The Mysterious Magician

Who is the Witch (a male individual is also called a Witch right?)? Well maybe you can tell ... but then again, the movie is quite mean and I'd say it isn't that easy to figure out ... but the end reveal is quite crazy too. And then you get another twist thrown in for good measure.

But let's go back to the beginning: With some known players from other Edgar Wallace adaptations. I remember loving these movies when I was a kid ... I did like crime movies ... I actually still do. So while this has somewhat aged ... it still is fine entertainment to say the least ... there are many more of movies like this ... but this was one of the movies that even nowadays fans will remember ... because of the twists and turns and because a comedian made a somewhat "remake" of it - Wixxer it is called and it is more like a spoof ... just in case you want to check that (and its sequel) out.

When Gwenda Milton is murdered in London, her brother returns from Australia to find the killers. His nickname is "Hexer" ("wizard") because he wears many masks and can disappear without a trace. The police have a love/hate relationship with him, because he takes justice into his own hands, but justice it undeniably is. The success of this movie is owed to an excellent marketing strategy. The production company locked the final pages of the screenplay away, so that even the actors didn't know before the day of shooting who would be the Hexer in disguise. Neither will I tell you now. The whole movie builds up tension until this final revelation.

Of course there are the popular actors of the Edgar Wallace series (Fuchsberger, Drache, Lowitz, Aren't, Schürenberg), plus an excellent Margot Trooger - calm, yet charming -, but it's the story in the first place which makes "Der Hexer" memorable.

The sister of a famous, uncaught criminal named The Hexer is murdered. Inspector Higgins believes that The Hexer will surface to take revenge on the killers, and sets a trap to finally capture him. However, soon bodies start piling up...

An odd mixture of twisty turny cat and mouse game and tongue in cheek humour, which feature In many Wallace Krimis. It can be hard to keep up, and there's times you're scratching your head, but it has light touch, has some good gadgets, a very clever villain, and some good underwater sequences. Everything leads to the climax in neat fashion, and before the unraveling of the villain there's a William Castle-style gimmick - asking the viewers who they think is the ringer.

It's obvious that this movie was supposed to be the German answer to the popular James Bond franchise. In the '60's, actually quite an handful of these sort of spy/detective movies got made but most of them are forgotten now days, including the British and American ones, while in fact they actually were some quite amusing movies to watch. And this movie is also definitely an enjoyable one but not really the best to be based off Edgar Wallace's work.

It remains a bit weird to see all of these German movies, based on Edgar Wallace his novels, which are set in London and features some all-British characters, with all-British names. But no, this all seems to matter very little when watching this movie, since it's quite hard to take it all very seriously. It's a movie made purely for entertainment and it's being a quite silly one with its story and somewhat quirky characters (just like a James Bond movie).

But the series of movies based on the Edgar Wallace novels definitely have some better movies to offer than this one. This isn't really the most exciting watch and at times I wished more would be happening in the story. It all remains quite simplistic, which does certainly go at the expense of its entertainment value at times.

Other than that, it still remains a well made movie. It obviously didn't cost an awful lot of money to make but they did a more than decent job with its resources. It's actually also being a quite creative movie to watch at times, with it directing and cinematography. Perhaps you could say that the movie also benefits from the fact that it's shot in black & white, since somehow I think the movie would had been a far more silly one to watch had it been done in full color.

Not the greatest but still a enjoyable enough, short watch.

6/10

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The first series of replays of the German Edgar Wallace i did see as a child and i have loved it ever since (at least the top items, where this one and "Der Zinker" are top notch. Very much German style British made, this is always still suspense, thrill, charming ladies and light entertainment perfectly combined. And we all know things will end well as they must in 60s movies in Germany of this Wirtschaftswunder era. It is reliably replayed in Germany in series by the multiple stations, where the reels seem to be rotate around, don't miss it if you can get it (forgo the latter, especially the colored ones. What was won in color was more then lost in suspense and coolness).