DER ROTE KREIS - "The Crimson Circle" (1960)

 

Normally I'd save a film like this for the Saturday Night Special, but since Saturday is the first of October, and the beginning of the Countdown To Halloween, this great film gets relegated to this freakin' Weirdass Wednesday instead, but it's definitely more than that!

You can call it "Der Rote Kreis, or you can call it "The Red Circle."

 

Or you can even call it "The Crimson Circle" if you want to, just don't call it late to the execution!

 

The execution in question involves a safety nail not being removed, and the sobriety of the Executioner when the decapitation fails. Some years later, the man who was supposed to be in a prison nobody could escape from, has escaped, and is wreaking havoc all over London. He's killed eighteen people so far, and the only clues are red circles left on notes and bodies.

 

Eddi Arent is stellar in this film as Police Sergeant Haggett. Although he still provides the comic relief in this film, there's a lot less of it, and his character is not totally annoying!

 

Edith Mill is one of the early victims. Not really known in the United States, Edith acted exclusively in German films.

Many of these sets are really busy, and you can almost miss something like a hanged man in the foreground!

 

"A bow and arrow would make a good murder weapon, because the archer always wears gloves!"

And yet, she has on only one glove! 

Renate Ewert is Thalia Drummond, and only the second fictional Thalia I've ever heard of, the other being Thalia Menninger from the Dobie Gillis show. 

Renate is a sad story. When her career seemed to be going nowhere, she turned to drugs and alcohol. Her death at thirty-three was called a suicide. Overcome by grief, her parents also both committed suicide the following year!

Is it irony or planned that this guy gets off at the Crimsonfield station?

If this movie was in colour, you'd be able to see that the circle on this victim's hand is red.

 

This creepy looking guy is not even one of the bad guys! How's that for irony?

The swingin' soundtrack was composed by Dungeon Hall of Famer Willy (Horrors Of Spider Island) Mattes.

 

There's freakin' people creepin' around everywhere! Somebody needs to do a painting of this still!

The guy pointing to the dead prisoner is Karl Georg Saebisch as Police Inspector Parr. Karl is a pretty unique guy. He made his first film when he was fifty-two. This was his ninth movie and he was already fifty-seven. He was also in the Edgar Wallace film "The Terrible People," and continued working until 1975.

Somehow The Red Circle can find it's victim, even behind locked doors.

In this brief sequence Police Sergeant Haggett gets distracted by something.........

..........And a worthwhile distraction it is indeed!

Here's another Red Circle ransom note!

"Der Rote Kreis" is filled with cool shots like this, and combined with the music of Willy Mattes, the time flies right by!

I love these shots with clusters of people all packed into the background!

There's far too many twists and turns and odd characters to go into much detail here. This copy on YouTube is very good quality, and you can't beat the free price, so what are you waiting for?

I'm done with this now! It's my birthday, so just leave me alone!

You Make Me Paranoid!

HIPSTERS, WEIRDOS, GOOBERS & GOMERS THROUGH THE YEARS (1931-1974)

 

This week's Saturday Night Special is dedicated to all the sidekicks, assistants, buddies, and clown friends from movies and television over the years, you know, the guys who bring the comedy relief, and/or just make the programs more interesting.

 Sometimes they were merely weirdos like Renfield in "Dracula" as played by Dungeon Hero Dwight Frye.

Sometimes they were freaks like Dwight's portrayal of Fritz in "Frankenstein."

Just like Dracula needed Renfield, Dr. Frankenstein needed Fritz.

Eddi Arent provided the comedy relief in a number of German Krimi movies. Sometimes it works, and sometimes he can be pretty annoying!

Although this 1959 show was titled "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis," to all of us who identify more with misfits, the star was really Bob Denver as hep cat Maynard G. Krebs.

I'm pretty sure when they developed the character Shaggy in the 1969 cartoon series "Scooby Doo, Where Are you," they were thinking a lot about Maynard!

 

 After Dobie Gillis, Bob Denver was given the starring role in "Gilligan's Island" in 1964, but his character was still a weirdo.

