Edgar Wallace: Der Hexer

When Gwenda Milton is murdered in London, her brother returns from Australia to find the killers. His nickname is "Hexer" ("wizard") because he wears many masks and can disappear without a trace. The police have a love/hate relationship with him, because he takes justice into his own hands, but justice it undeniably is. The success of this movie is owed to an excellent marketing strategy. The production company locked the final pages of the screenplay away, so that even the actors didn't know before the day of shooting who would be the Hexer in disguise. Neither will I tell you now. The whole movie builds up tension until this final revelation.

Of course there are the popular actors of the Edgar Wallace series (Fuchsberger, Drache, Lowitz, Aren't, Schürenberg), plus an excellent Margot Trooger - calm, yet charming -, but it's the story in the first place which makes "Der Hexer" memorable.

When the Edgar Wallace horror thrillers from the 1960s were shown repeatedly on German-language television in the 1980s, THE RINGER was certainly the most popular villain in the series. As a man of 1000 masks who prefers to take the law into his own murderous hands, THE RINGER could be anywhere and nowhere.

In London, THE RINGER's sister is murdered by a gang of criminals without knowing her origins. This crime electrifies the London criminal world and Scotland Yard alike. Inspector Higgins (Joachim FUCHSBERGER) and Sir John (Siegfried SCHÜRENBERG) rightly fear that THE RINGER will not leave the murder of his sister unpunished for long. And indeed, THE RINGER's elegant wife (Margot TROOGER) soon turns up in London. Inspector Higgins' fiancée (Sophie HARDY) has every reason to be jealous. After all, she has a hard time keeping her "Higgi" away from the well-proportioned Yard secretary (Ann SAVO). Fortunately, retired Inspector Warren (Siegfried LOWITZ) turns up, the only policeman to ever see the RINGER's true face.

A classic of the popular film series that attracted millions of moviegoers to the cinemas between 1959 and 1973. The cast was big: alongside FUCHSBERGER, Heinz DRACHE also plays one of the main roles. And there is also a reunion with Carl LANGE, Karl JOHN and Eddi ARENT.

Director Alfred VOHRER had the right approach when it came to Wallace: scary moments in dark black and white alternate with humorous interludes. It is not for nothing that this film is still repeated every year on various television programs in German-speaking countries.

It's obvious that this movie was supposed to be the German answer to the popular James Bond franchise. In the '60's, actually quite an handful of these sort of spy/detective movies got made but most of them are forgotten now days, including the British and American ones, while in fact they actually were some quite amusing movies to watch. And this movie is also definitely an enjoyable one but not really the best to be based off Edgar Wallace's work.

It remains a bit weird to see all of these German movies, based on Edgar Wallace his novels, which are set in London and features some all-British characters, with all-British names. But no, this all seems to matter very little when watching this movie, since it's quite hard to take it all very seriously. It's a movie made purely for entertainment and it's being a quite silly one with its story and somewhat quirky characters (just like a James Bond movie).

But the series of movies based on the Edgar Wallace novels definitely have some better movies to offer than this one. This isn't really the most exciting watch and at times I wished more would be happening in the story. It all remains quite simplistic, which does certainly go at the expense of its entertainment value at times.

Other than that, it still remains a well made movie. It obviously didn't cost an awful lot of money to make but they did a more than decent job with its resources. It's actually also being a quite creative movie to watch at times, with it directing and cinematography. Perhaps you could say that the movie also benefits from the fact that it's shot in black & white, since somehow I think the movie would had been a far more silly one to watch had it been done in full color.

Not the greatest but still a enjoyable enough, short watch.

6/10

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The best Krimi films are based on a novel by English crime writer Edgar Wallace and directed by prolific German director Alfred Vohrer; and Der Hexer boasts the inclusion of both. Thanks to a thrilling narrative and some interesting lead characters - this film is clearly one of the best of the genre. Der Hexer roughly translates into English as 'The Magician' and the title alludes to the central character - a highly cunning criminal with the ability to baffle police through the use of trickery and disguises. The film begins with the murder of a young girl; whom we later discover is the sister of the aforementioned master criminal. When this comes to the attention of the police, naturally they expect 'The Magician' to return to London for revenge and so begin an investigation in order to catch the criminal. The Magician is indeed plotting to kill off those responsible for the death of his sister and comes to London with this agenda; facing the murderers themselves and the best detectives of Scotland Yard.

What really makes this film great is the plot line; which is as cunning and clever as the lead character. Alfred Vohrer deftly handles the story, which is streamlined and features no filler, and ensures that the film is exciting and interesting at all times. There are several twists and turns throughout the plot (the mostly unseen lead character providing most of the entertainment) and the film never dries up or becomes boring. As is usually the case, the story takes place in London and the director does well at establishing the atmosphere of the city, which bodes well with the plot line. The plot works in such a way that eventually everyone comes under suspicion of being the murderer and this helps a lot when it comes to generating the suspense. Naturally all these twists and turns need a good twisted ending to wrap everything up; and Der Hexer certainly does not disappoint in that respect. The ending is very well done and provides some surprises. Overall, this is an excellent entry in the Krimi genre and comes recommended.

The sister of a famous, uncaught criminal named The Hexer is murdered. Inspector Higgins believes that The Hexer will surface to take revenge on the killers, and sets a trap to finally capture him. However, soon bodies start piling up...

An odd mixture of twisty turny cat and mouse game and tongue in cheek humour, which feature In many Wallace Krimis. It can be hard to keep up, and there's times you're scratching your head, but it has light touch, has some good gadgets, a very clever villain, and some good underwater sequences. Everything leads to the climax in neat fashion, and before the unraveling of the villain there's a William Castle-style gimmick - asking the viewers who they think is the ringer.