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Post by shonokin on Jun 9, 2010 17:33:17 GMT
I'll say honestly that as a Yank, the only time I really remember reading Wallace's name was on the cover of the King Kong novelization. Which supposedly he didn't actually write. But I've stumbled across this whole crazy mess of German noir/horror/exploitation movies based on Wallace's writings. Just wondering if anyone has watched any of these movies or for that matter the old British movie series that has been christened "The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre" (or "Tales of Edgar Wallace" maybe?) Anyway, just for fun, here's some film posters: "Classy!"
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Post by killercrab on Jun 9, 2010 18:02:14 GMT
These are known as Krimi in Germany - lots were made! I recall the opening credits of the Edgar Wallace show - had a sculpt of his head turning slowly around.
KC
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 9, 2010 19:19:27 GMT
'What Have You Done to Solange?' is a nasty, classy giallo from Massimo Dallamano & is Italian. I'd heartily recommend it to fans of Euro-trash cinema.
I think the others are all German - there was a huge spate of those pictures made in Germany in the early 60s.
And yes - I've read the story of screenwriter Merian C Cooper saying 'Edgar Wallace didn't write one bloody word of King Kong!'
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 10, 2010 7:48:59 GMT
"And yes - I've read the story of screenwriter Merian C Cooper saying 'Edgar Wallace didn't write one bloody word of King Kong!'"
I think Edgar Wallace's death at that time and the desire of the publishers and film company to cash in on his then substantial name led to him being credited with it.
Does anyone remember the TV series The Mind of Mr J. G. Reeder some years ago (1971, I think), based on a character Wallace created?
David
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Post by andydecker on Jun 10, 2010 10:31:00 GMT
The Edgar Wallace movies ... As there a lot of books about the subject I will be brief In 1959 there was the first Wallace movie based on the novel Fellowship of the Frog, called Der Frosch mit der Maske (The masked frog) produced by Rialto Film. It was so successful that Rialto bought the rights for most (or all) of the Wallace stuff and did 38 movies, till they finally died at the box office at the begining of the seventies. Today I guess they appear as camp, which of course was not the intention of the makers. It played perfectly straight, even if there always were a wink to the audiance or a lot of in-jokes later. Most of the movies were shot in b/w. Most of them had the same german actors, playing the same type. The best known I guess will be euro trash icon Klaus Kinski, who always was the insane killer. Christopher Lee did three of the later ones, playing among other a chinaman , Goldfinger Gert Fröbe played a villian once. The setting was always London; I don´t know how many shots of Big Ben were used. But it was a fantasy London. A pulp London, populated by gangs mostly led by masked crime-bosses - the guy in the frog-costume is a riot - who always were de-masked in the last minute and brought to justice. In this these were straight whodunnits. High on action and low on logic it celebrated elements which today you would call gothic. So you had blackrobed monks strolling through fog-haunted ruins or english castles, killing with a leash; nursing homes for the blind which were a front for gangs, led by a false reverend, insane asylums with fiendish doctors, trying to force the heroine into signing papers while terrorizing them with rats or snakes. The plots almost always were about young and - more or less - nubile and of course absolutly chaste heiresses who thought themselves orphans, while awating a fortune, which the villian tried to either drive insane or force her into marriage. But of course there was the young and granitejawed Scotland Yard Inspector who rescued and married her at the end. The hero mostly had a bumbling assistant, who was the comic relief (mostly actor Eddie Arent, who played the role 23 times) and an incompetent superior, which was a carricature of the stiff british upper lip character. And at least once there was an insane doctor trying to do brain-transplants into gorillas, also memorable was the insane aristocrat who had his guillotine in the cellar. Combined with breathless action, a high body count and ever more impropable plots the audience loved it, while the critics absolutly hated it. As I have never managed to read an Wallace to the end, - I thought him incredibly dull - I don´t know how faithful the plots were translated into movies. I guess at some point they just took the titles and threw the rest into the wastebasket. But at the time the books sold millions, and the name Edgar Wallace became a synonym for british crime novels. Along with Agatha Christie of course. Every movie used the same title-sequenz, a murder followed by salve of a tommy-gun, where the on-screen impacts translated into script and a voice from the off announced: Edgar Wallace speaking!, followed by catchy jazzy movietheme. For all their idiocy and prudishness I like a lot of those movies. They have nothing to do with reality, and scenes which are playing in seedy Soho gangster bars - or even better in seedy sailor-bars at the River Themse - are a hoot. And what´s not to like about a villian who dons the costume of a masked archer and kills his victims with bow and arrow or a guy called The Shark swimming in a black wet-suit in the Themse and killing with a spear-gun. As most of these movies came to new success after being re-run on tv in the late eighties - they still are - in 2004 a group of german tv comedians made a spoof movie based on the Wallace movies. It had the great title Der Wixxer, which in a slightly different spelling means nothing less than The Wanker . Most of german movies do poorly at the box-office, but this was a success. It was quite funny and very, very meta in all aspects, even spawned a less funny sequel. The novels are still in print.
