by Cora Buhlert

Scenes from Germany

So far, it's been a cool and rainy summer here in West Germany. Perfect to read a book or go to the cinema, the latter of which I'll be talking about today.

But first, the news: Two days ago, tragedy struck in the West German town of Lampertheim, when the Trans-Europ-Express "Helvetia", en route from Zurich to Hamburg, crashed into a freight train. Four people died, forty-five were injured. The cause of the accident seems to have been an error of the train dispatcher.

In happier news, the current number one in the German music charts is "Il Silenzio" ("Abschiedsmelodie" in German), a haunting instrumental piece by Italian trumpeter Nini Rosso, that is perfect for a slow dance on a summer's night.

The 15th annual (West) Berlin International Film Festival concluded last month. The Berlinale, as it is commonly known, is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, on par with Cannes and Venice, and therefore not normally focussed on the kind of movies we discuss here at the Journey. However, the winner of this year's Golden Bear is a dystopian science fiction film, Alphaville by French director Jean-Luc Godard. Other winners include Le Bonheur by young French director Agnés Varda and the divisive thriller Repulsion by young Polish born director Roman Polanski. Satyajit Ray from India won the Silver Bear for the best director. The two acting awards went to Hollywood star Lee Marvin for his performance in the western Cat Ballou and Madhur Jaffrey, also from India, for her performance in Shakespeare-Walllah.

It will be a while before we will get to the see the Berlinale winners in cinemas. So let's take a look at what audiences can watch in West Germany's movie theatres right now.

The Ringer is Back

The wave of movies based on the novels of British thriller author Edgar Wallace shows no sign of abating. To date, twenty-three official Edgar Wallace adaptations and a number of unofficial ones have been made. And the series shows no signs of exhaustion. Indeed, last year's Der Hexer (The Ringer), about the exploits of the eponymous vigilante and master of disguise, was a new highpoint for the Edgar Wallace series.

The Ringer was also a big financial success, so it was perhaps inevitable that there would be a sequel. And so part of the original cast reunited for Neues vom Hexer (Again the Ringer).

As most Wallace movies, Again the Ringer begins with a murder, in this case that of the wheelchair bound aristocrat Lord Curtain. Unusual for the mystery genre, we see not only howdunnit but also whodunnit, namely Lord Curtain's nephew Archie Moore (Robert Hoffmann) collaborating with Butler Edwards (Klaus Kinski, who was sorely missed in The Ringer). In order to deflect suspicion from themselves, Archie and Edwards leave a card next to the body inscribed with the words "News of the Ringer".

This turns out to be bad idea, because it attracts the attention of the real Ringer Arthur Milton (played once again by René Deltgen) who has retired from his vigilante ways and is now living in Australia. However, the Ringer is not at all pleased that criminals are using his good name and so he travels to London together with his wife Cora Ann (Margot Trooger) and trusty secretary Archibald Finch (Eddi Arent).

The involvement of the Ringer also attracts the attention of Scotland Yard, represented here by the delightfully dim-witted chief of police Sir John (Siegfried Schürenberg in a recurring role) and Inspector James Westby (Heinz Drache, reprising his role from the previous film), who is on loan from the Australian police. Westby knows that the Ringer cannot be responsible for the murder of Lord Curtain, but would still love to apprehend him for the events in the previous movie.

A Game of Masks

The Ringer first makes his presence known by appearing at his own murder trial in absentia, where he disguises himself as one of the judges and quickly dismantles Archie Moore's alibi by exposing what the viewer already knows, namely how Archie managed to kill his uncle without any suspicion falling upon him. Archie flees the scene, as does the Ringer.

Because this is an Edgar Wallace film, more murders happen. First, Lady Curtain is killed and then prime suspect Archie Moore turns up dead as well. By now it is clear that the unseen mastermind, who directs his henchpeople via miniature radios, is targeting the Curtain family, but why? And who will be next?

The mysterious case forces Scotland Yard and the Ringer to team up to protect the remaining members of the Curtain family, particularly Lord Curtain's young heir Charles (Teddy Naumann) and his estranged niece, artist Margie Fielding (Barbara Rütting).

What follows is an exciting cat and mouse game, as the various characters try to outwit each other. In the original movie, the Ringer was the only master of disguise, using make-up and latex masks to impersonate others. However in Again, the Ringer, other characters join in the fun and so the villain impersonates the Ringer at one point, while the Ringer impersonates his secretary Archibald Finch and Inspector Westby impersonates a taxi driver.

In the end, the mastermind behind everything is revealed to be Philip Curtain, Lord Curtain's disgraced brother. Now their truce has ended, the Ringer, Cora Ann and Archibald Finch plan to take off for Australia again, but their plans are foiled by Inspector Westby, who manages to outwit even a master strategist like the Ringer and returns the trio to Scotland Yard, because – as Westby puts it – their help is needed once again. Why does Scotland Yard need the help of the Ringer? I guess we'll find out in the inevitable sequel.

