Le défi du Maltais

I did enjoy this watch: to me, clearly a humorous take onto crime solving. The characters are vividly displayed (even if the femal leads remain rather dull and dump... by intention) and the storyline is a huge quest of "who is the actual murderer" as we don't know the face of the perpetrator as an audience.

Personally, I was especially drawn in by the set design with various historically accurate (and inaccurate) gadgets, such as secret doors, car telephones, underground pipelines, miniature submarines and (my highlight) a security system hidden in a taxidermied bear mounted to the wall with blinking eyes and switches pulled inside the bear's ear.

The movie is well paced, with many entertaining highlights, dialogues, chase scenes and those strange incidents that make you question who might be the 'bad man' in disguise.

Fun to watch! For me as film history student it was a must, but I'd recommend it to anyone who is in for a retro detective fun ride based on old stories transported to the 60s.

During the sixties and early seventies dozens of Edgar Wallace films were made in Germany, all of them highly popular. Most of them black and white, most of them with Eddi Aren't and Siegfried Schürenberg two of the unknown geniuses of German cinema. This one is the best of the lot. The sister of a famous retired criminal, Arthur Milton, aka der Hexer, (literally the Magician but I think called the Ringer in the Wallace book) is murdered. Scottland Yard thinks that Milton will return to revenge her. Inspector Higgins (Joachim Fuchsberger in typical role) with the help of Warren (Siefried Löwitz) is trying to get him. There is also a mysterious Australian writer called Wesby (Heinz Drache). Is he the Hexer? One by one of the murderers is killed by the Hexer. Very questionable ethics, of course. But our sympathies are with him. You never see him until the very end, but you see his wife, played by the most elegant of German actresses, Margot Trooger. And a man with a wife like that cannot be really bad. There is wonderful innocent sixties charm all the way through, suspense and humour which make this film a true highlite. Siegfried Schürenberg as Sir John has one of the best running gags in movie history there. "Das hätten Sie doch berücksichtigen müssen." (You should have thought of that). Nice twist ending. The only post war German movie that ranks among the best films ever made.

When Gwenda Milton is murdered in London, her brother returns from Australia to find the killers. His nickname is "Hexer" ("wizard") because he wears many masks and can disappear without a trace. The police have a love/hate relationship with him, because he takes justice into his own hands, but justice it undeniably is. The success of this movie is owed to an excellent marketing strategy. The production company locked the final pages of the screenplay away, so that even the actors didn't know before the day of shooting who would be the Hexer in disguise. Neither will I tell you now. The whole movie builds up tension until this final revelation.

Of course there are the popular actors of the Edgar Wallace series (Fuchsberger, Drache, Lowitz, Aren't, Schürenberg), plus an excellent Margot Trooger - calm, yet charming -, but it's the story in the first place which makes "Der Hexer" memorable.

The best Krimi films are based on a novel by English crime writer Edgar Wallace and directed by prolific German director Alfred Vohrer; and Der Hexer boasts the inclusion of both. Thanks to a thrilling narrative and some interesting lead characters - this film is clearly one of the best of the genre. Der Hexer roughly translates into English as 'The Magician' and the title alludes to the central character - a highly cunning criminal with the ability to baffle police through the use of trickery and disguises. The film begins with the murder of a young girl; whom we later discover is the sister of the aforementioned master criminal. When this comes to the attention of the police, naturally they expect 'The Magician' to return to London for revenge and so begin an investigation in order to catch the criminal. The Magician is indeed plotting to kill off those responsible for the death of his sister and comes to London with this agenda; facing the murderers themselves and the best detectives of Scotland Yard.

What really makes this film great is the plot line; which is as cunning and clever as the lead character. Alfred Vohrer deftly handles the story, which is streamlined and features no filler, and ensures that the film is exciting and interesting at all times. There are several twists and turns throughout the plot (the mostly unseen lead character providing most of the entertainment) and the film never dries up or becomes boring. As is usually the case, the story takes place in London and the director does well at establishing the atmosphere of the city, which bodes well with the plot line. The plot works in such a way that eventually everyone comes under suspicion of being the murderer and this helps a lot when it comes to generating the suspense. Naturally all these twists and turns need a good twisted ending to wrap everything up; and Der Hexer certainly does not disappoint in that respect. The ending is very well done and provides some surprises. Overall, this is an excellent entry in the Krimi genre and comes recommended.

The first series of replays of the German Edgar Wallace i did see as a child and i have loved it ever since (at least the top items, where this one and "Der Zinker" are top notch. Very much German style British made, this is always still suspense, thrill, charming ladies and light entertainment perfectly combined. And we all know things will end well as they must in 60s movies in Germany of this Wirtschaftswunder era. It is reliably replayed in Germany in series by the multiple stations, where the reels seem to be rotate around, don't miss it if you can get it (forgo the latter, especially the colored ones. What was won in color was more then lost in suspense and coolness).