The Case Of The Frightened Lady 1940 British film based on the Edgar Wallace play, screenplay by Edward Dryhurst and an uncredited Robert Stevenson, directed by George King. The play was also the source of the 1932 film Criminal At Large.
Life at Mark's Priory is hard, there's an old lady in charge, the son is a bit of a layabout, the old ladies secretary is her niece. The secretary is afraid of the creepy male servants, they're always skulking around, she's also annoyed at being locked into her room at night. The secretary wants to leave but the old lady insists she stay and for added horror she wants the secretary to marry her son. The old lady insists that the family line must continue.
When the chauffeur gets murdered the police arrive. The family doctor is next on the list of dead people. Other strange things happen and we eventually find out the ID of the killer. It's brisk and entertaining to me. The cast had a fairly good script and most of them did alright. The secretary was a bit hysterical but that might be the director's fault. I'd watch it again. You can test drive it on YouTube. Link above.
The College Girl Murders 1967 A German film originally titled Der Mönch mit der Peitsche or The Monk with the Whip. It's another story based on a mix of Edgar Wallace works. Screenplay is by Herbert Reinecker, the director is Alfred Vohrer.
A criminal mastermind arranges to get a man out of prison so he can send the prisoner to kill a young woman from a boarding school. He's spotted but he's still in prison so it couldn't be him. Joachim Fuchsberger is Inspector Higgins, Siegfried Schürenberg is Sir John, his boss at Scotland Yard. What they don't know is that the killer is that whip cracking red robed monk guy in the poster. They also don't know that the red robed monk isn't the only criminal at work here.
The criminal mastermind's big plan takes some punches when the police get to detecting. There's more murdering, some screaming and running about, and a bit of humor. I enjoyed it, I liked the actors and the story was fairly complex. Rialto Films do a good job on their Edgar Wallace adaptations. I find them online but they often disappear soon after. Rialto did 32 films in the series and they were released in Germany on 8 DVD sets. It's been re-packaged into one box but it's nearly $200 on Amazon. Sadly, not all the films come with English Subtitles. I'll stick with the internet.
Der Hexer 1964 Based on the novel The Ringer by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Herbert Reinecker and Harald G Petersson, directed by Alfred Vohrer. I'd already watched the British version of this film, it was part of the large Edgar Wallace Mysteries series from Merton Park Studios.
Joachim Fuchsberger and Siegfried Schürenberg return as Inspector Higgins and Sir John, his boss at Scotland Yard. Some criminals are worried, it turns out that the woman they murdered is the sister of a notorious criminal called The Ringer. He sends word he's coming to see them. Sir John gets word of it and he assigns Higgins to the case.
The Ringer is always one step ahead of the police and he manages to get rid of his sisters murders. It's a nice run about with murder, romance, comedy and a clever criminal. I'm happy to have seen it. I'd watch it again.
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