Der Rächer

This early German Edgar Wallace Krimi film is an improbable but still enjoyable mystery in which Detective Mike Brixan (Heinz Drache) of Special Branch is called in to try and catch The Executioner, a killer who decapitates his victims, packaging their heads and leaving them in the English countryside for the public to discover. Brixan's investigation leads him to a film shoot, the detective convinced that the killer is among the cast or crew of the movie.

What makes The Avenger fun is not the plot, which is fairly unremarkable nonsense, but trying to guess which of the colourful characters will die and which of them is The Executioner: Ruth Sanders (Ina Duscha), aspiring actress, who gets the opportunity to become a star when lead actress Stella Mendoza (Ingrid van Bergen) storms off the set; movie director Jack Jackson (Friedrich Schoenfelder), who doesn't stand for stroppy performers; lecherous aristocrat Sir Gregory Penn (Benno Sterzenbach), who collects women and swords; Penn's hairy hunchback servant Bhag (Al Hoosman); Penn's doddery neighbour Henry Longvale (Ludwig Linkmann); and creepy script-reader Lorenz Voss (an early role for Klaus Kinski). I'm not ashamed to say that I didn't correctly guess the identity of the killer, but as I have already said, the film is rather improbable.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for the fact that Brixan's car chirps like a cricket (an issue with the fan belt apparently) - a superfluous detail that has absolutely no bearing on the plot.

After the discovery of a decapitated body, the police investigating the incident realize how close it falls in line with other killings around the community and look into a set of clues pointing to a movie being shot in the area bringing him in contact with assorted red herrings who might be the killer.

Overall, this was a fairly fun genre effort. Among the better features of this one is how the investigation brings about the central mystery, which is quite intriguing and well-handled. The discovery of the latest body in the crime spree and how it finally brings the inspector onto the case to solve the killings due to the political intrigue and pressure necessary to put an end to everything starts this one quite well. The back-and-forth banter discussing how the latest offering brings up new clues to the case and the realization that it's connected to the film shoot going on in the area makes for a solid opening here to bring the different figures together with their purposes. With the inspector trying to put an end to the killings, a reporter looking to break his career, and the actress hoping the movie will be her big break, this one is enjoyable enough, putting the pieces together to ensure that the mystery component here is intriguing enough. As the case begins to form itself and the exploits of the various red herrings are established, the film becomes a bit more interesting with how the movie shoot gets mixed up together. With shifty characters throughout here including the manic director, sleazy producer, diva-like leading lady, and sundry other characters working around th production, everything sets itself up for multiple figures to be involved in the crimes that soon becomes apparent through spying on others during the shooting, attacking women in the middle of the night, or shown stalking victims through creepy hallways or darkly-lit rooms. This helps to enhance the final half, where the series of encounters and stalking scenes bring about a much higher and more obvious sense of danger with the suspects meeting up with the killer and getting knocked off. The final reveal and exposure of the killer is a solid time as well, with the full extent of the plan to carry everything out and getting a solid chase out of it as well, making for some generally fun aspects. There isn't much to dislike here, but it does have a few minor drawbacks. The main issue here is the immensely slack and sluggish pacing in the first hour, where it tends to be quite dialogue-heavy without a whole lot of action taking place. As the need for expelling out the information needed about the case including why the various performers on and around the set couple potentially be involved as well as detailing the background scenes with their characterizations that need to get played out, this one is a bit longer to get going than it really should. It doesn't help much that this is where the killer strikes the least with most of these scenes taking place off-camera and not being shown until the aftermath only highlights that even more, making for a somewhat tough way to get into this one. The other issue here is the action that plays out in the finale, where the reveal of the killer is fine but allowing them to carry out their plan as far as they do is more due to stupidity not recognizing the danger of the situation than anything they pull off so it goes on far longer than it realistically should. These are enough to keep this one down.

Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence and Language.

After hearing some nice reviews about this film I finally tracked it down and settled in to watch it.It starts of promisingly enough.Human heads are being dumped off all over London.

We're dumped right in the thick of things after the opening credits.In exposition we learn that there have been a dozen decapitations recently.(When that kind of back ground is delivered in the first 5 minutes you know the script is in trouble).Since a Special Branch officer was killed in this manner another is assigned to investigate the murders.

We have a movie within a movie scenario which is quite boring.In fact, the hour after the opening credits is rather tedious. As usual in these Edgar Wallace based films we have several red herrings.Most of them wind up with a haircut at the neck level. The killer's identity really comes as no surprise.

Granted the film picks up in the last half hour with a frantic ending.But the script is slooowww. The cast rises above the material. The direction is competent at best. Some film critics claim that this film influenced Italian directors like Bava & Argento.Maybe it influenced them on what not to do as this is an average film at best.

This was the first in the German series of films based on the works of Edgar & Bryan Wallace. Perhaps the source material was weak or the screenplay was just bungled.Give it a 4 and a half.

An earlier one of the classic German Edgar Wallace films, Der Rächer does not yet try to reach the effect of fright too often by showing screeaming women or pointing out frightening moments by zooming onto dead bodies and having us hear earsplitting, shrieking sounds. It is a solid mystery story, with a plot that is almost logical and can be followed rather easily. (The idea of course reminded me of the hilarious Arsenic and Old Lace, but this was a completely different thing. I guess, Edgar Wallace wrote his novel earlier, and maybe Joseph Kesslering read it, maybe he didn't.)

Heinz Drache plays the detective, Ingrid van Bergen plays, in one of her rare Wallace appearances, the beautiful girl that needs to be protected. Klaus Kinski is a sinister character on the verge between genius and madness. So there is nothing new concerning the cast (only Eddi Arent is missing, but I didn't really miss him), no world-shattering surprises, except maybe at the end. Good Sunday-afternoon suspense.