| KRIMI#4 THE STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE |
| Director Harald Reinl Karin Dor .... Claridge Dorsett Harry Riebauer .... Inspector Mitchell Rudolf Fernau .... Lucius Clark Dieter Eppler .... Anthony |
| Lucius Clark hosts a dinner party at Blackmoor Castle which he rents. He is to be knighted very soon.Outside the dogs are going wild and Anthony the strange butler wants Tommy the handyman to shut them up.Tommy spots a man in dark clothes and a black ski mask lurking about.Tommy is jumped by the man and brutally strangled. After the guests have departed, the killer confronts Clark.He tells Clark that he knows the man killed Charles Mannings.Clark also stole six million pounds of uncut diamonds from Mannings.The killer promises to make Clark's life a living hell if he doesn't turn over the diamonds to him."I could be anyone behind this mask" he declares.When a car screeches to a halt outside, the killer flees. The driver is Clark's niece, Claridge.With her is Lord of the Manor, Lord Blackmoor.He is a very strange looking man with eccentric hobbies. He stays up in the tower room away from the "hustle" of the house.She nearly ran him over when he came out of the bushes. When everyone goes to their rooms the dogs act up again.Claridge looks out her window and sees a man run through the fog to the forest. Clark pours uncut diamonds into a cigar tube and places it in a box of cigars.He calls a bar and talks to the barmaid explaining that he will have a box of cigars for Tavish the owner.She passes the message on to Tavish and a mysterious gloved figure. |
| Lord Blackmoor goes for a stroll on the grounds and meets the cook's son, Flip.Together they discover Tommy's body.The letter "M" has been carved into his forehead. Inspector Mitchell of Scotland Yard is called in.He intercepts a phone call inquiring about the cigars.Clark promises to send the cigars that afternoon.Mitchell notices that Clark is missing his little finger.There were also only nine bruise marks on the throat of Tommy. Mitchell goes to the phone company and has the call to Blackmoor traced.He bumps into Claridge there.She is a reporter and is phoning in the story.One of her colleagues Mike Pierce is there too.He suggests that they work together on the story. The attorney Trombey arrives at Blackmoor.It seems that Claridge is entitled to her trust fund and Clark hasn't fully turned over control of it to her.He also has been using funds with her permission.He promises the attorney that he will liquidate some assets and cover the loan.(We also discover that the attorney works with Tavish). Clark sends a driver out with the cigars to take to Tavish.The butler is pissed that Clark is passing the diamonds and they quarrel.The driver spots what looks to be an accident on the bridge.When he gets out of the car he is strangled by the ski masked man. The driver's body is found beheaded by the railroad tracks.Mitchell knows that it is murder. The postman gives a box of sherry to Lord Blackmoor.Since it is addressed to Clark he gives it to him.Clark opens it.He and Anthony are stunned to see the head of the driver staring back at them. Clark goes to a secret room.There in an area inside the furnace he has the uncut diamonds stored.He takes them to Anthony he cuts and polishes the stones.Anthony always gets a blue veiner around the diamonds.He tells Clark he should kill his niece for the needed cash rather than sell the stones.Putting the package together Clark is surprised by the killer.He nearly shoots the man and suffers a heart attack. Claridge is to deliver the package.She meets up with Mike and they go to the bar.When Tavish and Trombey open the cigars they are filled with sand.Tavish tells Trombey he will send one of his thugs to Blackmoor.In the bar Claridge is greeted by Mitchell.He questions her.Pierce keeps his eye on an ugly thug that enters Tavish's office.The thug heads out to Blackmoor on a motorcycle. The strangler lashes a razor wire across the bridge that decapitates the thug(with a wooden clunk I might add). Mitchell takes the girl home and stays the night downstairs.Nosing around he finds some love letters belonging to Clark.The killer surprises Mitchell.They have a vicious fight and Mitchell is nearly killed.The strangler gets away but leaves behind a glove with a false finger. Mitchell learns that Clark and Betty Mannings had an affair.A son was born of that liason.A nine fingered boy and he is the killer.But what name is he hiding under? Trombey and the barmaid bamboozle Lord Blackmoor.They feel that he may know where the diamonds are.Clark and Anthony fight again.It was Anthony that substituted sand for the diamonds.Mitchell discovers the barmaid is a jewel thief and is actually married to Mannings jr.They go to her place to arrest her but find a heavily drugged Blackmoor instead.On the way back to Blackmoor Castle the killer machine guns their car and they barely escape with their lives. All interested parties(Trombey,Tavish, Pierce, the barmaid,Lord Blackmoor) are summoned to Blackmoor.There they learn that Clark has died.Claridge is attacked and almost has her eyes gouged out with a diamond drill.The killer strikes quickly as the police close in. Who is the Strangler Of Blackmoor Castle?The grisly answer is found in the swamp of the foggy moors... |
| This is probably my favorite krimi so I'm biased.If this wasn't shot inside somebody's estate the sets are wonderfully done.The grounds are bleak during the day with bare trees and leaves on the ground.The nights are spooky and fogbound.The wind whistles across the moor at midnight.Plenty of creepy dank atmosphere.Best watched late at night with the lights down low. |
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| Inn On The River |