Le secret de la veuve noire

While I have loved many German films, I have noticed that every German mystery made in the early 60s that I have seen that were dubbed were dreadful. While "Das Geheimnis der Schwarsen Witwe" ("The Secret of the Black Widow") is not horrible, it is very slow and rather dull--and I had to really fight hard to pay attention to it. Considering the wild plot, this is pretty amazing.

The film is a mystery. Folks are dying from the weirdest projectiles in history--large rubber spiders with poison on them! The physics of shooting such objects make this pretty silly, as they all seem to land perfectly despite their irregular shapes. A boring guy is sent to investigate and he has some dull adventures (such as one of the more poorly staged fights I've ever seen). It's all very dark and atmospheric--which is nice. But it never grabs your attention, the dubbing (at times) is really bad and the film seemed 3rd-rate.

THE SECRET OF THE BLACK WIDOW is a rather German krimi in that it isn't based on an Edgar Wallace story for a change, although the similarities are endless. This time around, somebody is killing members of an expedition to Mexico with a poisoned dart, and a dedicated reporter has to catch them. It's an interesting enough premise, but there's not a whole lot of action here, just interminable chit chat with the protagonist who quickly gets on your nerves. Karin Dor and Klaus Kinski are welcome in support, but not quite enough to make this very enjoyable.

THE SECRET OF THE BLACK WIDOW is about the mysterious killer of the title, who uses poison darts with little rubber spiders on them. The police are stumped. It takes an intrepid reporter to get to the bottom of things.

The victims all appear to be from the same expedition team. The reporter must delve deep into the criminal underworld in order to get answers.

BLACK WIDOW is a somewhat suspenseful film filled with strange characters. It has its flaws, including humorous dubbing, but manages to be entertaining.

Klaus Kinski co-stars as a dark, enigmatic figure. He's great in these sort of roles!...