Das Phantom von Soho

Someone is murdering well-known people outside a fashionable Soho bar. Chief Inspector Dieter Borsche and Sergeant Peter Vogel run the investigation. As each new victim turns up, the links point to a ship lost at sea.

I looked at this under the impression it was one of those German productions based on an Edgar Wallace story. It turned out that the source novel was Brian Edgar Wallace, the famous writer's son. There's an interesting technique here: we are introduced to several of the characters as they wander about doing nasty things, like Lord Hans Nielsen raping girls, and sea captain Hans Hamacher blackmailing people without discussing why. As a result, the audience has an opportunity to solve the mystery of who the Phantom is before the police.

A German film taking place in England. A nice little plot with some entertaining policemen. The fun is in the investigation, though it does become muddied at times. For some reason, I knew the ending. Maybe I've watched too many movies. Still, there are some nice, stuffy performances and it is a pretty good whodunnit. If there is a criticism, it is editing and pacing. At times you just want to yell, "Get on with it!" But the plot does revolve around a crime for money and it really makes good sense when it is all over. The dubbing isn't bad. Whoever did voice overs did a nice job of trying to match the current scene.

Franz Josef Gottlieb's singularly mean-spirited thriller 'Das Phantom Von Soho' is a supremely pacy, darkly atmospheric, and surprisingly grisly Krimi from the lurid pen of maestro Bryan Edgar Wallace. The blissfully burlesque jazz sounds of Martin Böttcher are utterly sublime and not only are the performances uniformly excellent, the brutal stabbings have a decidedly menacing, proto-Gialli feel. 'Das Phantom Von Soho' is an absolute must for rampant Krimi-headz, and while the overt campiness is considerably muted in this instance, thankfully, the remarkably grisly, sordid atmosphere isn't. This delightfully grungy little Edgar Wallace thriller is a real Bobby Dazzler, and one of the rare Krimi's that I would happily watch multiple times! And I most heartily approve of the hugely aesthetic lead actresses's spicy moniker: Barbara Rutting! "Oh, I say, missus!!!" (A most appropriate handle for one so uplifting!)

A number of important men are being murdered in the London Soho district while attempting to make sexual liasons. The murders, perpetrated by the so-called "Phantom of Soho," seem to center around a seedy burlesque nightclub populated by a bizarre array of characters including the "crippled" female proprietor, her bent doctor/psychologist, and a pretty naive photographer. Eventually the Scotland Yard detectives and Agatha Christie-type female mystery writer tie the murders to a luxury yacht that sunk off the coast a couple years earlier. But the ending and the identity of the Phantom is a genuine surprise.

Although this is actually based on a novel of Edgar Wallace's much less talented son Bryan Edgar Wallace, this is actually a superior entry in the West German Wallace "krimi" series. It has a strong plot and an effective fog-shrouded atmosphere. It is also surprisingly risqué for the period with some of the nightclub acts culminating in some discrete toplessness, and the movie itself exuding a definite air of sexual decadence.

It is currently available on an apparently uncut Retrocinema double disc with the much weaker Edgar Wallace krimi "Curse of the Yellow Snake". That one is not really very worthwhile, but this one is definitely recommended.

The Phantom of Soho is another Krimi film based on a novel by the son of the great Edgar Wallace, Bryan Edgar Wallace. I can't say it's one of the best of the genre, but it features a decent plot that flows fairly well and kept my interest for most of the duration. As the title suggests; the film once again takes place in London and this allows director Franz Josef Gottlieb to build a dark and foreboding atmosphere to compliment his plot which chiefly involves murder. The plot focuses on a murder named 'The Phantom' who is going round London bumping various people off. The victims are all important men and seem to have something to do with Sansibar; a seedy nightclub owned by a crippled woman. Naturally it's not long before Scotland Yard is called in to investigate and they receive help from a mystery writer who is fascinated by the crimes. As they dig deeper into the murders, they find out that many of the victims have more in common than was first thought.

Naturally the film is not particularly graphic; but the murder scenes are rather memorable thanks to the way they are shown - usually we see the victim looking surprised while a pair of gloved hands (one holding a knife) is shown on either side of the screen. This is amusing the first time it's seen and while it does at least make the film somewhat memorable; I have to say that it does lack variety. The plot is more than a little bit sketchy and the film only really features memorable scenes, rather than a memorable narrative. The nightclub setting is good as it allows the director to show plenty of half naked women along with a sordid atmosphere. The film gets less interesting as it goes along and by the end I didn't really care too much about the mystery behind the murders, and that's a bit of a shame as there's a decent enough plot here to spawn a good thriller. The ending is something of a surprise, however, so anyone that makes it that far at least shouldn't be too disappointed. Overall, this is a Krimi worth seeing for genre fans; but it won't hold much interest for anyone else.