Die seltsame Gräfin

West German cinema discovered Edgar Wallace's novels in 1959. The films became sensationally popular and during the next twelve or so years some forty + films were brought to the screen, a number which makes other film serials such as James Bond grow pale with envy. In addition to that, another team began screening the novels of Wallace junior almost immediately. The results are often mixed, but especially the earliest "original" Wallace films are superbly atmospheric crime thrillers.

Both these serials are now released on DVD in Germany. Most of these de luxe editions (4 DVD sets) have only German soundtrack and subtitles, but this film has both optional English soundtrack and subtitles, so obviously it was deemed to be one of the best entries.

The Weird Countess can easily stand in line with the best film noir masterpieces. It builds a nightmarish mood up to the point when the viewer is sickened by not knowing what exactly is going on. It's structurally very well crafted and employs some very good actors - such as the legends of German cinema Marianne Hoppe and Lil Dagover, breathtakingly beautiful at 74. There's also the very young Klaus Kinski, giving a performance you wouldn't want to miss.

It might be somewhat weird to look at Germans acting to be English, but once you get accustomed, this is a highly enjoyable, spooky thriller. The story is quite complicated, so you may find yourself reflecting upon it when it ends quite suddenly, but don't worry, it all adds up.

WARNING: The less you know about these films in advance, the better. There's a short summary on the cover, which already says too much, and I feel very lucky I didn't read it before I began watching the film. Avoid any kind of compendiums.

If you yearn for more supernatural German 1960s sci-fi serial, you might want to check out Dr Mabuse films, also great fun.

The Strange Countess is one of the earlier German Edgar Wallace adaptations (or 'Krimi' films) and it's also one of the best. As always, the film takes place in the UK; although all the actors are German. The story itself is fairly strong and presents a good mystery that keeps the audience guessing and interested for the duration. However, the best thing about the film is undoubtedly the varied array of characters, which are all good in their own right and help to further the plot. The story itself focuses on Margaret Reedle; a secretary to a lawyer who is being tormented by phone calls. She has been offered another job with a Countess Moron, and has decided to take it. However, Scotland Yard has learned that somebody is out to kill the young girl and so have put their best man - Inspector Mike Dorn - in charge of keeping her safe. Around the same time, a Mary Pinder is being released from prison. She was put away twenty years earlier for poisoning, and seems to have some connection to the attempted murders.

The pacing of the film is very steady and it has to be said that there's not a great deal of real excitement in the film. However, the film works in spite of that as the story and characters are interesting enough in their own right. The mystery builds patiently throughout and small details are spoon-fed to the viewer. The bulk of the film takes place inside a sprawling and lavish mansion and this makes an excellent setting for the film and lays on a thick Gothic atmosphere. The murder attempts are good and include things such as bombing and poisoning - a near fall to the death from a balcony is the highlight in that respect. Most of the central cast will be familiar to anyone who is a fan of this sort of film as most of them appeared in other genre entries. As the plot nears the end, things get more and more complicated; and it has to be said that things get a little muddled by the end and the film loses its patient approach that served so well earlier on. Still, this is a very nice little mystery film and the climax is satisfying enough.

In this mystery, a young lady almost loses her life. Investigators soon discover that the attempt is linked to a murder that occurred 20-years ago.

What is there not to like here- An eccentric Countess (Lil Dagover is quite good here, polite but there's a sinister undercurrent bubbling underneath, and that's not just because she wears this high-collared dress like Countess Dracula) in a eerie manor house, prisons, asylums, a deranged Klaus Kinski, Joachim Fuchsberger doing a Houdini escape, and an outstanding performance by Brigitte Grothum who plays the young lady who gets threatening phone calls, gets almost poisoned, almost crushed by falling debris at a building site and would fall through the balcony's collapse if she has clung on in time - there are other narrow escapes in this tense thriller that ticks all the boxes in order to get one gripped. Unlike some Krimi thrillers, this has no dull spots, is fast paced and doesn't jump randomly to different scenes with different characters. It sticks mainly with the lead actress. There are so many plot hooks that it reels you in and keeps you there till the 'ende credits.

For sure one of the better entries in the long and qualitatively irregular series of Edgar Wallace krimi-adaptations, and this for two specific reasons. Number one: "The Strange Countess" does everything - and I do mean everything - to uphold the mystery. The plot isn't exceptionally great or convoluted, but since very few exploitations or clues are given until late in the final act, it remains a compelling movie to follow. Number two: being one of the older krimis, "The Strange Countess" also doesn't feature those daft attempts at inserting unnecessary slapstick comedy. Eddi Arent stars and, although his character is still the most annoying, he's not undermining the suspense or ruining the atmosphere for a change.

Miss Margaret Reedle, a nice 20-year-old girl without any enemies, suddenly becomes the target of several cowardly murder attempts and menacing phone calls in one day. Her stalker's identity isn't kept secret. It's good old Klaus Kinski, but why does he want to kill Margaret because he has never seen or spoken to her before? And, clearly, someone knows her life is in danger because Margaret suddenly has a private bodyguard (krimi-veteran Joachim Fuchsberger) following her around and preventing her from getting killed. When Margaret goes to work for the eccentric Countess Moron (what's in a name...) and live in her castle, the mystery only increases.

I will not reveal any further details of the plot. Again, not because the denouement or the twists are so amazing, but merely because the entire cast and crew work so hard to reveal so little, and I don't want to ruin that. The only need-to-know information is that "The Strange Countess" is a good mystery/thriller krimi, with a handful of unexpected suspense moments (the balcony sequence in particular) and a more than adequate cast (including Lil Dagover, who's been around since the silent German expressionist era, and starred in the ultimate horror masterpiece "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari").

I read many of Edgar Wallace's crime novels when I was young. Even I quickly noticed that the stories almost always had the same background. A naive girl gets involved in an intrigue (usually about her inheritance). The villain has set his mind on marrying her, while the hero naturally wants to save her.

Well, almost all of the German Edgar Wallace films were made according to exactly the same pattern. The recurring cast and the (German) attempt to be funny (usually in the form of Eddi Arent, who does not appear in the novel) are particularly worth mentioning here.

The Strange Countess was also made according to this pattern.

Logical errors are plentiful. The acting was sometimes grotesquely exaggerated.

Even with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, I cannot find any reason to recommend this film.