DIE GRUFT MIT DEM RÄTSELSCHLOSS - Peter Thomas - "The Curse Of The Hidden Vault!" (1964)

Welcome to Edgar Wallace Saturday down in The Dungeon! Tonight's feature was originally titled "Die Gruft Mit Dem Rätselschloß" or as translated by Google, "The Crypt With The Mysterious Castle," but the real English title is "The Curse Of The Hidden Vault!" The music is once again by the phenomenal, the amazing, the always killer, Peter Thomas!

We love them all, Cellars, Crypts, Vaults, Chambers, Basements, Caves, Pits, Caverns, Tombs, Catacombs; they're all like cousins to The Dungeon!

Eddi Arent is Ferry Westlake. Eddi was in SO many of these German Edgar Wallace films, but his role is usually that of the comic relief sidekick, but in this particular film, his role is a little more out front!

The lovely Judith Dornys has the lead female role as Kathleen Kent! Ferry Westlake is supposed to be watching out for her! Judith's last film was made in 1969, and was titled "The Viking Who Became A Bigamist!" Really, I don't make this stuff up!

The multi-talented Harald Leipnitz has the role of Mickey Flynn, a guy who seems to be working both sides of the street! You don't know whether to trust Jimmy or not! He's kind of like an evil good guy! Harald had an awesome career and was in a lot of cool flicks like "The Sinister Monk," "The Brides Of Fu Manchu," and "Creature With The Blue Hand!"

Oh Yeah, Klaus Kinski is in there, creeping around, and lurking in the shadows and the bushes!!!

And you can't have a solid German Krimi film without Werner Peters in it, that would almost be a sin! Just for example, Werner was in :The 1000 Eyes Of Dr. Mabuse," "The Return Of  Dr. Mabuse," "The Invisible Dr. Mabuse," Dr. Mabuse vs Scotland Yard,"  "The Carpet of Horror, "The Phantom Von Soho," etc, usw.

Good shot of Eddi Arent amost getting skewered like a shish-kabob!

Naturally, Siegfried Schürenberg is in there once again for the gazillionth time as the always entertaining Sir John!

I love this shot of  Eddi and Judith!

Creepy mobster guys wear their shades at night!

Judith is pursued through a dark and dank basement storage area!

The giant gears of justice grind down to a halt!

The hidden vault itself is well buried, and booby-trapped and almost as difficult to get into as Superman's Fortress of Solitude! Like a whole lot of other Edgar Wallace gems, "The Curse Of The Hidden Vault" can be viewed for a pittance at Creepster TV!

THE TRYGON FACTOR - "Edgar Wallace Strikes Again" (1966)

Well, the fun never stops down here in The Dungeon, and tonight's Saturday Night Special is no exception!

"The Trygon Factor" was made in 1966, and is yet another tale based on an Edgar Wallace novel. I think it's pretty funny that Edgar's name is plastered all over the posters, but he is not even credited in the actual movie! Instead, the opening credits say "Based on an original story by Derry Quinn." I think that's kind of weird!

First rule: Don't go creeping around places where nuns are spying on your every move, even if you're a police officer!

Or you just might end up getting baptized to death!

What can I say? He's even creepier when he's not wearing the mask!

Next tip off that something ain't right: That nun has got on some pretty fancy undergarments!

Stewart (Target For Killing) Granger and Sophie (Der Hexer) Hardy are a strange pairing at best, being as there is 31 years difference in their real ages, it makes it kind of difficult.

Stewart is Superintendent Cooper-Smith, and he's the one in charge of investigating this sordid affair!

Sophie is a receptionist at his hotel.

Sophie was also in a spy movie with Eddie Constantine called "Jeff Gordon, Secret Agent," or it's original title, "Des Frissons Partout!"

The nuns also frown on it when one of their flock decides to do something else!

I think this is the first movie I've seen where funny guy Eddi Arent wasn't in a comic role. It was good to see him play it straight for a change!

It was also good to see the always great Robert (A Study in Terror) Morely in this film!

