Le gorille de Soho

Alfred Vohrer pretty much made the same movie twice in barely 7 years. Both "The Dead Eyes of London" (1961) and "The Gorilla Gang" (1968) are based one on and the same Edgar Wallace novel in which several wealthy foreigners in London are found mysteriously drowned in the Thames, and all victims coincidentally have the same charity cause included in their testaments.

And yet, despite the same director, the same source material, and barely a handful of years in between the two of them, they are two utterly different movies. "The Dead Eyes of London" got released during the heyday of the German Krimi, and thus one of the best of the entire Edgar Wallace series. It's grim and atmospheric, without too many convoluted sub plots or redundant comic relief footage. "The Gorilla Gang" is one of the last titles in the series, released when the popularity of the Krimi had already collapsed. It's in color, containing far too many characters and confusing twists, and the comedy aspects provided by Hubert Von Meyerinck and Uwe Friedrichsen are painfully misplaced. Horst Tappert, a fallen hero from German television and cinema, is more than decent as the stubborn Scotland Yard inspector, but he's not as iconic as Joachim Fuchsberger or Heinz Drache.

The most remarkable thing about "The Gorilla Gang" is - like the title implies - that the murders and kidnappings are committed by a guy in a gorilla suit. Not an obvious choice for a criminal organization that wants to keep a low profile. At a certain point in the film gets hinted that the killer wears a gorilla disguise because his/her face is disfigured. Well, hiding it behind a gorilla mask doesn't exactly make it more inconspicuous.

"Der Gorilla von Soho" is very similar to the earlier "Die toten Augen von London" by the same producer and director, yet not half as good. A killer in a gorilla costume sneaks through the streets of London, because nobody notices a 6 ft gorilla in a big city, therefore it seems the perfect disguise... ANYWAY, very rich people are drowned after they made the mistake of writing a testament that donates all their money to the so-called welfare organization of Mr.Parker. The police assumes this is not a coincidence and starts investigating against Mr.Parker, but proof is hard to find. "Der Gorilla von Soho" has a lot of action scenes and at least isn't boring, but involuntarily funny. It has not much suspense and tries some cheap jokes and sleazy nudity instead. In the cast, Albert Lieven is an excellent villain, young Uwe Friedrichsen is overacting a bit as the enthusiastic, but inexperienced police sergeant, while Herbert Fux in his only appearance in the Wallace series plays a gangster perfectly well.

This 1968 color German-made feature was one of the last of the Edgar Wallace series, and like the later films it introduced horror and sex elements. The earlier black-and-white films were staples on american UHF TV in the 60s and 70s, and most are fascinating exercises in style and suspense. The later color films wound up being re-titled and shown on the bottom half of double bills at drive-ins in the early 70s, where I originally saw this one, where it was released by Sam Sherman's Independent-International Pictures. It's grotesque, sleazy, and over-the-top, and introduces too many characters, but seeing it again after 25 years I still find it a worthwhile experience and a good way to waste 90 minutes. No one makes 'em like the Germans do!

The full reasons behind the similarity of these two stories are given in German Wikipedia, but not in the English version, so I'll give a quick summary here for non-German speakers.

In mid-May 1968 a script for "Der Gorilla von Soho" had been written and the film was given the go-ahead, shooting to begin in June. The finished product was to be handed over in September.

However, for reasons unknown (perhaps problems with permission to film in Berlin Zoo or costs) that script was abandoned. With virtually no time to write a new one from scratch before filming was due to start, the producer and director decided to grab an old one - Dead Eyes of London - and essentially remake it, making changes to fit in with the Gorilla title.