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Post by shonokin on Jun 10, 2010 16:56:17 GMT
Killercrab and John, thanks for the further info!
David, I didn't realize there was a TV series of J. G. Reeder, but then there's a whole lot in the world that I don't realize. I love learning new things! Thanks for the heads up as now I'll see about giving this a try. Looks like the series is out on DVD.
Andy, thanks for the lowdown. As an aficionado of the pulpiest of pulp, and the way you describe them, the Wallace Krimi's sound pretty fun. I've watched some of the trailers on youtube and though I know the nature of movie trailers has changed over the years, I have to admit that the ones for the these movies are rather dull. I did order a couple of the "Edgar Wallace Collection" double features, so we'll see.
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 10, 2010 18:56:32 GMT
I know it's sometimes dangerous looking back so far, but I remember enjoying the J. G. Reeder series when it was first shown on TV. Hopefully, it will have stood the test of time.
David
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Post by shonokin on Jun 15, 2010 16:28:01 GMT
Well, I'm a little bit into it now. Having watched a small sampling of different things. The best so far is David's suggestion of the Reeder TV show. 3 episodes so far and have enjoyed all of them. Such an interesting character; seeming very bookish and meek, but being feared and admired as an amazing crimebuster.
I've watched one of the krimis, "The Black Monk" which oozed atmosphere, but suffered from a plot you might find in an Abbot and Costello comedy, and suffered even worse from just being terribly boring and overly convoluted without a good reason to be. Maybe I just happened to pick a rotten apple to start with.
I've watched first of the Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre movies "The Clue of the Twisted Candle" and it's not exactly riveting but isn't bad.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 15, 2010 17:22:16 GMT
'What Have You Done to Solange?' is a nasty, classy giallo from Massimo Dallamano & is Italian. Actually, it is an Italian-German co-production, with Rialto Film, producers of most German Wallace films, involved, and the German version credits Edgar Wallace. And Karin Baal and Joachim Fuchsberger are in it!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 15, 2010 18:35:58 GMT
'What Have You Done to Solange?' is a nasty, classy giallo from Massimo Dallamano & is Italian. Actually, it is an Italian-German co-production, with Rialto Film, producers of most German Wallace films, involved, and the German version credits Edgar Wallace. And Karin Baal and Joachim Fuchsberger are in it! I'm impressed & I bow to your superior knowledge!
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 15, 2010 20:04:25 GMT
My pleasure entirely, I am sure!
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Post by dem bones on Jun 15, 2010 20:41:37 GMT
Does anyone remember the TV series The Mind of Mr J. G. Reeder some years ago (1971, I think), based on a character Wallace created? David Published today (June 15th)! Edgar Wallace - The Casefiles Of Mr. J. G. Reeder (Wordsworth Editions, 2010) ntroduced by David Stuart Davies
‘How on earth did you piece together all this?’ he asked in wonder. Mr Reeder shook his head sadly. ‘I have that perversion,’ he said. ‘It is a terrible misfortune. I see evil in everything. I have the mind of a criminal.’
Let us introduce you to the enigmatic J. G. Reeder, a timid, gentle middle-aged man who carries a furled up umbrella and wears an old-fashioned flat-topped bowler hat. He is one of the great unsung sleuths of mystery fiction, created by the prolific Edgar Wallace, the ‘King of Thrillers’. Despite his insignificant appearance, Reeder is a cold and ruthless detective who credits his success to his ‘criminal mind’ which allows him to solve a series of complex and audacious crimes and outwit the most cunning of villainous masterminds.
This volume is a rich feast for crime fiction fans, containing the first three volumes in the Reeder canon: two novels, Room 13 and Terror Keep; and the classic collection of short stories, The Mind of J. G. Reeder.
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Post by marksamuels on Jun 16, 2010 0:52:33 GMT
Am I right in thinking this series of German Edgar Wallace films were an influence on the giallo Italian school of filmmaking?
Mark S.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 16, 2010 6:55:41 GMT
Am I right in thinking this series of German Edgar Wallace films were an influence on the giallo Italian school of filmmaking? Well, yes and no. In Italy, "giallo" refers to the entire crime genre, i.e., everything from the novels of Agatha Christie to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. To use this Italian term to refer to a specific set of Italian films from the 60s and 70s, for which the Italians themselves have no special name, strikes me as silly and misleading.
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Post by marksamuels on Jun 16, 2010 9:43:28 GMT
Am I right in thinking this series of German Edgar Wallace films were an influence on the giallo Italian school of filmmaking? Well, yes and no. In Italy, "giallo" refers to the entire crime genre, i.e., everything from the novels of Agatha Christie to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. To use this Italian term to refer to a specific set of Italian films from the 60s and 70s, for which the Italians themselves have no special name, strikes me as silly and misleading. Were I posting on an Italian, rather than on an English-speaking forum, I'd doubtless agree with you Mark S.
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