THE STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE

 

Another German crime film, or Krimi, from 1963. This one is based not on an Edgar Wallace story, but one by his son, Bryan Edgar Wallace. This movie was produced by Artur Brauner and CCC Film--the company made a series of black & white krimis based on the works of Bryan Edgar Wallace to compete with Rialto's "official" Edgar Wallace series. (If the Rialto Edgar Wallace films are the equivalent of Hammer, then CCC could be compared with Amicus.) 

Blackmoor Castle, located somewhere near London, is being rented by esteemed government official Lucius Clark (Rudolf Fernau). Clark is going to be knighted very soon, but he's also been threatened by a mysterious black-gloved hooded figure. It turns out that years ago Clark came into possession of some stolen diamonds, and this figure--known as the Strangler--wants the stones. The Strangler also threatens to expose Clark's past and to bring harm to his young niece (Karin Dor). A stalwart Inspector from Scotland Yard (Harry Riebauer) is on the case, but there's plenty of murder and mayhem before the Strangler is revealed. 

THE STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE has most of the requisite elements one expects from a 1960s Krimi, including the usual sneaky suspects, red herrings, secret passages, and greedy folks who will do anything to get their hands on the cache of diamonds. This entry is a bit more gruesome than most, with the Strangler not only choking his victims, but cutting off the heads of a couple of them as well, and then carving an "M" into their foreheads. 

Among the suspects are Dieter Eppler as Clark's butler, who really enjoys his actual work as a diamond cutter, Ingmar Zeisberg as a duplicitous barmaid, and Hans Nielsen as the silly-ass Lord Blackmoor. The Lord has had to rent out most of the castle to pay off a tax debt, and he now spends his time wandering the grounds studying birds. The kilt-wearing Lord is fitted out with a ridiculous pair of whiskers, and if Rialto had made this film, there's no doubt their comedy relief regular Eddi Arent would have been cast in this role. 

BLACKMOOR CASTLE benefits from having the Queen of Krimi, Karin Dor, in the lead female role. She was constantly being chased around and put in danger in this type of picture, but she was still able to make her characters appealing and realistic. At the time this film was made Dor was married to its director, Harald Reinl. Reinl helmed the very first film in the entire German Edgar Wallace cycle, THE FACE OF THE FROG. Reinl directs BLACKMOOR CASTLE effectively and efficiently, but I felt he might have gotten more atmosphere out of the title location. One of the scriptwriters on this project was Ladislas Fodor, who had worked in Hollywood for a few years. 

The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle and Karin Dor

The German Krimis are collectively known for their unusual music scores, and BLACKMOOR CASTLE has one of the strangest, courtesy of Oskar Sala. For most of the running time Sala uses a number of weird tonalities that seem to be borrowed from the FORBIDDEN PLANET soundtrack--it's as if the composer was expecting a flying saucer to show up. 

THE STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE is one of the better entries in the non-Rialto group of German Krimis. It's also one of the many titles in this genre that sorely needs a proper restoration and North American home video release. Ironically a few years after this movie was made Rialto would produce an Edgar Wallace film titled THE HOUND OF BLACKWOOD CASTLE.