A Sequel That Doesn't Quite Measure Up

Even the weaker Edgar Wallace films always guarantee an evening of good entertainment. But last year's The Ringer was a true delight and one of the best films in the series to date. Alas, the sequel, while still a lot of fun, pales in comparison to the original.

For starters, much of the suspense of the original is gone, now we know who the Ringer is. And the hunt for the mysterious mastermind behind the attacks on the Curtain family is not nearly as exciting, especially since villain Philip Curtain remains unseen until the final scene and even there he is hidden behind the mask of the Ringer. When his face briefly is seen, it belongs to director Alfred Vohrer.

That said, there is a lot to like about the movie. As always with the Wallace movies, the cast is excellent. The returning cast of Eddi Arent, Margot Trooger, Siegfried Schürenberg and Heinz Drache are clearly having a lot of fun and René Deltgen as the Ringer gets a lot more to do this time around than in the original, where he only appears in the final scene. However, Margot Trooger's delightful Cora Ann Milton is woefully underused. Klaus Kinski is always a welcome addition to any Edgar Wallace movie, though Butler Edwards is one of his more restrained performances. Brigitte Horney, who was a big star in the 1930s and 1940s in spite of not getting along with Joseph Goebbels, is wonderful as the mysterious Lady Aston, sister-in-law of the late Lord Curtain. And Barbara Rütting's Margie Fielding is not only a deadringer for op art artist Bridget Riley (even though Margie's art is expressionist), but also one of the more liberated Wallace heroines, though she is reduced to damsel-in-distress in the end.

There are also many great set pieces such as the initial murder, the courtroom scene, a tense moment where an unseen killer is menacing young Charles Curtain in an old windmill and a stunning scene where the villains literally throw young Charles into a tiger cage, only for Charles to befriend the animals. Young actor Teddy Naumann is the son of circus lion tamer Heinz Naumann and is therefore familiar with wild beasts from early childhood on.

But in spite of many good moments, the movie never quite gels. Whereas The Ringer was a great movie, Again, the Ringer is a just collection of great scenes.

An Explosive Beginning

The popularity of the Edgar Wallace series has set off a run on other British thriller authors of the early twentieth century to adapt. And so West Germany has seen adaptations of anything from the novels of Edgar Wallace's son Bryan Edgar to G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries in recent years.

The latest British thriller author unearthed by West German film companies is Sax Rohmer. And so, Constantin Film, producers of the Edgar Wallace and Karl May series, have teamed up with the British company Hallam Productions to bring Rohmer's most famous creation Fu Manchu back to the big screen after twenty-five years.

However, watching Ich, Dr. Fu Man Chu (The Face of Fu Manchu) in the theatre, you might be forgiven for thinking it is the sequel to some other film, for the movie starts with the execution of Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) for his myriad crimes. Fu Manchu lies face up on the executioner's block, the axe comes down and that should be the end of the story.

But since Fu Manchu "dies" five minutes into a ninety-six minute movie, it's obvious that he will be back. And indeed, Fu Manchu's archenemy Colonel Nayland Smith (Nigel Green) has his doubts about Fu Manchu's death from the start. These doubts are confirmed when Danish scientist Professor Merten (Walter Rilla, last seen as an unwitting vessel for that other villainous mastermind Dr. Mabuse in the eponymous series) is kidnapped in a London cemetery, while his chauffeur is strangled to death with a Tibetan prayer scarf, a murder method favoured by Fu Manchu's henchpeople.

Nayland Smith and his friend and associate Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion-Crawford) deduce that Fu Manchu is still alive – the man executed in China was a hypnotised double – and continuing his reign of crime in London.

Flowers of Evil

Professor Merten's assistant Carl Jannsen (Edgar Wallace stalwart Joachim Fuchsberger, which explains why he did not appear in Again, the Ringer) informs Smith and Petrie that the professor was experimenting with an extract of a rare Tibetan flower, the blackhill poppy. Under the right conditions, this extract can be turned into a biological weapon capable of killing millions.

The professor's research has drawn the attention of Fu Manchu, who just happens to have a handy supply of blackhill poppies, but no way of using them. So Fu Manchu sent his henchmen to kidnap the professor and when the professor refuses to cooperate, Fu Manchu kidnaps Merten's daughter Maria (Edgar Wallace regular Karin Dor) as well to use her as leverage against her father.

In order to convince Professor Merten that he is serious, Fu Manchu executes a henchwoman, who failed him, in front of the professor and his daughter, much to the disappointment of his equally villainous daughter Lin Tang (named Fa Lo Suee in the books and played here by Tsai Chin) who'd rather whip the unfortunate woman first. The doomed henchwoman is locked into a tank that slowly fills with water and then dumped into the Thames, a murder method that's identical to the one used in the 1961 Edgar Wallace film Dead Eyes of London.