 

As far as I can tell, the first real hipster on an American TV show was Edd Byrnes as the cool cat so cool, he has to constantly be combing his hair in the 1958 TV show, "77 Sunset Strip!"

 

 

It became such a thing that Edd and Connie "Cricket" Stevens even cut a single on the subject.

"Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb!"

 

 

Another cool cat, The Fonz as played by Henry Winkler, showed up in 1974 on the first episode of "Happy Days," called "All The Way." Here's some good news, even though the world today sucks, Henry Winkler is still alive and working!!

Probably one of the best examples of what I'm trying to say here is Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show." Young people didn't watch this show to see Andy Griffith or Aunt Bee, like Maynard, we watched it to see whatever antics Barney was up to that week!

 As Barney was to Andy, that's how Gomer Pyle was to Barney!

And as Gomer was to Barney, that's how Goober was to Gomer! Although they were supposed to be cousins, I just read on Wikipedia that the first time Andy referred to Goober, he called him Goober Beasley, but after that, they always called him Goober Pyle. Goober Pyle was played by George Lindsey. George was also in "The Twilight Zone" episode titled "I Am The Night - Color Me Black."

Jim Nabors as Gomer was a popular enough guy that he ended up getting his own show, "Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C."

Not all Pyles were created equal. My Mother told me that Ernie Pyle, the Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent who died in action, was my Grandma's cousin.

 

A lot of cowboys had sidekicks, and not all of them were funny, but Wild Bill Hickok's best pal Jingles as played by Andy Devine sure was. I'll never forget that plaintive cry from the 1951 show,

 "Hey Wild Bill, wait for me!"

Last but not least on this list, is Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn from the 1965 TV show "F-Troop." Previous to "F-Troop," Larry kept very busy from 1962 to 1963 doing the voice of "Koko The Clown. 

If I did the math correctly, Larry just celebrated his 99th birthday this last January!

I'm pretty sure that's proof that humor is healthy!

CIRCUS OF FEAR - Johnny Douglas - "Three Just Men" (1966)

"Circus Of Fear" or "Psycho-Circus" as it's known in one of it's other incarnations, is based on a novel by Dungeon Hero Edgar Wallace, entitled "The Three Just Men," and is a crazy story with enough twists and turns to keep Chubby Checker or Mario Andretti happy!! The theme music is quite MOR, but that might have something to do with the fact that composer Johnny Douglas was the music director on a boatload of those "Living Strings" records that RCA cranked out in the 60's and 70's!! Want to check out more of Johnny's work, go to any thrift store, and you'll find them right next to all those TJB records!! Here's the real surprise, Johnny also provided music for a number of TV shows in the 80's like "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends", "The Incredible Hulk", "Dungeons & Dragons", "G.I. Joe", AND 98 episodes of "Transformers!" Put that in your "Living Strings" and smoke it!!

Because it's an Edgar Wallace tale, there's going be a lot of rationalizing, so you get a whole lot of scenes like these with Leo Genn as Elliott putting the pieces together!!

This German poster gave the viewer a good idea of what's going on, and because he was so popular in Europe, Edgar's credit is right at the top!

Nothing says lovin' like smokin' in the wagon, yeah, Circus Monkey Love!!

This is another one of Mr Wallace's trippy twisted tales, so who do you think is up to all the mischief in this here psycho circus??

Is it Klaus Kinski as Manfred Hart? Klaus always has to be a contender for suspect, just because he's so nuts, no matter what character he's playing or what film he's in!!

Was it little guy blackmailer Skip Martin as Mr. Big causing all the fuss??

Maybe it's Mario, the knife thrower played by Maurice Kaufmann! People are getting stabbed with a throwing knife, so he's a really fine suspect!!

Could it possibly have been the stupid comedian Eddie, portrayed by Eddi Arent? He's way too innocent!!

Christopher Lee as Gregor looks anything but innocent, but is it possible, is he really horribly misunderstood & disfigured underneath that hood?

I have too much respect for the writing of Edgar Wallace to give away the ending, so you'll just have it rent it yourself!!

On this poster in English, they don't even mention Edgar Wallace!! It's just all so weird some times!!