| The Indian Scarf |
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| Directed by Alfred Vohrer Heinz Drache .... Frank Tanner Corny Collins .... Isla Harris Elisabeth Flickenschildt .... Lady Lebanon Eddi Arent .... Bonwit Hans Clarin .... Lord Lebanon jr. Klaus Kinski .... Peter Ross Gisela Uhlen .... Mrs. Tilling Hans Nielsen .... Mr. Tilling Siegfried Schürenberg .... Sir Hockbridge Ady Berber .... Chiko Richard Häussler .... Dr. Amersham Alexander Engel .... Reverend Hastings Have to admit that when I first saw this movie it p!$$ed me off, especially the ending. So I trashed at at movie database site and promptly forgot it. However some inner nagging led me to a second viewing and subsequent viewings. To be honest the movie grew on me. While it is not one of my favorites in the Edgar Wallace canon,it is better than average except for that last lousy line. The plot is simple: We have a murder covered up to look like a natural death. This is followed by a gathering of the heirs in the old dark house for a reading of the will. One of the provisions is that the gathered clan must spend the next 6 days and nights together under one roof for the final reading of the will. Of course this is helped as a hurricane cuts the manor home off from the mainland and a dyke has broken causing even more flooding. We have Tanner the faithful family attorney leading the proceedings. Mr Tilling is THE ugly american married into the family, Peter Ross is the bastard son of Lord Lebanon( another borderline psycho performance by Kinski), a drinking priest, a shady doctor, an explorer (played by the man who usually played Sir John of Scotland Yard in the series),Lady Lebanon and her (I'm only visiting this planet) son Eddie. The relationship between mother and son seems rather unhealthy to this viewer;possibly bording on the incestous. One by one the heirs are strangled with the title scarf. Pretty soon most of the cast is wearing toe tags and stored in the family chapel. Who will survive and who is the killer? One of the saving graces of this film is that the characters are not ciphers but are interesting and flawed human beings. The attorney makes several wrong accusations during the film trying to guess the killer's identity. While most of the people are not likeable they do have traits which make them human in spite of the fact that 85% of them are greedy leeches. The viewer will in fact have a little difficult time pegging the actual killer as red herrings are set up by the half dozen and then gleefully slaughtered. The killings are all done from the killer's POV (except for one) setting the viewer up as a willing participant long before Argento and his black gloved killers came along. So that is a nice touch from director Alfred Vohrer. Bonwit the butler and comedy relief is rather good in this film which I found to be a change of pace. On the downside is that this was a cheap production and it hurts the film. Usually in an Edgar Wallace film we are treated to a few nice exterior shots. Generally there is a rather large ediface or manor home that serves up for at least a visual along with some nice grounds. We don't get that in this film. It is so cheap that two establishing shots of the "manor house" are from a freaking book! You can see part of the word "directory" off to the left of the house in the second shot. An added insult instead of fog we have someone offscreen blowing cigarette smoke at the paper! So 99% of this film was shot on a soundstage. I will give credit though that the interior sets are fairly impressive to be done so cheap. So if you're in the mood for an old dark house with a creepy killer on the loose film this may be the one for you. It is worth at least one viewing and who knows, it may grow on you! |