morrison-dylan-fan Going to book tickets to see satirical comedian Jonathon Pie in March,I found out that an Edgar Wallace adaptation was being staged in March as well. A fan of the Krimi movies with Karin Dor, (who sadly does not appear here)I was pleased to find that Wallace's novel had been filmed as a Krimi,which led to me putting the scarf on.The plot:On one stormy night, Lord Edward Lebanon is strangled to death by a black glove wearing stranger who uses an Indian scarf as a weapon. Hating the mere sight of each other, Lebanon's family gather at his remote mansion to hear his will get read out by lawyer Frank Tanner. Opening the will,Tanner discovers that Lebanon has set down the rules that the family must spend time in the mansion, or else they lose their inheritance. Finding the mansion to again be cut off by weather (and suspecting that the loss of other family members means more money for themselves)the black glove wearing stranger picks up the Indian scarf again...View on the film:Limited by producer Horst Wendlandt's attempt to save money by filming it all in a studio,director Alfred Vohrer & cinematographer Karl Löb brilliantly overcome the limitations, and unfold an early Giallo Krimi. Handling black leather gloves before their arrival in the Giallo with the 1970 Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Vohrer gives each murder a highly stylised shine,gliding in smoothly-handled first person track shots,which along with building tension to the next attack,also cleverly map out the corners of the mansion. Solving the mystery with a mischievous twist, Vohrer and Löb do extremely well keeping anxiety running high in the isolated location,by using swift overlapping close-ups to draw out the fear from each family member over possibly sitting next to the killer.Leaning towards Agatha Christie in this take on the Krimi, the screenplay by Harald G. Petersson and George Hurdalek spreads the mystery across the family evenly, with them each being given quirks that crack the façade of their royal upper-crust status. Catching a handful of the Giallo, the writers keep the twists in the Krimi strong by playing allowing with the early set-ups of the Giallo,such as a haunted family gathering round the table for the final,a death in the family sauna, and an wry spin on the dope/druggie loner of Gialli.The black sheep in the family from his first meeting with Heinz Drache's smooth lawyer Frank Tanner, Klaus Kinski gives a great, fidgeting performance as the howling Peter Ross,who keeps all the family ill at ease,as the killer puts on the Indian scarf.

Joseph_Gillis Not so much 'family gathering, haunted-house mystery' - although the phone lines get knocked out, early on - as 'family gathering, there's a killer among us mystery' , where, once the first unfortunate get's knocked off, it becomes quickly apparent to the remainder that one of them - being that there's a shared inheritance involved - is determined to kill the others.Your enjoyment of this type of film depends of course on how much of a fan you are, but especially on the quality of the ensemble playing and the quality of the 'dispatches', and I think it scores highly on both fronts. Performance-wise, I've only recently become acquainted with many of these actors, but I particularly enjoyed the performances of Elisabeth Flickenschildt, as Lady Isabel Lebanon; Hans Clarin, as Lord Edward, her son; the more familiar, Klaus Kinski, as Peter Ross; and regular comic relief, Eddi Aren't, as the family butler, whose trolley seems to have a life of its own.*** Of the killings, - all strangulations, using one of a set of distinctive scarves - possibly the most inventive was that carried out in a sauna, where the victim's neighbour both survives unscathed, and remained oblivious to the killer's presence. ***The film boasted more external scenes than one is usually accustomed to in films of this type,including a number of frenetic chase scenes; also some of the cinematography was quite inventive; particularly in those external scenes.I managed to figure out who the killer was, quite early on, but not the final scene, and I suspect only friends and acquaintances of the scriptwriters were able to do that.Undemanding entertainment, nicely handled by director Alfred Vohrer, who was already establishing himself as a stalwart of the series

Liedzeit Heinz Drache recently died. Reason enough to watch this one again. I find that of all the movies on tape the films of the Wallace series are the ones that I watch again and again. And the "Tuch" is after "Der Hexer" the best one. It just got everything. As a rule of thumb: the ones with Drache are best, the ones with Fuchsberger are all okay. If Kinski is in it, great. But really important is the presence of Eddi Aren't and Siegfried Schuerendorf. Luckily they are in practically every of the 38 or so of the series.Alfred Vohrer, one of the unrecognized geniuses of Film, directs his incredible cast through a story that is both negligible and a highlight of mystery. Lord Lebanon died and his greedy family is forced to spend a week in the castle, if they want to inherit. Of course, they are cut off from the outside world because of a storm or something. And so (and this is hardly a spoiler I hope) as one after the other gets strangled, they are on their own. And Frank Tanner (Drache), the lawyer, has to solve the crime. He does it with his usual light spirit. Unfortunately not to successful, for he suspects each and everyone (and is suspected by the others) and even after there are only three members of the family left - one of them the beautiful women (well not so beautiful to be honest) who has literally no other role than to bring in some female presence, he still suspects the wrong one, namely wonderful Elisabeth Flickenschildt. Well. Of course, the whole thing cannot be taken seriously and is not meant to be taken seriously. There are funny scenes throughout the film. Eddie Aren't as butler Bonwit is superb but easily overshadowed by Schuerenberg, who only has to say "Was sind denn das für Sachen?" to make my heart jump from joy. Even better when he imitates his parrot saying "Murderer, murderer" as Aren't leaves his room. At the end all the dead are present as ghosts as the will is read to the final family member, the above mentioned young lady (Gisela Uhlen). But she does not inherit, no. Guess who is the lucky one? Try to rent this one somewhere. An easy ten out of ten.

evilskip A rich man is bumped off and it is made to look like a heart attack. His possible heirs must spend 7 days in "peaceful coexistence" before his will is read.As usual the heirs are strangled one by one(with an Indian scarf).The finger of suspicion points to anybody and everyone. Is it the lawyer? Or wife; the son; the dope addict (Klaus Kinski intense as usual); the clergyman etc. Well this film drowns in red herrings and the ending is off the wall and irritating. I'm a big fan of this series and this disappoints. Only the acting and settings gives this a 4.