The Indian Scarf

Last updated

The Indian Scarf
Das Indische Tuch.gif
Cover of Illustrierte Film-Bühne
Directed by Alfred Vohrer
Written by Harald G. Petersson
George Hurdalek
based on a play by Edgar Wallace
Produced by Horst Wendlandt
Starring Heinz Drache
Cinematography Karl Löb
Edited by Hermann Haller
Music by Peter Thomas
Production
company
Rialto Film Preben Philipsen GmbH & Co. KG
Distributed by Constantin Film
Release date
  • 13 September 1963 (1963-09-13)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman

The Indian Scarf (German : Das indische Tuch) is a 1963 West German crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer. [1] It was part of a very successful series of German films based on the writings of Edgar Wallace and adapted from the 1931 play The Case of the Frightened Lady.

Contents

Plot

After the rich Lord Lebanon has been strangled, a group of different characters assembles at Mark's Priory, his remote manor in the north of Scotland, to attend the reading of his will. However, as lawyer Frank Tanner explains—in reading a "second-to-last-will"—to the potential heirs, they will first have to stay together at the manor for six days and six nights. Thinking that Lebanon has died of heart failure they all agree. It turns out to be a dangerous requirement as the manor is cut off from the outside world by a storm and one by one the visitors are murdered—strangled with an Indian scarf. In the end, of all the guests, family and staff only Tanner, Isla Harris and Bonwit the butler survive. The last will is read and it is revealed that Lord Lebanon has in fact left all his money to the man he considered to be the greatest of the century: Edgar Wallace. [2] [3]

Cast

Production

Das indische Tuch was part of a series of films based on works by Edgar Wallace made in the late 1950s and 1960s by producer Horst Wendlandt for Rialto Film. The script to the film was adapted first by Georg Hurdalek and then Harald G. Petersson from an original treatment by Egon Eis, written under the pen name of Trygve Larsen, that had not found the approval of the producer. [4] At this stage, the film was to be called Der Unheimliche. [4] The scripts were derived from the Edgar Wallace play The Frightened Lady. [2] There were two previous film versions based on it, both British and called The Frightened Lady, made in 1932 and 1940. Of the three, Vohrer's version was the one that deviated most from the original play. [3] The story becomes a case of Ten Little Indians , as the protagonists are killed off one by one. [3] Unusually for a film of the series, even leading man Heinz Drache's character comes under suspicion. [3]

Heinz Drache was cast for this film after having starred as the hero of a very successful TV production of Francis Durbridge's The Scarf ( Das Halstuch  [ de ]), which involved a similar modus operandi and was first aired in 1962. Several other actors, like Kinski, Arent and Schürenberg, had by that time become regulars in the film series. [4]

The film was shot between 8 July and 13 August 1963 entirely in the Spandau Studios in West Berlin. There were no exterior shots at all. [4] Wilhelm Vorwerk, who appears as Lord Lebanon, was not an actor, but rather the production designer at the Spandau studios. Eva Ebner was Vohrer's assistant. [4] A final in-joke that was cut from more recent TV versions but restored for the DVD is a telephone call purporting to be from an "Inspector Fuchsberger", a reference to actor Joachim Fuchsberger, another leading man from the series of Wallace films made by Rialto. [4]

The FSK gave the film a rating of 16 years and up and deemed it not appropriate for screenings on public holidays. It was released on 13 September 1963. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Peter Thomas was a German composer and arranger with an active career of more than 50 years. He was known for his TV and film soundtracks such as Raumpatrouille, the Edgar Wallace movies film series, and the Jerry Cotton film series.

Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) was a British novelist and playwright and screenwriter whose works have been adapted for the screen on many occasions.

<i>Circus of Fear</i> 1966 film by Werner Jacobs, John Llewellyn Moxey

Circus of Fear, also Scotland Yard auf heißer Spur, also Circus of Terror) is a 1966 Anglo-German international co-production thriller film starring Christopher Lee, Suzy Kendall, Leo Genn and Cecil Parker. The U.S. title was Psycho-Circus. It was based on the novel Again the Three Just Men by Edgar Wallace (1928).

<i>The Avenger</i> (1960 film) 1960 film

The Avenger is a 1960 West German crime film directed by Karl Anton and starring Heinz Drache, Ingrid van Bergen and Ina Duscha. It is based on the 1926 novel The Avenger by Edgar Wallace. It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. The film's sets were designed by the art director Willi Herrmann.

<i>The Dead Eyes of London</i> 1961 film

The Dead Eyes of London is a 1961 West German black and white crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Baal and Dieter Borsche.

