Il fantasma di Londra

This is probably the fastest-paced and most action-packed of the German Edgar Wallace "krimi" series, a cross between the Dr. Mabuse films of yore and 60's pop thrillers like Batman and the Man from UNCLE. It reintroduces the outrageous villain from an earlier film who dons a stylish monk's habit and breaks the necks of victims with the curl of a deadly whip. Set at a posh girls' school filled with lecherous middle-aged professors, and with the cops fondling their hot-to-trot secretaries at every opportunity, it certainly is a throwback to those wonderfully politically-incorrect times. There's a definite link to a later Wallace-based film, the excellent giallo "Whatever Happened to Solange?", which also concerns female students being corrupted by (and corrupting?) their elders. Quite appropriate to the monk theme, the master-mind villain uses booby-trapped bibles here to deal some of the death blows, and also maintains a reptile-replete dungeon to amuse his captive audiences.

Alfred Vohrer was always the most playful and visually flamboyant of the series directors, and here the lurid colour cinematography is the real star of the show. The Monk appears in a raving scarlet cowl and robe, tastefully setting off the lustrous white whip, while appearing against purplish-night backgrounds. There's also a voyeur-friendly turquoise swimming pool which looks great both as a glowing milieu for the nubile students and as a shadowy backdrop for one of the murder scenes. The trademark "kicker" of hiding the "Ende" card somewhere in the set of the last scene is also quite memorable here. And there's a fine brassy and twangy score for retro-music fans.

Fans of the series will definitely miss the flippant Eddie Arent character in these later films. Instead, the chief inspector Sir John takes on the role of buffoon, convinced that he has mastered criminal psychology after taking a few night courses. Unfortunately, Klaus Kinski had also gone on to bigger and better things. The krimis had lost some of their offbeat subversive charm by this point, and now worked on a much more blatant pop-culture level, which will make this one quite accessible to uninitiated viewers.

The best way I can think to describe this movie is: suppose a group of German film makers snuck onto the deserted set of a Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode and made a movie there.

The only thing this movie has going for it is the sets. A fireplace where the mantle in front rises up to reveal a hidden doorway, a villain's lair with giant water tank holding large turtles, alligators (or maybe crocodiles) snapping at and eating anything tossed to them and a swimming pool with below surface level viewing windows.

Maybe this thing made sense in it's original language.

There's a lot going on in The College Girl Murders. A mad scientist creates an almost undetectable poisonous gas. Before he can reap the rewards of his discovery, the scientist is killed by a hooded, whip-welding monk. After a co-ed is killed in a church by the gas, Scotland Yard is called in to investigate, but the killing continues. Who can stop this mad killer who seems to be able to come and go as he pleases in and out of the college?

What Works:

• The Killer. What's not to like about a killer who sneaks around wearing a vivid red KKK looking outfit, complete with red gloves. The white whip he carries and uses very effectively stands out nicely against the bright red gown. Although the idea of a killer in a flaming red, pointy-head outfit sneaking around a girl's school is fairly far-fetched, it's one of the more sinister looking costumes I've seen.

• Groovy 60s Music. I really would like to track down the title music to The College Girl Murders. It's got a jazzy, hip, 60s feel to it that I just loved.

• Bizarre Touches. Beyond the killer's red gown and hood, the movie features a sliding fireplace, a pit of alligators with a cage handing overhead, poison spraying bibles, a strategically placed mannequin, mini-skirts, go-go boots, and mile high hair. I would describe it as a cross between the 60s Batman TV show and an Italian giallo. The College Girl Murders is a real treat for the eye.

• The End. Let's just say that there are more twists than a mountain road. Just when you think the killer has been uncovered, here comes a twist..and another.and anotherand another.

What Doesn't Work:

• Chief Inspector Sir John. I know the guy was meant to be comic relief, but his buffoonish character has way too much screen time.

• Why Have Alligators? Previously, I mentioned the alligators in the pit. And while they are a nice touch, they serve very little purpose. Why go through all the trouble and not use them?

• Plodding Plot. Some of The College Girl Murders has no flow or rhythm to it. There are far too many moments throughout the movie when things come inexplicably to a screeching halt. Better pacing would have made this a much more enjoyable movie.

I haven't seen many of these German krimis but of the few I have seen (Phantom of Soho, Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, Dead Eyes of London) this may be my favorite. This one has a real funky feel to it that I really go into. Had the plot flowed a little better, I could have easily given The College Girl Murders a 7/10.

The German "krimis" were kind of a forerunner of the Italian gialli, but they are less famous today because being made mostly in the late 50's and 60's they don't have the graphic violence and sex of the gialli, and they don't feature any name directors like Bava, Argento, Fulci, Lenzi or Sergio Martino. They do have a lot of name actors, most notably Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lee, but also Marisa "Diabolik" Mell, future Jess Franco producer Adrian Hoven, and future giallo starlets Uschi Glass and Karin Baal. Even more so than the gialli, the krimis were connected to English mystery writer and Edgar Wallace, and like his very colorful and entertaining novels they manage to combine mass-murder mysteries, bizarro horror/science fiction plots, and underworld intrigue into fascinating, if often overcooked,stew.

This is the best of the krimis I've seen (with the possible exception of "Dead Eyes of London"). The delightfully ludicrous plot has a mad scientist who has invented a poisonous spray which he conceals in Bibles in order to kill people who open them. In order to deliver booby-trapped Bibles for some reason he needs the help of convicts who he sneaks out out of a nearby prison. As the title suggests the victims are all girls at a nearby college--a very strange college, I might add, where all the students look like voluptuous European fashion models and all the male professors (perhaps understandably)are lecherous perverts trying to get a leg over. Then there's the monk (did I mention the monk?) in a red robe going around breaking various people's necks with a bullwhip.

Obviously, the plot is ridiculous, but it's also a whole lot of fun. And wait until the final revelation where the identity of the hooded monk is revealed and the preposterous motive for the murders is given --like the Italian gialli "Seven Bloodstained Orchids", also based on a Wallace novel, the villain is willing to kill a ridiculous number of innocent people and go through ludicrous Rube Goldburg machinations just to get at his one intended victim. Still, this is a very enjoyable movie if you can suspend your disbelief (you might need a crane).

Another garish "color krimi" from director Alfred Vohrer who splits the action between a girl's school and a men's prison this time. Bumbling Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir John and his flirtatious secretary are back from CREATURE WITH THE BLUE HAND (along with the annoying MANNIX- style soundtrack during the "action" sequences) but the Inspector's been replaced by a smarmy, gum-chewing dick up to his ass in dead bodies.

It's impossible to figure out whodunnit in these Edgar Wallace "inheritence thrillers" since surprise revelations come fast and furious at the end when all the suspects are gathered together a la Agatha Christie. There's usually a Mabuse-like mastermind behind it all and all you have to do is pick out the one least likely to be the madman and there you are. Here, the killer's known as "The Red Monk" and runs around in a red Ku Klux Klan sheet with a pointy hood offing his victims with a bull whip. That's not the only murder weapon, of course, and I quite liked a bible that, when opened, shoots poison gas in a girl's face. Sir John makes mention of a previous adventure, "the case of the sinister monk", which I haven't seen. I must say, however, that this one did have at least a modicum of stye but Germany must have lagged behind the "mod revolution" already in full sway by 1967; there's go go boots and bubble hairdo's, yes, but the mini-skirts are almost knee-length and the girls wear two-piece swimsuits instead of bikinis. Everyone else is strictly squaresville.