Jess Franco, the walking death of Eurocrime (Part IV): The Case of Edgar Wallace

  The Thesis: Every Eurocrime-Franchise that Jess Franco touched, had to be buried afterwards. Basically his movies are the sleazy epitaphs of once-well-regarded serials and characters: the last chance to squeeze some money out of an already dead topic.

Jump to each chapter HERE 

After getting into trouble for sending Sumuru where she should not be (at least in the eyes of Elizabeth Rohmer) and being released from his duties to HA Towers, Franco finds himself under the patronage of Arthur Brauner of CCC, who is eager to exploit the specific talents of our spanish friend.

 Obviously part of the deal between HAT and CCC is the EW-Commissioner Sanders franchise (but without using Sanders) and Miranda Soledad, an upcoming star for Jess Franco and a woman he deeply adores.

4. The Case of Commissioner Sanders

Here already, it starts to get complicated, concentrate!:

1.The Franchise:  Rialto-Constantin had had huge success with their Krimis based on Edgar Wallace novels. But Wallace had done adventure books too (King Kong, anyone?). The hero of this series is Commissioner Sanders in HM Colonial Service in West Africa. HAT obtained the rights to do  a series of adventure flicks based on these novels. Maybe he had even thought of letting JF direct one after the series had not been that successful.

Three movies had been produced by HAT with stark declines in audience response:

1963 Death Drums along the River  

1965 Coast of Skeletons  

1967 Five Golden Dragons

2. To some crime-novels of Edgar Wallace Rialto had not been able  to obtain the rights because they were already sold to other movie production companies. Arthur Brauner, head of CCC Studios found out about this and was able to purchase the rights to "The Yellow Snake" and produce a Rialto-Krimi-Clone even starring the "faces" of the Rialto-Krimis and Christopher Lee.

3. Brauner then was able to obtain the rights to the novels and the name of Wallace's son, aptly named Bryan Edgar Wallace and decided to launch his own series based on these works. But they were primarily SF-Novels, not crime novels. Interestingly in the 3rd installment of the series "Phantom of Soho" 1963, already a connection to the Sanders story and the Akasawas (a fictional tribe in Africa) is established. 

Mexican lobby card for "The Nylon Noose"
that was called something with "The Strangler"
everywhere else in the world.

4. EC Dietrich of Monachia/Urania had tried to produce those movies for CCC but his "Strangler of the Castle" was rejected. To add insult, CCC released their next BYW-movie under the title "The Strangler of Blackwood Castle", making it impossible for Monachia to release their Krimi under that name, the title had to be changed to  (The Strangler with) "The Nylon-Noose". The script for both movies was written by Hungarian exilee Ladislas Fodor who also wrote for Rialto, but had the unfinished original script (out of which both films would evolve) still in his desk-drawer: Basically it is about a disabled wealthy man who tries to get world control by manipulating stock markets and medical experiments in the cellar and that he is in a wheelchair but can walk... (which would work for Dr. Mabuse too, but not let us open that can of worms yet...)

5. Rialto pulled the plug from their Edgar Wallace Krimis in 1969 when "Das Gesicht im Dunkeln / Face in the Dark / Double Face" had bombed and overall attendance had dramatically dropped in Germany. Remaining scripts and treaties were put on hold or sold to other companies. 

6. Although "Double Face" had flopped miserably by Rialto standards, the CCC-produced BEW-krimis did not have a larger attendance but stll made their money through ridiculously low production costs. Furthermore, "Bird with the Crystal Plumage" had made good money for Arthur Brauner in 1969 as a BEW-marketed movie, so why not quickly make an EW (and an BEW .... next blog entry....) in 1970?

Ok let's bring this together:

1. African adventure + 3. BYW SF-Krimis + 4. Fodor leftover script from 1963 + 5. Rialto is off, let's chash in the franchise quickly +  6. Make it as cheap as possible + 2. Get permission to use the EW-Name from HAT, who wanted to get rid of JF (Liechtenstein....) 

and give it all to Jess, who always did his own thing and loved the Lemmy Caution movies anyway, (and mind control!!!), then you get:

Case opened: The Devil came from Akasawa

or, talking in franchises:

The EW-Sanders/BEW-Crime&SF/Lemmy Caution/Eurospy/ - hodgepodge.

