Films based on Edgar Wallace works

The Edgar Wallace movies are motion pictures based on the works of British novelist and playwright Edgar Wallace.

Even though there are countless film adaptations of Edgar Wallace novels worldwide, the crime films produced by the German company Rialto Film between 1959 and 1972 are the best-known of those, to the extent that they form their own subgenre. Other Edgar Wallace adaptations in a similar style were made by the Germans Artur Brauner and Kurt Ulrich, and the British producer Harry Alan Towers.

Early history of the German Edgar Wallace movies

As early as the silent movie era, German film producers discovered that the novels of Edgar Wallace were easily adapted to the screen. The first German production of an Edgar Wallace story, "Der große Unbekannte", was filmed in 1927. Wallace personally visited the production of the next movie "Der rote Kreis" (1929) in Berlin.

In 1931, Carl Lamarc adapted "The Squeaker", one of Wallace's best known works, as the sound film "Der Zinker". Adaptations of "The Ringer" ("Der Hexer", 1932) by Lamarc and "The Double" ("Der Doppelgänger") by E. W. Emo followed. From 1933 to the mid 1950s no German-language films based on works by Edgar Wallace were produced. Then, in the mid-1950s, the German film distributor Constantin-Film began plans for a series of films. Due to the perceived unpopularity of the crime genre in Germany at that time, however, no film producer willing to take such a risk could be found.

The "Krimi" film movement

In 1959, the Danish company Rialto Film, with its producer Preben Philipsen produced "Der Frosch mit der Maske" (based on "The Fellowship Of The Frog"), targeting the German film market. The film turned out to be surprisingly successful and started a veritable fad of crime movies, known as "Krimis" (abbreviation for the German term "Kriminalfilm" (or "Kriminalroman")) which would last until significant changes in the direction of the German film industry in the early Seventies occurred. Rialto Film soon acquired the exclusive rights to nearly all the Wallace novels, founded a German subsidiary company and, unconcerned by the many copycat productions by others, moved towards the artistic and commercial peak of the series in the first half of the Sixties.

There would be 32 Rialto movies. Beginning with the fourth production "Der grüne Bogenschütze" ("The Green Archer", 1960/61) all were under the artistic supervision of Horst Wendlandt and directed by Alfred Vohrer or Harald Reinl. These are the leading examples of the gernre. Following "Der Bucklige von Soho" (1966), all of Rialto's Krimis movies were in color. Additionally, the original novels were increasingly disregarded in favor of new stories based on motives from the stories. On one hand, this departure made them seem more up-to-date - on the other, the dramaturgy, presentation and content quality levels declined rapidly. From 1969 onwards, Rialto Film started four coproductions with Italian producers to minimize their costs. Audiences increasingly ignored the series, which ended with "Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds" in 1972.

Style in 1960s "Krimis" films

The typical Krimi movie of the Sixties contains a number of distinct stylistic traits, which not only made the films a true series, but - seen in context with other, similar German crime movies of that time - makes it a true film subgenre as well.

In particular, the two directors Harald Reinl (5 movies) and Alfred Vohrer (14 movies) made their mark. While Reinl preferred long dolly shots /pans and exterior shots, Vohrer's films are known for their slight overacting and their distinct zoom and editing styles.

The titles, which are usually the German novel titles, were intended to evoke the typical image of an Edgar Wallace movie. Most titles mention the villain, like "Der Frosch mit der Maske" (literally "The Frog in the Mask"), "Der Zinker" ("The Cheater") and "Der Hexer" ("The Warlock"). More abstract titles usually feature the words "Rätsel" ("mystery" or "enigma") or "Geheimnis" ("secret"), for example "Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee" ("The Mystery of the Red Orchid") "Das Rätsel des silbernen Dreieck" ("The Mystery of the Silver Triangle") and "Das Geheimnis der grünen Stecknadel" ("The Secret of the Green Pin"), while others hint at the location of the story, for example "Der Fälscher von London" ("The Forger of London"), "Der Bucklige von Soho" ("The Hunchback of Soho") and "Die Tote aus der Themse" ("The Dead Girl in the Thames").

The repeated casting of the same actors, generally for similar roles, is typical for the sixties Wallace movies as well. Among the most popular investigators are Joachim Fuchsberger, Heinz Drache and Siegfried Lowitz. Shady characters were mostly played by Fritz Rasp, Pinkas Braun, Harry Wüstenhagen and especially Klaus Kinski, while comic relief was offered by Eddi Arent, Siegfried Schürenberg and later Hubert von Meyerinck, or even Chris Howland. Additionally, well-known film and stage actors like Elisabeth Flickenschildt, Gert Fröbe, Dieter Borsche, Lil Dagover and Rudolf Forster repeatedly acted in important guest roles.

The location of the story is, like in the novels, mostly London and its proximity, with the characters mostly moving through old castles, mansions or country houses - even if the real sets were generally in Germany. Seedy night clubs, asylums, dark basements as well as, especially in later movies, girl's colleges and of course Scotland Yard are popular main and side locations for Edgar Wallace movies.

