Das indische Tuch

In another old-fashionable story devised by the cult British writer George Wallace where an elderly rich aristocratic man went to die hanged by an Indian scarf, due a contentious family such man required in his last testament that all them must keep together on the mansion for six days, thus the clever man expect they killing each other to take all properties and money, as he'd previously envisaged,aftermaths one by one appeared hanged by the deadly scarf.

The picture was led by the lawman Heinz Drache, the gorgeous lady Corny Collins, the iconic Klaus Kinski as illegitimate son, the wise butler Eddi Arent, the possessive mother Elisabeth Flickenschildt and his skilled piano player son Hans Clarin, fine mystery murder entertainment.

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First watch: 2025 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

Heinz Drache recently died. Reason enough to watch this one again. I find that of all the movies on tape the films of the Wallace series are the ones that I watch again and again. And the "Tuch" is after "Der Hexer" the best one. It just got everything. As a rule of thumb: the ones with Drache are best, the ones with Fuchsberger are all okay. If Kinski is in it, great. But really important is the presence of Eddi Aren't and Siegfried Schuerendorf. Luckily they are in practically every of the 38 or so of the series.

Alfred Vohrer, one of the unrecognized geniuses of Film, directs his incredible cast through a story that is both negligible and a highlight of mystery. Lord Lebanon died and his greedy family is forced to spend a week in the castle, if they want to inherit. Of course, they are cut off from the outside world because of a storm or something. And so (and this is hardly a spoiler I hope) as one after the other gets strangled, they are on their own. And Frank Tanner (Drache), the lawyer, has to solve the crime. He does it with his usual light spirit. Unfortunately not to successful, for he suspects each and everyone (and is suspected by the others) and even after there are only three members of the family left - one of them the beautiful women (well not so beautiful to be honest) who has literally no other role than to bring in some female presence, he still suspects the wrong one, namely wonderful Elisabeth Flickenschildt. Well. Of course, the whole thing cannot be taken seriously and is not meant to be taken seriously. There are funny scenes throughout the film. Eddie Aren't as butler Bonwit is superb but easily overshadowed by Schuerenberg, who only has to say "Was sind denn das für Sachen?" to make my heart jump from joy. Even better when he imitates his parrot saying "Murderer, murderer" as Aren't leaves his room. At the end all the dead are present as ghosts as the will is read to the final family member, the above mentioned young lady (Gisela Uhlen). But she does not inherit, no. Guess who is the lucky one? Try to rent this one somewhere. An easy ten out of ten.

A rich man is bumped off and it is made to look like a heart attack. His possible heirs must spend 7 days in "peaceful coexistence" before his will is read.As usual the heirs are strangled one by one(with an Indian scarf).The finger of suspicion points to anybody and everyone. Is it the lawyer? Or wife; the son; the dope addict (Klaus Kinski intense as usual); the clergyman etc. Well this film drowns in red herrings and the ending is off the wall and irritating. I'm a big fan of this series and this disappoints. Only the acting and settings gives this a 4.

"The indian scarf" was directed in 1963 by Alfred Vohrer , from a novel by Edgar Wallace. The murders were shot like future italian gialli, spoiled by few lousy german "comic" scenes (most with Heinz Drachi). There are still a majority of moody expresionnist scenes with a bunch of terrifying actors like Ady Berber (as the massive weird domestic), Elisabeth Flickenschildt, Hans Clarin and the inevitable Klaus Kinski. Very entertaining.

The term "Krimi" refers to a genre of movies made between 1959-1967 in what was then West Germany. All of the early Krimis were shot in black and white and resembled the American "film noirs" of the 1940s and early 1950s. They are basically crime dramas although most also contained mystery elements, and were based on the works of English writer Edgar Wallace (1875-1932). Most of the stories are set in England but were shot in Germany using German actors and feature German and English soundtracks, although the latter are all dubbed.

There were 32 Edgar Wallace movies made, and all by one company, Rialto Films. Another company, CCC Films, produced a series of movies based on works of the writer's son, Bryan Edgar Wallace 91902-1971). DAS INDISCHE TUCH (The Indian Scarf), the 14th film in the series, is one of the better ones as it contains all the classic mystery elements with comic relief provided by series regular Eddie Arent who usually appeared as an aloof butler or a self-effacing sidekick.

The frequently recycled plot features several greedy relatives who have gathered for the reading of a will hoping to inherit the rich man's money. The will stipulates that in order to inherit any legacy they all must spend a week together in his castle. This allows one of them the opportunity to bump off the others as the week progresses...but which one is doing it? Almost all of the characters are unsympathetic and exceedingly avaricious so they get, in celebrated old dark house fashion, what's coming to them. Nothing new there. The twist comes from the film's title as all the victims are strangled with a silk Indian scarf.

The cast of German actors includes the dependable Heinz Drache who was usually a stalwart leading man for many European productions during the 1960s. Here he plays the lawyer who reads the will and also winds up solving the mystery. Then there is the one and only Klaus Kinski who brings his celebrated brand of intensity to the role of a temperamental sculptor who may also be a drug addict. Veteran actress Elisabeth Flickenschildt is given the showy role of the widowed matriarch who harbors a dark secret while Hans Clarin is her artistic son who has dreams of being a concert pianist.

The murders are committed from the killer's point-of-view and we are treated to a scene of a scarf being rolled tight in front of the camera right before each one. The film is well made and manages to be both spooky and tongue-in-cheek. The ending sums up the movie perfectly. Although SCARF isn't a great film, it holds a special memory for me. I first saw it with my mother, who was a great fan of mysteries, on board a German liner during my one and only jaunt to Europe back in 1964. I was 12 year old at the time and this was the first subtitled movie I'd ever seen. This disc is one of the fully restored EDGAR WALLACE series which was released back in 2004...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.