Given 1-6. there was no other way, the film could be different from what we have here: A rushed, cheap, SF-Krimi-Spy-African Adventure movie. JF even gets in his own Lemmy Caution impersonation complete with being rebuffed by attractive young women who he tries to make out with and black faced zombies. 

From a legal point of view this must count as the 4th "Sanders" movie, as it is obvious that the HAT's franchise had been used.

Besides this, the script just uses motives from an EW-short story: "Keepers of the Stone" in which the Akasawas had a luck-bringing stone that inhabits two ghosts and an inscription by the devil and when it was stolen, bad luck came over the Akasawas. Sanders tries to find the thief, only to find out that the stone is guarded by a ROMAN legion in full AD 9 armour. Eh. ok.  That's all. Sureley no stuff for ANY EW-Movie, let alone a Krimi! (maybe for Raiders of the Philospher's Stone .... hm...;-)

At least now I know why the third spy in this movie is an italian one. I had been wondering.

To make things bad,  JF muse and main actress of this movie Miranda Soledad died in a car crash during post-production, so that no reshoots were possible and JF edited this movie in a traumatized state of mind. 

The Plot: 

All you always get are remarks that the plot is all over the place and basically no-one understands it. So I sat down, took notes to bring you the only written complete summary of this movie in the entire internet/publicised world.

And - as you know - it is completely forbidden to ask any questions as to why, how, where, when this all happens in a JF movie. 

Interestingly I had to stop every 20 minutes or so to write the plot down, these 10-minute breaks enhanced the viewing experience immensely. This is a serial on steroids and should be consumed with caution:

This is gonna be hard, but this is how it goes: 

In Africa a mysterious crystal has been found that can change any metal to gold but will turn men into black-faced zombies if they do not wear protective material. The crystal has been found by assistant (A) of a professor for archeology (PA), in Kenian Akasawa, but (A) gets sick due to radiation. (PA) drives to Medical Doctor (MD) who, with his wife (WoMD) offers help. (PA) drives back but never reaches his house/disappears. 

(A) meanwhile is murdered and Crystal is stolen. Friend of (PA) (FoPA) asks head of Scotland Yard (HoSY) to send a female spy (FS) to investigate and pose as his wife. Unbeknownst to them a male spy from the CIA (MSCIA) investigates too, and even the italian secret service (THE ROMANS... get it?) has a spy (IMS) on the case.

Now they all meet in an african hotel where (FS) is performing as a stripper (natch!). An anonymous killer wants to kill (FoPA), but gets killed himself and (FS) and (FoPA) have to get rid of the corpse, witnessed by (IMS) and (WoMD) who just happens to have sex with (MSCIA) in the hotel room next door.

(FS) then invites (MD) with (WoMD) to one of her performances, to lure them away from their house, so that (FoPA) and (IMS) can search it for the crystal. (IMS) finds it but is locked into the room, exposed to the radiation. 

Meanwhile in London, (HoSY) visits a friend, an aristocrate ex-colonial serviceman, who is wheelchaired (WEXCSMA) and his wonderful wife (WoWEXCSMA).

In Kenya, (FoPA) is killed by a sniper and (MSCIA) is shot in the leg which is broken. (MD) applies plaster cast to the leg but hides the Crystal (!!!!!!) in it. Thus, returning to the UK, the crystal is smuggled by an unsuspicous (MSCIA).

(FS) telling slimy (IMS) to FO!

Oh, look, now everybody's (MD), (WoMD), (FS), (MSCIA), (HoSY), (WEXCSMA) and (WoWEXSMA)  in good old London and the story gets complicated: 

- here all the other summaries simply stop - 

(MSCIA) is (a) obviously immune to the radiation and b) is believed to have the stone. He is offered 500.000 Dollars for the crystal by a mysterious oriental organisation led by Mr. Wong(!!!). Their meeting is surveilled by (WEXCSMA) who orders his wheelchair-pusher (WPoWEXCSMA) to kill Wong and (MSCIA). 

Meanwhile (MD) had gotten the crystal from the plaster and tries to flee to Hongkong but is killed by (WPoWEXCSMA) who now has the Crystal.

