A Máscara da Morte

This is one of the better classic Edgar Wallace movies from the German series - it features all basics for a highly enjoyable Wallace crime flic movie way back from the 60ies: Although his majesty, Mr. Kinski, is missing you still have young Joachim 'Blacky' Fuchsberger, starring once again as the typical clever American 'womanizer', you have young Eddi Arendt in his best (and just as well typical) role ever - the cool, sophisticated British butler - and you have (not so young anymore) Lowitz as the melancholic yet very 'dry' ironic (and thus: highly entertaining) police investigator. Furthermore you'll get offered a freakish and very campy 'evil guy' behind a frog mask (hence the movie's title!), you'll get a crazed-out swinging soundtrack, classic b-movie action scenes, partly filmed out off the wildest perspectives (please remind the time of its origin!), yelling scream queens, and on and on... All those ingredients get shaken well up in a sweet tastin' cocktail of pure German Edgar Wallace campyness - highly recommended!!

Sadly I don't remember the book anymore, but I do recall that I was captivated by the stories of Edgar Wallace. This Film represents a typical German Production of low quality. It does not hold my attention - although the story itself is good, it is just badly adabted. At the center of the misery are the characters that are overly simplyfied and exaggerated - they have no nuances in their performances. Even the well known and liked German Actors Joachim Fuchsberger and Eddy Aren't cannot rescue this poor spectacle. However there's hope ... I've been told that the films following this one are getting better and better. So in conclusion I must say that this film doesn't deserve the cinematic screen but may be enough for a lazy afternoon.

"Der Frosch mit der Maske" aka. "Fellowship Of The Frog" of 1959 is the first of the popular German Edgar Wallace movies, but it certainly isn't one of the best. It has to be respected for inciting the wave of these Wallace-based German crime flicks that became extremely popular in the early 60s. Generally speaking, I am a fan of the German Edgar Wallace flicks, but I personally always preferred those dealing with a murder series to those dealing with super-criminals like this one. Also, "Fellowship of The Frog" is a bit too naive for my tastes. Sure, the German Edgar Wallce films never were nasty, brutal or cynical like the Italian genre-cinema in the 60s, for example. Still, the naiveté is quite extreme here. This makes the film a pleasure to watch for its sentimental value, but, for me personally, it doesn't go beyond that.

Scotland Yard are in desperate search for a ruthless super-criminal wearing a frog mask, whose henchmen can be identified by a frog tattoo on their forearms. The police have hardly any success in the search for the mysterious arch-criminal, even though the investigating chief inspector (Siegfried Lovitz) is a clever man. Richard Gordon (Joachim Fuchsberger), a rich man and hobby detective decides to investigate in the case himself, with the help of his loyal butler (Eddi Aren't)...

It is Aren't, one of the absolute cult-actors of the German Edgar Wallace 'krimis', who is responsible for many of the (half-dumb, but often very amusing) gags in the film. Aren't, an Edgar Wallace flick regular, often played the more comical parts in these films (often that of the butler), and this is his first role to do so. Siegfried Lovitz is very good in the role of the chief inspector, and the Eva Pflug fits in well as the seductive femme fatale. The rest of the performances are not necessarily breathtaking (the greatest performances in Edgar Wallace flicks always came from the great Klaus Kinski), but they're not bad either. The only awful performance comes from Walter Wilz, who is quite terrible as a naive young guy. All things considered, "Fellowship of the Frog" is an important film for its value as the first of the German Edgar Wallace films. Nevertheless, I recommend other Edgar Wallace flicks, such as "Das Indische Tuch" (aka. "The Indian Scarf") way over this. "Fellowship Of The Frog" is a fun film to watch, but only for sentimental values. Recommended to fans of the German Edgar Wallace films.

Harald Reinl, an excellent director who has made films from the Mabuse series and the Winnetou series. This one is very well done and comic too, a pleasure to watch even today in 2019, after 60 years: old movies are the best! Well, not all of them but, definitely, I prefer them to those painful superhero productions of today...

Second Wallace film I saw and I found it utterly delightful! Many comical and funny situations, sometimes not very serious, but lighthearted drama, I loved the visuals, the compositions, lighting... and the frog costume. They made Kopenhagen into a very believable London for my taste (with the tools they had). I know it is not the most serious art house cinema, but just delightful 60s vibe with love for details. I found many clichees depicted in those films, from the bored inspector to the dandylike police man... This seems a picture book of film noir, shot mainly for delight. it is just fun to watch, don't take it too seriously!