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!

DES TODESRACHER VON SOHO - "The Corpse Packs His Bags" (1972)

 

I've got a great Saturday Night Special for you this week, a German/Spanish/British film from 1972 called "Der Todesracher Von Soho," that was released worldwide as "The Avenger." 

I love this Spanish poster, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the movie!

"Der Todesracher Von Soho" is actually a remake of the 1962 film "Das Geheimnis Der Schwarzen Koffer," or "The Secret Of The Black Trunk" that was featured in these pages back in 2015.

Both versions are killer!!

 

It was also released as "The Corpse Packs His Bags," and I am eternally grateful to the person who created sub-titles for this film, I'm just not sure if they really know how to speak English or not, because a good majority of the sub-titles are gibberish, and make no sense at all, but since this film was directed by Jesús Franco, working this time out as Jess Frank, it really doesn't matter, at least not to me!

Fred (She Killed In Ecstasy) Williams is Police Inspector Ruppert Redford, and he's got his hands full with this case. 

Fred was born in Munich, Germany as Friedrich Wilhelm Löcherer,

 

There's a killer on the loose, and he leaves a black suitcase at the scene before the crime is actually committed! The cab driver is not the killer!

"Der Todesracher Von Soho" has a pretty cool cast that includes Siegfried Schürenberg as a Dr. Bladmore. Siefried has been in almost every Edgar Wallace movie. By his side is one of my favorite actresses, Elisa (The Seven Secrets of Sumuru) Montés as Helen Bennett.

There's the black bag I was telling you about. Seeing it is not good news for the guy opening the door.

Fish, meat or what, deodorant?

Elisa looks just as confused as me!

Then she remembered it was a Jess Franco film, and that it didn't really matter!

Now this is what I call class 'A' entertainment!!

The crowd must agree, they give her a standing ovation!!

Another star of the show is Horst (Snow White and the Seven Jugglers) Tappert as author Charles Barton!

The gentleman inspecting the knives is the Director of the film, Mr. Jess Frank himself.

A lot of these sub-titles appear as what it would look like if you accepted the spell check changes in your texts that you didn't mean! 

I can't even figure this one out!

A Lab full of angles and bi-angles.

Uh, Oh, another bag!! Somebody's in trouble!

And another throwing knife caught the wrong way!

Combining the talents of Bryan Edgar Wallace and Jesús Franco, there's no telling what to expect, and with "Der Todesracher Von Soho," that's exactly what you're going to get!!

ELMER'S CANDID CAMERA - (1940)

 

I had originally planned on doing the Edgar Wallace film, "The Terrible People" tonight, but after watching it, getting stills, and getting ready to do this write up, I figured out too late that I had already done it eleven years ago, so instead, here is a cartoon from 1940 that creator Chuck Jones thinks was terrible, and I guess that's going to have to do. 

Welcome to another Wacky Wednesday in The Dungeon!

 

 

Here's a quote I found on Wikipedia from the autobiography of Chuck Jones, that tells the way he feels about this cartoon.

"My conception of timing and dialogue was formed by watching the action in the La Brea tar pits. It would be complimentary to call it sluggish."

And the problem is, there's not a whole lot going on in this cartoon, except some simple exchanges between two not really likeable characters.

Elmer Fudd has gotten a camera kit in the mail, and is now ready to go out and do some nature photography. He sees these tracks, and away we go!

Elmer quietly sets up and gets ready to take his first picture!

He's still learning how to frame his subject!

If Bugs Bunny looks funny to you, it's because this version of Bugs was still a prototype, and not the character we've all learned to know and love. He would evolve into the complete Bugs Bunny character later in his career.

Bugs asks Elmer what he's doing.

The two of them have a real face to face encounter.

 

Bugs found that experience to be a little too personal. 

In this shot, you can really see how much different Bugs was!

Bugs pops the lens and Elmer recoils like he was slung from a catapult!

Elmer is flung completely backwards and into this tree that dumps it's whole harvest on him!

 

This doesn't look like it would be too comfortable for Elmer.

 

This cartoon also featured the newly redesigned Elmer Fudd, who was previously only known as Elmer!

Elmer finally captures Bugs!

And then Bugs turns the tables!

Elmer then loses his mind completely and destroys all his camera gear!

I think it's interesting that this cartoon predated the popular "Candid Camera" TV show by a good eight years!

So now let me see if I can figure out an Edgar Wallace film I haven't seen yet. There are still plenty more out there.