Das indische Tuch (1963)

... aka: Edgar Wallace - Das indische Tuch
... aka: Edgar Wallace - The Indian Scarf
... aka: Indian Scarf, The

Directed by:
Alfred Vohrer

Elderly Lord Frances Percival Lebanon (Wilhelm Vorwerg) is strangled to death with a scarf in his study by a black-gloved killer; a murder that is blamed on a heart attack. Various estranged relatives then show up at his country mansion in Scotland for the reading of his last will and testament. There's bad blood between nearly everyone who shows up. After all, there's half a million pound to divide up between many people and some feel like they're more deserving than others. But there's a catch to the will. Because of the venomous relations and the lot of them soiling the once-good family name, a stipulation of the will is that everyone remain in the mansion for six days and six nights to try to patch things up.  If any one is to leave early, they'll be unable to collect. And if someone is to - say - die, then their share will also be divided between the remaining family members. Lord Lebanon's lawyer, Frank Tanner (Heinz Drache), is to oversee and supervise the execution of these conditions. Immediately after the will is read, a storm breaks out, cutting out both the phone lines and the electricity, and causing a flood that effectively stranding everyone there. It's going to be a long night... and one of the potential heirs, Reverend Lionel Hastings (Alexander Engel), won't be surviving it.

The following morning, butler Bonwit (Eddi Arent) casually relays the information that the reverend has been strangled to death while everyone's enjoying breakfast. Suspicion falls upon pretty much everyone. There's the Lord's bitter wife Emily (Elizabeth Flickenschildt), who doesn't understand why she has to split up everything with a bunch of people she hardly knows. Then there's Edward (Hans Clarin), Emily and the late Lord's son, who obsessively plays the piano... and is clearly not right in the head. The Lord apparently got around as he has both an illegitimate son, Peter Ross (Klaus Kinski), an intense, possibly morphine-addicted sculptor, and an illegitimate daughter, Isla Harris (Corny Collins). And then there's Mr. and Mrs. Tilling (Hans Nielsen and Gisela Uhlen). He's an obnoxious, brutish jerk and a button from his jacket is found by the dead Reverend's bedside. She hates him and wants a divorce... but does she hate him enough to plant evidence to implicate him? Explorer Sir Henry Hockbridge (Siegfried Schürenberg), who's brought along a chatty parrot and a poisonous tropical spider from one of his Amazonian expeditions, and Dr. Amersham (Richard Häussler), the Lord's personal physician who discovered his body and may have falsified the death certificate, round out the group. And what would one of these things be without a hulking, Tor Johnson-esque cook / chauffeur / valet / handyman ("Chiko" played by Ady Berber)?

The suspect roster becomes smaller and smaller as various possible heirs turn up dead; mostly strangled to death by a scarf. Apparently, Lord Lebanon picked up a dozen of them while in India... and the killer is going to need most of them in this Ten Little Indians-style krimi based on the novel "The Case of the Frightened Lady" by Edgar Wallace. The mystery elements are just middling and the plot set-up is an all-too-familiar one, but the cast is very good, it features some good art direction (lots of use is made of catacombs and secret passageways) and is nicely photographed (most of the murder scenes are done from the killer's point of view and feature the killer's arms sticking out from behind the camera twirling the scarf). Despite the many murder scenes and a high body count, the tone is relatively breezy and there's a good deal of humor. Arent, almost always used as annoying, bumbling comic relief in these things, gets to pull it back a notch here.

Director Vohrer made tons of these films and is the most prolific of all the krimi directors. His other credits in this subgenre include Dead Eyes of London (1961), The Door with Seven Locks, The Inn on the River (both 1962), The Squeaker (1963), The Mysterious Magician (1964), Hunchback of Soho (1966), The Bloody Dead, The College Girl Murders, The Horror of Blackwood Castle (all 1967), The Ape Creature, The Zombie Walks (both 1968), School of Fear, Terror on Half Moon Street (both 1969) and probably a few more I'm forgetting.