Wong is killed and (MSCIA) attacked but he and (FS) can follow (WPoWEXCSMA) back to the manor of (WEXCSMA), where- in the meantime - (PA) has arrived, walking all the way from Kenya as a black-faced zombie. 

Sue(muru) wants the crystal too...you know?

(WoWEXCSMA) unceremoniously kills (PA) who had worked for (WEXCSMA) but did so in good faith and felt betrayed when (MD) had killed (A) on orders of (WEXCSMA) to get the crystal.

(WoMD) arrives at the manor just as battered (WPoWEXCSMA) enters too. She obviously recognizes the killer of her husband (MD) and thus has to be bondaged and gagged by (WoEXCSMA) who actually can walk (making him EXCSMA and his wife WoEXCSMA). 

At that moment (MSCIA) and (FS) are at the door, looking for the assassin (jobless WPoEXCSMA). They are led in by (WoEXCSMA) and first can find nothing but (jWPoEXCSMA) is bleeding and drips of blood betray him. In the shoot-out  (EXCSMA) and (WoEXCSMA) are killed but (jWPoEXCSMA) can flee with the crystal, but that causes the plane (!!) to crash. In the end (MSCIA) is seduced by another woman interested in his stones.

Ah, this got a bit out of hand, sorry. I had a blast watching it and obviously Jess Franco too as this is full of hints at his older movies and given the right state of mind - quite funny. It is not obviuosly so, though. You really have to be a Franco-afficianado to appreciate it, and the average cinema-visitor is not. 

My personal highlight is 
the "striptease" by (FS). This 
photo includes the complete
dance routine with
all her moves!

Furthermore Franco overuses zooms, cuts, camera-movements and blur to make the basically static scenes hip and modern but will induce headaches to the uninaugurated. Camerawise this is a very sloppy  and unattractive movie. But I had a lot of fun, as it is obviously a farce, a mockup of Edgar Wallace Krimis (who by themselves were already humorously self-reflecting).

The movie is not worse than some bad Rialto or CCC (B)EW movies, but it simply oozes a lack of care. I would definitively prefer this one to the last official Rialto-EW-release "Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds", which is better known as the giallo "7 Blood-stained Orchids". 

Some scenes that take place in London (but were shot at the CCC-Studios in Berlin) do feel like the old Edgar Wallace movies. The problematic side is more the African (Spanish) footage which simply is far too careless (obviously Brauner was not there...).

The music is great and seeing "Sir John" Siegfried Schürenberg as a competent HoSY for a change is very, very refreshing (maybe it was the reason why he picked the role - there is a biography that is out of print and only available at ridculous prices - so I don't know). Besides this, the only other recognizable EW-actor is Horst Tappert (as MD), but the role is quite small and he looks as if he did not give a shit. Soon he'd be moving on to become germany's national inspector Derrick for 20 something years on TV. 

Mitigating Circumstances: Well, there was no money in it from the beginning and in the end Miranda Soledad died during post-production. This could have been a better movie, if the enviroment had been right. 

Aggrivating Circumstnaces: Jess Franco bare-chested is something I don't want to see on the big screen.  No wonder (FS) tells him to f..off as he's hitting on her because there is too much grease in his hair. And why are there all the maps of the dalmatian adriatic coast in the manor in Akasava????

Only 300.000 tickets were sold after the release (1971). Reviews were bad. Due to the fact that Constantin did not distribute the film (as it had done with basically all the other BEW and EW movies) it started with a few copies in a few cinemas, so that ratio should be of interest (customers per copies).  

Distributor was the "Cinerama Filmvertriebs GmbH", 

which has nothing to do with the Cinerama film-technology. 

The distributor had been the german branch of 

"The Rank Organisation" but was sold (to Arthur Brauner???) in 1969.

 It is known that Constantin did not put out less than 20 copies. 

So if we assume an amount of 10 copies, the movie must have done

better than other krimis (in a relative way). And if (!) Cinerama belonged

to Brauner, it would have made some money for him....

After the bad turnouts for "Castle of Manchu" and "7 Men of Sumuru", Arthur Brauner can be held responsible for trying to kill off the EW-franchise using JF,. Maybe he wanted to make  it difficult  for Rialto to produce a comeback-EW, because this is clearly and prominently advertised as "A real Edgar Wallace", something that was a trademark of Rialto. 

