The Curse of the Yellow Snake

THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE

"Vanity takes no more obnoxious form than the everlasting desire for approval."

This quote, with all its inherent irony, written by English author Edgar Wallace, who died in 1932, is easily applied to a certain current U. S. President who is very much in the news, ad nauseum. Perhaps this example of artistic insight is one reason why Edgar Wallace's books and writings continue to be popular in some quarters today.

Edgar Wallace's plethora of writings from SANDERS OF THE RIVER to KING KONG (which he did not live to finish) have long provided a rich assortment of source material for a variety of international productions, some excellent, some not. In the 1960s, a cycle of crime films called krimis and all based on Wallace's works, (or that of his son) were produced in West Germany of all places! Released beginning in 1963, the films were immensely popular with the West Germans, despite the occasional dud. I dare say, THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE is one of the few duds among the Wallace-sourced films.

THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE is the first in a series of six films that have been recently impeccably restored and released on Blu-ray by the German production company CCC. I recently discovered these six films under their collective disc-release title TERROR IN THE FOG: THE WALLACE KRIMI AT CCC. Of the six featured films surely one or two might be worth watching, I thought. Having many times experienced the joy of discovery when excavating a hitherto unknown or lost film and finding it to be worth the investment of my time, I had similar hopes for the first krimi film in the set. I plunged in.

I approached THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE with some trepidation. After all, I'd never heard of it until now. My low expectations were not far off the mark. Clearly made inexpensively, ($3,000) THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE did nothing to suggest greater value. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't as good as I'd hoped. Perhaps this is just as well, I thought, as the remaining films could only get better - couldn't they? Fortunately, in my view, the quality of the remaining five films, ranged from mediocre to excellent. I will review the remaining five films separately. Let's stick with THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE in this review.

The plot: a cult of Asians believe that an idol of a snake (The Golden Reptile) will help them achieve their sinister goal of world domination. (Yawn.) That is about all you need to know. However, the most striking aspect of this film is the incredible likeness between the star, a German actor named Joachim Fuchsberger, and the current Prime Minister of Canada! I guess this explains why the Canadian PM never previously ran for Office: prior to the recent Canadian election and his selection as Prime Minister, he was busy starring in low-grade German thrillers! No, not really, but the resemblance between the two men truly is striking, in my view.

One disturbing aspect of THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE is the apparent actual killing of a snake, (presumably a yellow one, the film is in glorious Black & White.) When you consider that no less a contemporary filmmaker than Quentin Tarantino, who is known for the extreme violence in his films, has gone on record to say the actual killing of any living creature for a film, from man to insect, is inherently wrong, and something he would never do, then I'm inclined to agree with Tarantino. Killing an actual living creature for the sake of a film is a no-no. Even snakes.

These two observations may offer a clue that THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE is not a particularly compelling film, given how I became distracted by such above-mentioned side issues instead of being drawn into the story I was watching. What remains fun, however, is measuring the rich English heritage of the genteel Agatha Christie-like murder mystery genre against the very evident Teutonic sense of style (think operatic grandeur) a feature that makes this cycle of films, truly unique.

For example, hearing the German actors speaking their mother tongue against some very iconic English backgrounds, such as the Tower of London or Tower Bridge, (often mistakenly called London Bridge) can be a wee bit jarring. On the other hand, setting a German-speaking cast in so easily identifiable jolly old England, with the resultant dichotomy that suggests, gives a real twist to the crime film genre, and may just for a fleeting moment, make you wonder who really won the Second World War! The films are available in English dubbed versions, but I prefer the original, as the films were made for German audiences with German sensibilities.

I didn't know what to expect from THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE and although I wasn't overwhelmed, the Wallace connection and the hope that the other films in the set would be better, encouraged me to see what else was in the offing. Stay tuned! Meantime, watch THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE and decide for yourself.

A father and son in Hong Kong talk. The younger man wants to fight, but the elder insists his duty is to go to London and marry one of two girls which his cousin has been raising. When the son arrives in London, he -- Joachim Fuchsberger -- settles on Brigitte Grothum; their marriage will assure that her uncle, Werner Peters, will be a wealthy man, so he urges her to accept. Fuchsberger and she, however, go through a more normal albeit high-speed courtship.

However, Chinese guys keep following Fuchsberger around and trying to kill him. His half-brother, half-Chinese Pinkas Braun, is searching for the "yellow snake" Fuchsberger has, which will enable him, with his army of hundreds of thousands of Chinese, to conquer the world. He also wishes to marry Miss Grothum.

It's one of many German productions based on Edgar Wallace story, with as much "Yellow Peril" content as a Fu Manchu flick. Lots of action, and lots of good humor, particularly a comic turn by Eddi Arent as a memory-addled collector of Chinese antiquities. It's more than 90 minutes long, but goes by quickly.

This is another Edgar Wallace based krimi produced by the Germans in the early 1960's. While I am a fan of this series this movie is probably the worst of the lot that I have seen up to this point.This is even worse than The Indian Scarf(see my review of that one).This should have been titled "Curse Of The Boring Movie".

The plot deals with a fanatical cult of Chinese bent on world domination.They believe that a yellow snake charm has the "power" to give the possessor the ability to win any fight they start according to Chinese legend.Of course the intrepid white folks are shaking in their boots at the thought of world peace being threatened. But the cult looks like it only had about 100 members so there are some heavy logistics to work out on the ability to wreck world peace.

The usual stable of German actors are in this film. As usual the comic relief is played by Eddie Arent and you wish he would have gotten a dagger in the back.The comic touches in this series are heavy handed and irritating.The hero isn't really a guy you would like.In fact I didn't care about any of the characters.

There is a nice use of fog and dank atmosphere.But it doesn't help much. The source material may have been weak for this one. Either way, skip this cursed movie.

I remember this film well, though I saw it a long time ago. I was interested in seeing the film because in Leonard Maltin's film book he said it was something like 3 out of 4 stars, maybe even 3.5.

Well after seeing the film, I wonder if Mr. Maltin actually sees the films that he gives recommendations for. He said it was atmospheric, and the beginning of the film does start out promisingly.

However, that is that. The film really plods boringly along. First you have a European actor playing a Chinese villain in one of the most horrible makeup jobs you could ever see. It is absolutely revolting.

They try to add humor to the film. Perhaps something was lost in the English translation. Watching it was not fun, and did not elicit any laughter. It was in fact embarrassing to look at.

Some of the other Edgar Wallace films are not to bad. But do yourself a favor, and make sure you skip this one. Shame on you Leonard Maltin.