So just what the Heck are these nuns up to anyway?

They're robbing banks, that's what they're doing!

Spunky Cathleen Nesbitt is the one running the whole nasty business behind her front of being a nice old kindly rich woman! At this point in her career, Cathleen had been acting for 47 years! She lived to be 93.

This is the job that Eddi Arent signed on for! He's the best in his field!

Once the girls get in the bank and gas everybody, he puts on this suit of armor and sets up this Gatling type gun and blasts the crap out of the vault door!

To the victors go the spoils!

Before I forget, the music in "The Trygon Factor" is by the always amazing Peter Thomas time after time after time! And where's the best place to get Peter Thomas music for yourself?

BSC Music, of course!

 

Oh, don't worry, Sophie and Stewart have it all under control!

But then again, maybe not!

Aw, just kidding! Despite all odds, they got it all figured out after all!

"The Trygon Factor" is a fun movie to watch!

 It's an Edgar Wallace story, that's it! Not much else matters!

DAS RÄTSEL DER ROTEN ORCHIDEE - Peter Thomas - "The Secret Of The Red Orchid" (1962)

This week I've got a mini Christopher Lee Tribute for you! Two movies where Chris Lee is not from the UK! In this one he's from the U.S. and in the other one he's from Hong Kong!  This with be the 7th movie we've listed with foliage or vegetation in the title, the other six are "Attack Of The Mushroom People," "The Beast Of Yucca Flats," "The Blue Gardenia," "The Case Of The Bloody Iris," "The Day Of The Triffids,"  and "No Orchids For Miss Blandish!"

In the "Secret Of The Red Orchid," Christopher Lee has the role of hard-nosed American FBI agent Captain Allerman! It's not the greatest movie in the world, but the music is by Dungeon top dawg,  the always interesting Peter Thomas! So what is the secret of the red orchid you ask, beats the crap outta me!

Chicago: A place that produces Presidents and more gangland crime than is even imaginable in the 1960's right up to this day! Some things change, Chicago hasn't!

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned poker match to get things started, but you know there's always interruptions at these things usually involving guns! This one would be no exception!

Klaus Kinski is once again in there as sleazy slimeball Steve this time!

Looks like you damn well better have permission to enter this joint, or at least know what the password is! Tell 'em Joe sent you, and just see if they laugh out loud!

What was I telling you about that poker game?

                                                                    Beautiful shot!!

Hard to imagine, but Christopher Lee has over 275 acting roles to his credit, and most of them are major parts, and he's still going strong with appearances in the two new Hobbit movies!

At 6' 5", Christopher Lee towers over the 5' 8" Klaus Kinski, but Klaus has got Krazy on his side!

Captain Allerman comes out guns a' blazin'! For some strange reason, in the dubbed into English version, they don't use either Chris Lee's or Klaus Kinski's real voices! That's just weird, and it really detracts from the film!

The two crime bosses discuss their options from different ends of the table! I love the whole hat and glove routine!

"Secret Of The Red Orchid" is a fairly straight ahead crime drama with lots of Knives.............

........Guns and..........

.........Dead Bodies!!!!

It's got a lot of the regular Edgar Wallace elements, but when you make as many EW movies as these people did, you're not going to knock it out of the ballpark each and every time! Sometimes there's going to be lots of walks! This is one of those one to nothing in the ninth inning kind of games!

The combined talents of Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lee are what make "Secret Of The Red Orchid" watchable, but it will never be considered to be the best thing that they, or Edgar Wallace ever did!

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if in this one case, the book was better than the movie!

Once again, like in countless other Edgar Wallace German made films, Eddi Arent provides the comedy relief, unfortunately, some movies don't need comedy relief, and if you don't think Eddi Arent is the best thing to come along since liquid soap, then you're not likely to like this film at all! The good news is that "Secret Of The Red Orchid" is on DVD as a double Feature with a better film, "Monster Of London City" so you really can't go wrong, it's just like an added bonus!