Try to find "Akasava"! Hint, it was released after
the dismal performance of "Double Face".

But if we look at it as a "Edgar Wallace Sanders" movie, which it was legally (and is, at least half of the time ), things do not look so bad, considering there was a shap decline in movie attendance from 1968 onwards anyway: 

To have some fun (yes, that's what I call fun) I calcultaed to gross turnover and deducted the inflation to find out which movie was the most cost-effective one. The percentage of the ROI is the thing that makes any businessman weep. Let's see: 

The decline between "Fiver Golden Dragons" and "Akasawa" is even less (-14% against the -31% if we only see decline in attendance). So this must have worked quite well given the ridiculously low costs that Franco made movies have.

It would have been the final EW-movie if "The Bird with the crystal Plumage" had not revived the franchise before which led to Rialto (co-) producing three more "original" EW-Krimis. It was however the final Sanders picture, but that one had been dead anyway. So obviously, he was not able to kill the franchise off, because three more EW and three more BEW movies were released thereafter. 

Verdict: Acquittal due to not succeeding in the deed

Parole Violation: "Viaje a Bangkok, ataúd incluido" (1985) , "Sangre en mis zapatos",  "Voces de muerte" (1983) 

Well, what can I say about these movies. The Edgar Wallace franchise was not based on specific characters like Lemmy Caution or Fu Manchu, so it is very hard to find any connection to the works of the english author 

a) if there is no title of a book or short-story used 

b) if there are no characters like commissioner Sanders or Inspector Higgins used 

c) if there is no plot / device used that can be found in EWs works. 

Yep, there it is: "Based 
on an Edgar Wallace 
Novel"

"Viaje a Bangkok" is a mix between "Cartes sur Table" and "Coffin from Hongkong" (a german eurospy-movie produced by EC Dietrich and based on a book by JH Chase). Aside from one character being called "Sanders" there is no connection to EW, as the character is not the Sanders we know. However delightful this movie is, it's not part of any EW-franchise.

"Sange en mis zapatos" again is basically a eurospy-clone and no reference to EW can be found other than that in the press-release for this film there is a line in there that it was based on '"Sanders of the River". And you know this blog is based on "Lord of the Rings". I wrote it here, so it must be true.

"Voces de muerte" was never released and no-one has ever seen a print of this film. Again someone said that he heard of somebody who has seen a piece of paper where  it was written that there is a rumour that it was based on the EW-story "Case of the frightened Lady". But what do we know? 

The long lost John Carpenter
Opus Magnum "Day-Killer"
aka "5 Donne...".
I was traumatized watching this
while expecting an elegant,
sophisticated movie.

There  used to be a german release for "5 Donne per L'Assassino" (of all films!!!) where it was officially declared as a John Carpenter movie. Sure. If somebody has written it down it must be true....

Until 1986 (Spain entering EU), the spanish copyright law from 1898 was legal which protected written publication for 80 years after the date of publication. EW had his first short-story published in 1899 and his first crime novel in 1905 (Four just men). So basically Jess Franco was able (from 1979 to 1986) to put the "Edgar Wallace" name on everything inside of Spain, as long as he could make a connection to these very early works.... I think that's what happened here. The same could be applied to the Fu Manchu stuff, but not on Sumuru (as she came into life in the 1940s). After 1986, EU and international law was enforced with the 70years after author's death rule (=2003 in EW's case - now lex Disney with 94 years but not appliable to deaths before 1978).

After the failed assassination, Arthur Brauner then let Jess Franco try his hand on a remake of a classic BEW-Movie. Let's see how this went:

Jess Franco vs. Bryan Edgar Wallace

Sources:

A perfect book. 900 pages, big format, all color 
Includes 90% of all Krimis and the pre-war
Edgar Wallace Movies too.

The benchmark 400 pages of in-depth knowledge.
Joachim Kamp went into the archives 
and had been given the documents of
many scriptwriters of the series. 
Prime research example. Besides
Rialto, though, a bit thin.

This too, a benchmark. 600 pages on Jess Franco, and this
is only part 1. Big format, beautifully researched.
Top writing and very entertaining.