(1963)
Overall: MEH
One of the rare krimi movie from Constantin Films that was not based on the works of either Edgar Wallace or his son Bryan Edgar Wallace, The White Spider, (Die weiße Spinne), is instead adapted from Louis Weinert-Wilton's novel of the same name. The plot has many of the usual convoluted tropes though; an underground criminal racket, a guy who dons numerous disguises, a pretty lady caught up in the mix, characters with gambling debts, characters who want more money, substantial life insurance policies popping up left and right, a smart-ass male protagonist who is pushy with the ladies, said protagonist being an undercover agent, etc. Peter Thomas' music is flashy here or there, but the movie has no visual pizazz or stand-out performances. Several of the actors are recognizable from other works in the genre, playing mere variations of other characters competently enough, but not to a degree that makes the viewer care who in fact the "White Spider" is. A krimi by numbers then, only devout completests need partake.
(1963)
Overall: MEH
Director Harald Reinl and author Bryan Edgar Wallace join forces on The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, (Der Würger von Schloß Blackmoor), another wacky plotted krimi with the usual players on board. Identical in every way to the Rialto Films' series of Edgar Wallace movies, we once again have the genre's main damsel in distress Karin Dor playing the relative of an older gentleman who has partaken of dubious activities that are coming around to bite him in the ass and get some masked bad guys after large amounts of money. Specifically diamonds in this instance, which Dor's soon-to-be-knighted-by-the-Queen aristocrat uncle Rudolf Fernau has siphoned away over the years, only for a hooded bloke dubbed "The Strangler" to demand the loot lest he make good on his blackmail threats. The pieces all fall into predictable place from there, and the setting is a castle with underground lairs to insure some good Gothic scenery. We also get a roadside beheading and Dor nearly getting her eyes drilled out by yet another greedy and odious character who is after the goods, so the movies goes harder than others with its depiction of violence.
(1965)
Overall: MEH
Another Edgar Wallace Rialto krimi during their peak 1960s period, The Sinister Monk, (Der unheimliche Mönch), brings the author's 1927 play The Terror to cinematic life, the forth such adaptation for the screen. Anybody familiar with even a handful of these movies will recognize not only all of the plot points, but also practically everyone on screen acting out those plot points. It is futile trying to keep track of how many of these stories begin with an old rich guy dying and then various people trying to get a hold of said rich guy's money, and this one runs wild with such a textbook premise. The monk of the title is alleged to be a ghost who wanders the grounds where most of the action takes place, yet these films never indulged in actual supernatural bologna, so it is of course just a flesh and blood person dressed up like a monk. He does have a particularly deadly way of offing his victims though, using a bullwhip with a decent sized bead at the end of it that snaps its victims necks before dragging them from wherever they were standing or sitting. As the bodies pile up, no-good relatives threaten each other with revealing their most illegal secrets, and Karin Dor has her asshole cousin aggressively try to marry her, gets her face molded into a cast, and naturally falls in love with the handsome police inspector by the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment