The Inn on the River

The last 'Krimi'/Edgar Wallace adaptation I watched was "Der Hexer" (a.k.a. "The Magician"), and since that was great, I'm slightly worried the next couple of ones won't live up to its standards. This is already noticeable with "The Inn on the River". Although my expectations were set quite high, based on the plot synopsis of a serial killer in a diving suit terrorizing London and eliminating his/her victims with a harpoon, I found the film rather dull and predictable.

The disappointment mostly comes from the fact our scuba diver isn't a serial killer at all, but merely just the mysterious leader of a smuggling ring. And, with that, we're back in an overly familiar and derivative Edgar Wallace terrain. The regular Krimi-actors star in their usual roles, like Joachim Fuchsberger as the tough Scotland Yard inspector, Eddi Arent as the pointless comic relief, and Klaus Kinski as the sinister guy creeping around the crime scenes and popping up everywhere. Speaking of Klaus, I must say he never looked so good! With his fancy white suits and subtle beard, his character here is the handsomest of all the Krimi-characters he depicted... And there are many! Regarding the climax (as in: the revelation of the culprit), if you pay close attention and think logically, it's fairly simply to guess who's inside the wetsuit.

A serial killer named The Shark is terrorizing London by killing his victims with a speargun and then, dressed in a scruba-diver's wetsuit, using the city's sewer tunnels to make his getaway.

Atmospheric thriller that has a great sea setting with an inn on the harbour and plenty of fog and murky underwater scenes. The villain here is a menacing killer donned in a scuba diving outfit and his tool of the trade is a spear gun - this is reminiscent of the slasher films where the fiend is donned in an outfit and uses a particular weapon. Matching him is a very determined police inspector played by Joachim Fuchsberger. Other undesirables are Klaus Kinski who plays a seedy character and stealing the scene is Elisabeth Flickenschildt as the creepy innkeeper who is low enough to sell her niece to an old man. There's plenty to enjoy here- it's fast-paced, focused and has some tense scenes. The killer's identity came as a surprise.

This was the most successful film of the legendary Edgar Wallace series in Germany which ran from 1959 to 1972."Gasthaus" has an creepy and mysterious atmosphere,filmed in Hamburg along the river Alster, and not on Location in London. Along with a very good story and some nice plot twists, it is a movie i will always like to watch. It has also one of the best casts in the Wallace history. Along with regulars Joachim Fuchsberger,Eddi Aren't Siegfried Schürenberg and the always great Klaus Kinski German movie greats like Elisabeth Flickenschildt,Heinz Engelmann,Brigitte Grothum and Richard Münch ad to the fun.Since the movies are regularly rerun on German TV and the entire series has recently appeared on DVD, be sure to watch this one. Of course to watch the others isn't a bad idea either.

This is another film made in Germany in the sixties, based on a story by Edgar Wallace, and directed by Alfred Vohrer. It's also one of the best films of its type. The plot is typical of Edgar Wallace; it's wacky and features a plethora of strange and unique characters. As the title suggests, the film makes a river (the Thames, naturally) its central setting and this is very important for the plot as it focuses on a murderer with a strange modus operandi. Scotland Yard have been called in to investigate a series of murders happening on the river - witnesses have reported seeing a man in a wetsuit and all of the victims are found to have been killed by a harpoon - thus leading the murderer to be nicknamed 'The Shark'. Inspector Wade is called in to look into the murders and it soon becomes apparent that they may have something to do with a local smuggling operation. His efforts are concentrated on one family in particular that owns a bar and, allegedly, a large fortune also.

Alfred Vohrer stylishly directs the film, and seems to have a fascination with mirrors - as there's plenty of shots featuring characters' reflections. The plot is well worked and the way that the investigation is presented is interesting; although to be honest I would have proffered to have seen more of The Shark. A murderer swimming around a river and shooting people with a harpoon gun is a fascinating idea, but it's not capitalised upon as much as it could have been. The central cast is good and features many familiar Krimi faces - including Joachim Fuchsberger, Eddi Aren't and Klaus Kinski, who has a small but memorable role as a smuggler. There's plenty of good set pieces to keep the interest up, although the focus of the mystery is not on the identity of The Shark but on the reasons for the killing; meaning the final unveiling of the villain at the end is a bit of a moot point; although it does at least come as a surprise. Overall, this is an excellent Krimi that works in spite of a couple of problems and it will certainly be of interest to fans of the genre.

This is one of the better entries in the Edgar Wallace krimi series. There's a heavy emphasis on the fog-bound (supposedly) Soho environment, several sleight-of-hand camera angles (including a great one with Kinski and a mirror), and a creepy denizen-of-the-depths villain known as The Shark, who uses harpoons as his weapons of choice. Eddie Arent contributes his always welcome comic relief as an eccentric nautical wag this time (instead of his usual assistant inspector), and gives a wonderful demonstration of "The Twist" with a local hipster. Of course the inspector falls for a lovely (barely of-age) fraulein. The wacky score contributes greatly.