Saturday, December 15, 2012

DER FROSCH MIT DER MASKE - Edgar Wallace - Fellowship Of The Frog (1959)

One thing I'm not even close to getting tired of is Edgar Wallace movies! I don't think I've seen a bad one yet, and "Der Frosch Mit Der Maske" is no exception!! Literally translated as "The Frog With The Mask," but that's one of the few titles it's never been released as!

The version readily available today from Sinister Cinema is called "The Fellowship Of The Frog" which is actually not a bad title since there's about 300 guys in this Frog Gang of robbers and murderers!!

The leader of the gang is called a frog for apparent reasons, and he is one mean and treacherous son of a gun, and pretty handy with a cutting torch to boot!

A Detective from Scotland Yard named Higgens tries to infiltrate the gang, but gets a little too antsy during the bust, and gets the froggy tables turned on him in no time flat!!

Betray the frog, and pay the price!! Higgens got a big dose of poison gas! What an idiot!!

Dungeon all-star Joachim Fuchsberger has the role of the American Richard Gordon, rich guy and part-time amateur sleuth! So far, I think I've seen 10 movies with Joachim in them, some day, I hope to see the other seventy-one. He's only been in three movies the last decade, but is in a TV movie scheduled for release in 2013 called "Live Is Live II: Später Geht's Nicht"

Time out to just sit back, relax and enjoy this cool shot!!

Fritz Rasp has the role of the mean old bastard boss Maitland! Fritz's career went all the way back to 1916, and in 1927 he had the role of  "The Thin Man" in the classic silent film "Metropolis," and in 1932, he was in a film called "Die Vier Vom Bob 13!"  How'd you like to work for this dour character??

If you wanted to be a member of the fellowship, it helped if you already resembled a frog a bit!!

The Lolita Club...........where men are men, and frogs are frogs, and there's no room at the bar  for little boys!

On hiatus from Andy's Gang,....... Froggy The Gremlin is the master of ceremonies at The Lolita Club!!

The main entertainment at "The Lolita Club" is none other than Lolita herself played by Eva Pflug who performs the ultra-cool "Nachts Im Nebel An Der Themse" which was written by Karl Bette, Theo M. Werner, and Hans Billian! The rest of the music in the movie was composed by Willy Mattes and an uncredited Peter Thomas!

Walter (Long Legs, Long Fingers) Wilz as Ray Bennet is being set up as the patsy by the secret frog society! The simpleton dumbass really thinks Lolita has a thing for him!

Maitland the Boss also owns The Lolita Club, although it's hard for him to enjoy anything. He's joined here by his right-hand man, Jochen (The Mysterious Magician) Brockmann as Philo Johnson!

The mysterious gentleman on the right is Carl (The Torture Chamber Of Dr. Sadism) Lange as John Bennet, stern father of dumbass Ray! He tries to get Ray to go back home with him, but Ray's not having anything to do with it! On the left is the maître d Everett as played by Ulrich (Lady Dracula) Beiger!

All the Frog members carry the mark of the frog on their wrist, so they are pretty much done for when they get busted like this!

The maître d Everett gets shot by the frog, and the rap gets pinned on Mr. Innocent Ray Bennet!!

In typical Edgar Wallace style, it's bad news for Ray Bennet when he finally finds out what his Father does for a living!!

Ray Bennet's sister Elfie von Kalckreuth as Ella has also been having her own problems with the frog!

Despite being an exceptionally tricky guy, the frog's whole world starts unraveling and spinning out of control!

The frog is such a maniac, he even fills his trusted accomplice Lolita full of holes!!

In the end, Richard Gordon and Eva Bennet stroll off together to live in his mansion happily ever after with his man-servant and best friend James, as played by Edgar Wallace stalwart Eddie Arent, trailing behind!!


1 comment:

Douglas McEwan said...

What about the other two films in the Lord of the Frogs trilogy? You know, The Two Toads and The Return of the Tadpole?

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