★★1/2

Der Zinker (1963)

... aka: Edgar Wallace a Scotland Yard
... aka: L'énigme du serpent noir
... aka: Secret of the Black Serpent, The
... aka: Squeaker, The

Directed by:
Alfred Vohrer

The novels of prolific mystery writer Edgar Wallace were the basis for dozens of krimi (crime flicks / murder-mysteries) produced in West Germany throughout the 1960s. The vast majority were detective stories and many also included pronounced horror elements. These stylish and well-shot productions are now frequently seen as precursors to the Italian giallo movement, though they just as often recall the spirit of the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films. The Squeaker falls smack in the middle of these two trends; it has the well-structured plotline indicative of the Holmes films, as well as some of the violence and visual style of the gialli. Of course krimi were much milder than their later cousins. With time, these things got bloodier and sexier thanks to crumbling censorship laws and the demands of a changing audience. However, gialli usually spent so much time orchestrating the murder sequences that the screenplays really took a hit and logic rarely ever reared its ugly head. Though the horror elements are somewhat subdued in this particular Wallace entry, The Squeaker finds a comfortable place where the visuals enhance the story instead of attempt to entirely make up for a lack of one.

A black-gloved killer nicknamed "The Snake" (who signs his letters with an "S") is going around London poisoning people. And he or she has a really ingenious weapon at their disposal: a slim steel rod which they load up with frozen pellets of mamba poison and shoot into victims. The murders center around a company called Mulford Ltd., which specializes in both the importing and breeding of rare exotic animals, and it's up to Scotland Yard Inspector Bill Elford (Heinz Drache) to crack the case. Elderly Nancy Mulford (Agnes Windeck), whose husband had committed suicide years earlier and left the business to her, owns Mulford Ltd., but has dished out most of the responsibilities to manager Frankie Sutton (Günter Pfitzmann), who also happens to be dating her niece Beryl (Barbara Rütting), a mystery novelist. Several other people work in the warehouse tending to the animals, including Krishna (Klaus Kinski), an oddball who barely ever talks and, as the film opens, is seen stealing a black mamba from his work. He's clearly in on things, but is he "The Snake?"

Several other characters are thrown into the mix. Feeling charitable, Nancy decides to hire convicted criminal Thomas Leslie (Jan Hendriks), who's just spent two years behind bars, to work in her warehouse. He and Frankie's secretary Millie (Inge Langen) are both seen at various points trying to crack into the company safe. One of the first victims is tied into a crime ring which specializes in jewel robberies where one member fakes having a heart attack to distract police while the others hold up the stores. For some comedy, Eddi Arent's "Telegraph" newspaper reporter Mr. Harras, is injected into the proceedings. His subplot involves him trying to please his crotchety boss Gerald Fielding (Siegfried Schürenberg) by getting the scoop on the murders before a rival reporter for another newspaper can.

Things start out a little overwhelmingly. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and some odd and seemingly random things that happen, but this manages to tie everything together nicely by the end. It's both well-structured and well-written, managing to entertain and keep you guessing as the mystery unfolds. The actors all do a fine job and the characters are enjoyable and adequately fleshed-out. Kinski has a particularly fun role. He gets to crawl around on the floor, fondles and kisses snakes, locks a woman inside a cage with a tiger, has a shipping crate with a corpse and python inside dropped hundreds of feet from a crane and goes crazy with a machine gun at the very end. A man is run over, a mamba is snuck into someone's bedroom and there are some other good suspense set pieces in here. In addition, there are a few amusingly bizarre camera shots, including one inside someone's mouth as they eat a carrot!

Director Alfred Vohrer, the busiest director of these kinds of films, left behind an impressive number of krimi. In addition to this one, he also made DEAD EYES OF LONDON (1961), THE DOOR WITH SEVEN LOCKS (1962), THE INN ON THE RIVER (1962), THE INDIAN SCARF (1963), THE MYSTERIOUS MAGICIAN (1964), HUNCHBACK OF SOHO (1966), THE BLOODY DEAD (1967), COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS (1967), THE HORROR OF BLACKWOOD CASTLE (1967), THE APE CREATURE (1968), THE ZOMBIE WALKS (1968), SCHOOL OF FEAR (1969) and TERROR ON HALF MOON STREET (1969) and probably a few more I'm forgetting. Damn, I have a lot of catching up to do. The Squeaker is the first of these I've seen and I hope the others stack up. This was quite enjoyable.

★★★