Now Professor Merten is willing to cooperate. However, he needs the notes of one Professor Gaskel who took part in an expedition to Tibet, notes which are kept in a vault in a museum. So Fu Manchu and his daughter steal the notes and hypnotise the inconvenient Professor Gaskel into committing suicide, while they're at it.

Professor Merten manages to syncretise the deadly poison from the blackhill poppy extract. Fu Manchu promptly stages a demonstration by wiping out the village of Fleetwick plus soldiers from a nearby army camp. Via a radio message, Fu Manchu announces that London will be next, unless the British government obeys him.

While Fu Manchu is plotting, Nayland Smith, Dr. Petrie and Carl Jannsen, who also happens to be the fiancé of the kidnapped Maria Merten, follow his trail, always one step behind. But now, they have finally located Fu Manchu's subterranean hideout under the river Thames and raid it. However, Fu Manchu manages to escape once again with Lin Tang, Professor Merten and Maria.

Things come to head in Fu Manchu's Tibetan fortress, where Fu Manchu is about to receive a shipment of blackhill poppy seeds large enough to bring the entire world to its knees. However, Nayland Smith has planted a bomb among the boxes of poppy seeds. Together with Dr. Petrie and Carl Jannsen, Smith infiltrates the fortress to free the professor and Maria. They escape, as the fortress explodes in the distance.

Alas, Fu Manchu's face appears superimposed over the explosion and he promises that the world shall hear from him again – in the inevitable sequel.

Yet Another Criminal Mastermind

The Face of Fu Manchu is an enjoyable addition to the supervillain mastermind genre, particularly now that the Dr. Mabuse series is taking a much deserved break. Christopher Lee is truly chilly as the titular villain, though it is a pity that the role is played not an by an Asian actor, but by a white man in make-up. Though at least Fu Manchu's sadistic daughter Lin Tang is played by Chinese British actress Tsai Chin.

If there is one problem with The Face of Fu Manchu it is that the villain is so charismatic that he overshadows the good guys. Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie are bland characters, a bargain basement Holmes and Watson (and indeed Dr. Petrie actor Howard Marion-Crawford has played Watson in the 1954 Sherlock Holmes TV series). One wonders what Siegfried Lowitz or Gert Fröbe could have done with the role. Joachim Fuchsberger is okay as Carl Jannsen, but he is playing the standard action hero he has played so many times before. Walter Rilla as Professor Merten once again gets to be the unwitting instrument of a criminal mastermind, but at least he has a lot of fun. Karin Dor as Maria is given little to do except scream.

Some critics have compared The Face of Fu Manchu to the popular James Bond movies, but I believe that the Edgar Wallace and Dr. Mabuse movies are a better comparison and not just because they share many of the same actors. For even though it is a British co-production, The Face of Fu Manchu very much belongs to the wave of West German thrillers that engulfed our cinemas in the wake of the success of the Edgar Wallace series.

However, there is one big difference and that is colour. For while the Edgar Wallace and Mabuse movies are shot in stylish black and white, The Face of Fu Manchu is in glorious, lurid colour, which director Don Sharp uses to create nigh psychedelic visuals.

Perils from the East

Fu Manchu has been criticised for being an outdated yellow peril stereotype and fostering prejudice against Asians. And indeed, complaints by Asian American groups and the Chinese embassy are the reason why Hollywood stopped making Fu Manchu movies in 1940. Nor is there any doubt that Fu Manchu and Lin Tang are stereotypes. In fact, Fu Manchu was the original yellow peril stereotype, spawning a host of imitators from pulp villains Wu Fang and Yen Sin to James Bond opponent Dr. No.

Is always portraying people of a certain race, ethnicity or nationality as villains problematic? Of course, it is. And considering that people of my nationality will inevitably turn out to be villains in any international movie I watch, I can certainly sympathise with the complaints by Asian viewers who no more want to be associated with Fu Manchu and his imitators than I want to be associated with the German villain du jour.

Nonetheless, I find The Face of Fu Manchu much less problematic than The Manchurian Candidate or even Dr. No. For Don Sharp and producer Harry Allan Towers have wisely kept Fu Manchu in the early twentieth century that birthed him and turned the movie into a period piece. As a result, The Face of Fu Manchu is very much fantasy and has no more to do with the modern People's Republic of China than a random western has to do with the contemporary United States.

East meets West?

At this point, it seems very likely that we will see Fu Manchu again on the big screen. Indeed, the villain promised as much in the final moments of the movie. And I for one certainly look forward to watching Fu Manchu and Lin Tang continue their villainous ways. Maybe we could even introduce Fu Manchu to Dr. Mabuse someday. I'm sure the two of them would get along swimmingly, though I'm not sure if the world would survive two criminal masterminds.

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