The story are very similar across the series as well. The plot is most often centered around one inventively masked main villain. In contrast to thrillers, the most important technique of creating suspense is the "whodunit". This means that it is generally unknown who the villain really is until the very end of the movie. The motivations for the crimes is mostly greed, revenge, legacy hunting, and, especially in later movies, white slavery and drug trade.

Not unlike the later Italian subgenre of Giallo, the Wallace Krimi movies still heavily center around the work of the police or a private investigator. Another typical feature is the heroine, who has has to be protected from the schemes and misdeed of the villain by the Scotland Yard inspector. This theme is repeated in virtually all Krimis movies, and it is not uncommon for the two protagonists to be happily in love at the conclusion of the story.

To make the movies even more recognizable besides the typical introduction (usually a murder is committed before the film's title sequence), the title sequence was in color from around 1961 onwards, even if the rest of the film was in black and white. There are only two exceptions. Also, in 1962 the voiceover "Hallo, hier spricht Edgar Wallace" ("Hello, this is Edgar Wallace speaking") was added to the beginning of the title sequence. A very distinct trait is the score by Martin Böttcher and especially by Peter Thomas. Three of the four late German-Italian coproductions are even scored by Ennio Morricone. Little is known about the composer Keith Papworth, who scored "Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen", except that he died in March 1992.

Other Edgar Wallace movies and influences on other works

In the wake of the Edgar Wallace movies, the Krimi genre became a staple of the German filmmaking scene, which also featured some mostly less successful and definitely shorter-lived series based on the works of other authors. Especially notable are the Artur Brauner-produced
Doktor Mabuse and Bryan Edgar Wallace (Wallace's son, also a crime novelist) movies such as "Der Henker von London" and "Das Phantom Von Soho", and some Louis Weinert-Wilton adaptations. Also, the Jerry Cotton and Kommissar X movie series and "Father Brown" series are stylistically closely related to the Wallace movies and fall within the Krimi genre.

Besides the German adaptations, there is a lesser-known, but larger series of Wallace-based films for the English cinema, which also repeatedly featured the same actors and Bernard Ebbinghouse, Ron Goodwin and Francis Chagrin as composers.

The movies are still very well-known in Germany today, and there are frequent reruns of them on television - even if a large part of their appeal is their high camp factor. Since the Edgar Wallace style is a stock motive of German filmmaking, there are numerous parodies and spoofs, most recently the 2004 movie "Der Wixxer" (approximately "The Wanker", a parody of "Der Hexer") and its 2007 sequel "Neues vom Wixxer" (a parody of "Neues vom Hexer"), making fun of the now clichéed conventions of the genre. A third film, "Triple Wixx", is currently in production.

Filmography (1959 to 1972)

All Edgar Wallace films by Rialto Film, unless noted otherwise.

Bryan Edgar Wallace movies

*"Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Koffer" (1961)
*"Der Würger von Schloß Blackmoor" (1963)
*"Der Henker von London" (1963)
*"Das Phantom von Soho" (1964)
*"Das Ungeheuer von London City" (1964)
*"Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Handschuhe" (1970)
*"Das Geheimnis des gelben Grabes" (1972)
*"Der Todesrächer von Soho" (1972)

Discography

(CDs predominately featuring the musical scores of Wallace movies)

* "Kriminalfilmmusik von Martin Böttcher" - Rough Trade, BSC 307.6518.2
* "Kriminalfilmmusik Martin Böttcher Vol. 2" - Prudence, BSC 398.6534.2
* "Peter Thomas Kriminalfilmmusik" - Prudence, BSC 398.6533.2
* "Kriminalfilmmusik No. 4" - Prudence, BSC 398.6560.2
* "Peter Thomas Film Musik" - Polydor, 517 096-2 (1 CD)
* "Peter Thomas Film Musik" - Polydor, 845 872-2 (2 CDs)

External links

* [http://www.wallace-online.de www.wallace-online.de] , German fansite
* [http://www.deutscher-tonfilm.de/ewallace1.html The German Edgar Wallace movies at deutscher-tonfilm.de]
* [http://www.rialtofilm.de/en/index3.htm?welcome.htm Official website of Rialto Film]
* [http://www.horror-wood.com/wallace.htm The Edgar Wallace connection]
* [http://www.latarnia.com/krimi.htm Krimi: The German Edgar Wallace Films]

References

*
* Florian Pauer: "Die Edgar Wallace-Filme", 1982, Goldmann Verlag, ISBN 3-442-10216-2
* Joachim Kramp: "Hallo! Hier spricht Edgar Wallace", 1998, Verlag Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, ISBN 3-89602-140-0
* Christos Tses: "Der Hexer, der Zinker und andere Mörder", 2002, Klartext-Verlag, ISBN 3-89861-080-2
* Joachim Kramp: "Das Edgar Wallace Lexikon", 2004, Verlag Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, ISBN 3-89602-508-2
* Georg Seeßlen: "Die deutschen Edgar Wallace-Filme" in: "Mord im Kino. Geschichte und Mythologie des Detektiv-Films". Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-499-17396-4