films there have English language subs or dubs so any new English friendly print deserves some praise and as it happens Creature with the Blue Hand, one of the two films in this new release, is a Rialto Wallace.

I had previously reviewed the film here and posted a lobby card set here.

This Double Feature comes with a booklet and a series of extras:

• Creature with the Blue Hand full length commentary track 
• Web of the Spider full length commentary track 
• Second feature, 'The Bloody Dead (1987),' from Independent International Pictures with added scenes for the home video release 
• Essays by Christopher Stewardson and Nick Clark 
• All new documentary on Edgar Wallace Archival commentary by Samuel M. Sherman 
• Original theatrical trailer from 35mm for Creature with the Blue Hand 
• Reimagined trailer for Web of the Spider using restored elements

And if the YouTube trailer is anything to go by the 4K scan is also excellent. 

Creature with the Blue Hand was one of those films that had only been available in a German only version in the German box set so this release is effectively the only English friendly version around right now.

Of course, nothing can ever be perfect in this world and unfortunately according to DVD Compare "Germany is uncut but not English-friendly while Film Masters has the shorter U.S. theatrical version and the later video version with added gore footage. Both have exclusive extras."

Still for an International audience not yet familiar with the production at least for now this does appear to be the best way to access this film. Still living in hope though that one of these days a complete English friendly box set of the Rialto Edgar Wallace Krimis will become more readily available.

Zimmer 13/Room 13 (1964) - Lobby Cards

     Having in the past already written a few lines about the proto-Giallo Zimmer 13/Room 13 (1964), methinks it's time to post a set of lobby cards for this film.

KRIMI! Magazine

Little did I know that two months after my last blog post (gulp, has it really been that long?) promoting the heavily Krimi-focused Death at the Grindhouse blog, I would be involved in an exciting new project with Boris Brosowski, the founder of that blog!

During a recent trip to Germany earlier this month I met up with Boris in person and geeked out over four hours about Krimis and adjacent genres. 

We also finalised plans for a new English language magazine dedicated to the Krimi genre. There will be a 0 Number out at around Christmas and then from next year with the proper Number 1 a regular series of releases.

Needless to say: I am super excited about this.

The cover and design ideas are still very much in the planning stages but Boris has already started a new blog that will provide updates on the progress of this so go and check it out.

Death at the Grindhouse

 Over the last couple of months frequently came across the Death at the Grindhouse blog and their often in-depth analysis of Krimis with a wonderfully idiosyncratic take. Well worth checking out. Good to see the Krimi-love being alive and kicking.

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): Lobby Cards

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.