Der Hexer

Who is the Witch (a male individual is also called a Witch right?)? Well maybe you can tell ... but then again, the movie is quite mean and I'd say it isn't that easy to figure out ... but the end reveal is quite crazy too. And then you get another twist thrown in for good measure.

But let's go back to the beginning: With some known players from other Edgar Wallace adaptations. I remember loving these movies when I was a kid ... I did like crime movies ... I actually still do. So while this has somewhat aged ... it still is fine entertainment to say the least ... there are many more of movies like this ... but this was one of the movies that even nowadays fans will remember ... because of the twists and turns and because a comedian made a somewhat "remake" of it - Wixxer it is called and it is more like a spoof ... just in case you want to check that (and its sequel) out.

During the sixties and early seventies dozens of Edgar Wallace films were made in Germany, all of them highly popular. Most of them black and white, most of them with Eddi Aren't and Siegfried Schürenberg two of the unknown geniuses of German cinema. This one is the best of the lot. The sister of a famous retired criminal, Arthur Milton, aka der Hexer, (literally the Magician but I think called the Ringer in the Wallace book) is murdered. Scottland Yard thinks that Milton will return to revenge her. Inspector Higgins (Joachim Fuchsberger in typical role) with the help of Warren (Siefried Löwitz) is trying to get him. There is also a mysterious Australian writer called Wesby (Heinz Drache). Is he the Hexer? One by one of the murderers is killed by the Hexer. Very questionable ethics, of course. But our sympathies are with him. You never see him until the very end, but you see his wife, played by the most elegant of German actresses, Margot Trooger. And a man with a wife like that cannot be really bad. There is wonderful innocent sixties charm all the way through, suspense and humour which make this film a true highlite. Siegfried Schürenberg as Sir John has one of the best running gags in movie history there. "Das hätten Sie doch berücksichtigen müssen." (You should have thought of that). Nice twist ending. The only post war German movie that ranks among the best films ever made.

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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Many of the German Krimi movies in the Edgar Wallace collection that I've seen thus far are enjoyable, for sure, but also excessively complex and featuring a climax that is both too grotesque and made less impactful by the many plot-twists that came before already. With that in mind, I can honestly state that "Der Hexer" is the best and most effective Krimi of the whole collection! The plot is simple, relatively straightforward, and steadily builds up to a fantastic climax. And the climax truly is fantastic, I assure you, with a dazzling revelation and an even more dazzling surprise ending.

Following the murder of his sister, a wanted criminal known as The Magician is expected by Scotland Yard to pop up in London and extract vengeance on the murderers. Inspector Higgens must even accept the help of the now retired but former Scotland Yard top-agent Warren, and meanwhile also uncover the reason by who and why The Magician's sister got murdered in the first place. The lame humor (as usual provided by Siegfried Schürenberg and Eddi Arent) is luckily kept to a minimum and replaced by good red herrings and feminine beauty. As the tense climax approaches, there's a joyous gimmick where the screen turns black and displays the question: "do YOU already know who The Magician is?". I loved it. Reminded me of William Castle, in fact.

I did enjoy this watch: to me, clearly a humorous take onto crime solving. The characters are vividly displayed (even if the femal leads remain rather dull and dump... by intention) and the storyline is a huge quest of "who is the actual murderer" as we don't know the face of the perpetrator as an audience.

Personally, I was especially drawn in by the set design with various historically accurate (and inaccurate) gadgets, such as secret doors, car telephones, underground pipelines, miniature submarines and (my highlight) a security system hidden in a taxidermied bear mounted to the wall with blinking eyes and switches pulled inside the bear's ear.

The movie is well paced, with many entertaining highlights, dialogues, chase scenes and those strange incidents that make you question who might be the 'bad man' in disguise.

Fun to watch! For me as film history student it was a must, but I'd recommend it to anyone who is in for a retro detective fun ride based on old stories transported to the 60s.