<i>The Strange Countess</i> 1961 film

The Strange Countess is a 1961 West German crime film directed by Josef von Báky and starring Lil Dagover, Joachim Fuchsberger and Marianne Hoppe. It is based on Edgar Wallace's 1925 novel of the same title, and is part of a long-running series of Wallace adaptations produced by Rialto Film.

<i>The Door with Seven Locks</i> (1962 film) 1962 British film by Alfred Vohrer

The Door with Seven Locks is a 1962 German-language crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Heinz Drache. It is an adaptation of the 1926 Edgar Wallace novel of the same name.

<i>The Inn on the River</i> 1962 film

The Inn on the River is a 1962 West German crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Eddi Arent and Klaus Kinski. It is part of a series of films based on the novels of Edgar Wallace, produced in West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s.

<i>The Squeaker</i> (1963 film) 1963 film

The Squeaker is a 1963 West German-French crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Heinz Drache. It was part of a very successful series of German films based on the writings of Edgar Wallace and adapted from the 1927 novel of the same name.

<i>The Black Abbot</i> (1963 film) 1963 film

The Black Abbot is a 1963 West German mystery film directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb and starring Joachim Fuchsberger. Adapted from the 1926 novel of the same name, it was part of a very successful series of German films based on the writings of Edgar Wallace.

<i>The Curse of the Hidden Vault</i> 1964 film

The Curse of the Hidden Vault is a 1964 black and white West German crime film directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb and starring Harald Leipnitz, Eddi Arent, Siegfried Schürenberg and Klaus Kinski. It is based on the 1908 novel Angel Esquire by Edgar Wallace, previously made into a British silent film.

<i>Neues vom Hexer</i> 1965 film

Neues vom Hexer, aka Again the Ringer, is a 1965 West German black-and-white crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Heinz Drache. It is part of a series of German screen adaptations of Edgar Wallace's thriller novels, and the direct sequel of the 1964 film Der Hexer. It was also known as The Ringer Returns.

<i>Creature with the Blue Hand</i> 1967 film

Creature with the Blue Hand is a West German horror film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Harald Leipnitz, Klaus Kinski and Ilse Steppat. It is based on the 1925 novel The Blue Hand by Edgar Wallace and was part of a long-running series of adaptations made by Rialto Film. The film's plot involves the police tracking a killer known as the Blue Hand. It was shot at the Spandau Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Walter Kutz and Wilhelm Vorwerg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinz Drache</span> German actor

Heinz Drache was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1953 and 2002. He was born in Essen, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany of lung cancer.

<i>The Frightened Lady</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

The Frightened Lady is a 1932 British thriller film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Emlyn Williams, Cathleen Nesbitt, Norman McKinnel and Belle Chrystall. It was adapted by Bryan Edgar Wallace from his father Edgar Wallace's 1931 play The Case of the Frightened Lady, which was adapted again later for a 1940 film.

Der Hexer is a 1964 West German black and white mystery film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Joachim Fuchsberger. It was part of a very successful series of German films based on the writings of Edgar Wallace and adapted from the 1925 novel titled The Ringer. In 1965, a sequel Neues vom Hexer was released.

<i>The Hunchback of Soho</i> 1966 film

The Hunchback of Soho is a 1966 West German crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Günther Stoll, Pinkas Braun and Monika Peitsch.

<i>The Hound of Blackwood Castle</i> 1968 film

The Hound of Blackwood Castle is a 1968 West German crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Heinz Drache, Karin Baal and Horst Tappert. Based on a story by Edgar Wallace, it also draws inspiration from Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

<i>Room 13</i> (1964 film) 1964 film

Room 13 is a 1964 thriller film directed by Harald Reinl and starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor and Richard Häussler. It was made as a co-production between West Germany, France and Denmark, based on the 1924 novel Room 13 by Edgar Wallace. It was part of a long-running German series of Wallace adaptations made by Rialto Film.

<i>The Monk with the Whip</i> 1967 film

The Monk with the Whip is a 1967 West German mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Uschi Glas and Grit Boettcher. It is inspired by the 1926 novel The Black Abbot and subsequent 1927 play The Terror by Edgar Wallace which also served as the basis for the 1965 film The Sinister Monk. It was made as part of a long-running series of film adaptations of his work produced by Rialto Film.

References

  1. "New York Times: The Indian Scarf". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2011. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Filmportal: Das indische Tuch" . Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Pauer, Florian (1982). Die Egar Wallace-Filme (German). Goldmann. pp. 101–103. ISBN   3-442-10216-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kramp, Joachim (2001). Hallo—Hier spricht Edgar Wallace! (German). Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. pp. 110–115. ISBN   3-89602-368-3.