The Mysterious Magician

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.

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.

During the sixties and early seventies dozens of Edgar Wallace films were made in Germany, all of them highly popular. Most of them black and white, most of them with Eddi Aren't and Siegfried Schürenberg two of the unknown geniuses of German cinema. This one is the best of the lot. The sister of a famous retired criminal, Arthur Milton, aka der Hexer, (literally the Magician but I think called the Ringer in the Wallace book) is murdered. Scottland Yard thinks that Milton will return to revenge her. Inspector Higgins (Joachim Fuchsberger in typical role) with the help of Warren (Siefried Löwitz) is trying to get him. There is also a mysterious Australian writer called Wesby (Heinz Drache). Is he the Hexer? One by one of the murderers is killed by the Hexer. Very questionable ethics, of course. But our sympathies are with him. You never see him until the very end, but you see his wife, played by the most elegant of German actresses, Margot Trooger. And a man with a wife like that cannot be really bad. There is wonderful innocent sixties charm all the way through, suspense and humour which make this film a true highlite. Siegfried Schürenberg as Sir John has one of the best running gags in movie history there. "Das hätten Sie doch berücksichtigen müssen." (You should have thought of that). Nice twist ending. The only post war German movie that ranks among the best films ever made.

When the Edgar Wallace horror thrillers from the 1960s were shown repeatedly on German-language television in the 1980s, THE RINGER was certainly the most popular villain in the series. As a man of 1000 masks who prefers to take the law into his own murderous hands, THE RINGER could be anywhere and nowhere.

In London, THE RINGER's sister is murdered by a gang of criminals without knowing her origins. This crime electrifies the London criminal world and Scotland Yard alike. Inspector Higgins (Joachim FUCHSBERGER) and Sir John (Siegfried SCHÜRENBERG) rightly fear that THE RINGER will not leave the murder of his sister unpunished for long. And indeed, THE RINGER's elegant wife (Margot TROOGER) soon turns up in London. Inspector Higgins' fiancée (Sophie HARDY) has every reason to be jealous. After all, she has a hard time keeping her "Higgi" away from the well-proportioned Yard secretary (Ann SAVO). Fortunately, retired Inspector Warren (Siegfried LOWITZ) turns up, the only policeman to ever see the RINGER's true face.

A classic of the popular film series that attracted millions of moviegoers to the cinemas between 1959 and 1973. The cast was big: alongside FUCHSBERGER, Heinz DRACHE also plays one of the main roles. And there is also a reunion with Carl LANGE, Karl JOHN and Eddi ARENT.

Director Alfred VOHRER had the right approach when it came to Wallace: scary moments in dark black and white alternate with humorous interludes. It is not for nothing that this film is still repeated every year on various television programs in German-speaking countries.