(re)search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="3" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="3"></td> <td width="592" height="1%" valign="top"> <p align="center">  <a href="../research/resultdirlinks.shtml?Harald Reinl">Films directed by <b>Harald Reinl</b> on (re)Search my Trash</a> <p>  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="3"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="3" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top" height="99%">  <p>Would he have worked inside the American studio system of the 1930's and 40's, director Harald Reinl would have left hardly an impact on film history, since many of his films are series films, nearly all are genre pieces (with genres as diverse as <i>Heimatfilm</i>, war film, Western, murder mystery, straight horror and even documentary) and on a budgetary level, they would be considered B-movies (compared to Hollywood's A-budgets that is).<p>However, in Germany, where Reinl made most of his films, there is no distinction between As and Bs, films are merely judged by the money they make at the box-office ... and in Germany, for a while in the 1960's, Reinl's films reigned supreme, effortlessly outdoing Hollywood's A-output.<p> </p>  <p>The way Reinl first came into contact with the movie world though was a curious one: In <b><a href="../movies/sturmeuberdemmontblanc(1930).shtml">Stürme über dem Mont Blanc</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/sturmeuberdemmontblanc(1930).shtml">Avalanche</a></b> from 1930, he was the stunt double for Leni Riefenstahl (then a popular actress and still a few years away from <b>Triumph of the Will</b>), soing her skiing scenes. Reinl doubled her again a year later in <b>Der Weisse Rausch</b>/<b>The White Flame</b>. Both films where directed by Arnold Fanck, a pioneer of alpine filmmaking.<p>Essentially, Reinl got these parts because he, born in 1908 in Bad Ischl, in the Austrian Alps, has been skiing for all of his life and has become a quite good skier (he would eventually become a success in downhill and ski jumping competitions, too).<p> <p>In 1932, Reinl started to work behind the camera, being assistant director of another alpine/skiing adventure, <b>Abenteuer im Engadin</b>/<b>Slalom</b>, and then ... nothing. It seems, for the next few years, Reinl has lost all his interest in the film world, instead he became a doctor of the law, but instead of following this line of profession, he founded a skiing school in France ...<p> <p>It isn't until 1939 that Reinl films again, this time he co-directs the documentaries<b> Wilde Wasser </b>and <b>Osterskitour in Tirol</b> with Guzzi Lantzschner, both are produced by Leni Riefenstahl, by now a household name as a filmmaker. It was also Riefenstahl who hired him as assistant director for her mammoth project <b>Tiefland</b>/<b>Lowlands</b>, which wasn't finished until 1944 and which effectively prevented Harald Reinl from being drafted for service in World War 2.<p> <p>It isn't until 1949 though that Harald Reinl directs his first feature film, Bergkristall, an alpine melodrama that is considered as one of the first <i>Heimatfilme</i> (Heimatfilm = a conservative rural melodrama - or comedy - often set in mountainous regions that is very specific to German speaking countries) of the post war era.<p>As the film, and the genre as such, became an unexpected hit, Harald Reinl soon found himself directing more of the same ilk, titles include <b>Nacht am Mont-Blanc</b>/<b>Night to Mont-Blanc</b> (1951), <b>Hinter Klostermauern</b>/<b>The Unholy Intruders</b>, <b> Der Herrgottschnitzer von Ammergau</b> (both 1952), <b> Der Klosterjäger</b>/<b>The Monastery's Hunter</b> (1953), and a trio of films that turned Christine Kaufmann into the most popular German child-star of her time, <b>Rosen-Resli</b>/<b>Rose-Girl Resli</b>, <b>Der Schweigende Engel </b>(both 1954) and <b>Ein Herz schlägt für Erika </b>(1956).<p>On the set of <b>Rosen-Resli</b>, Reinl also met the woman who would later in 1954 become his wife, the then unknown actress Kätherose Derr alias Rose Dor, who would soon become one of West Germany's most  successful actresses under the name of Karin Dor, and who would repeatedly pop up in Reinl's films until their divorce in 1968 <i>[<a href="karindor(11-06).shtml"><b>Karin Dor</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>. <p> </p> <p>In 1955, Reinl did his first film away from the <i>Heimat</i>-genre, <b>Solange Du lebst</b>/<b>As Long as You Live</b>, a heroic drama about the Spanish Civil War, but after that film ran into trouble with the censors, Reinl retreated to the genre he knew best, the <i>Heimatfilm</i>. Films included <b>Die Fischerin vom Bodensee</b>/<b>The Fisher-Girl from Lake Bodensee</b>, <b>Johannisnacht</b> (both 1956), <b>Die Prinzessin von St.Wolfgang</b>, <b>Die Zwillinge vom Zillertal </b>und <b>Almenrausch und Edelweiss </b>(all 1957).</p> <p> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" align="left"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table> <p>With 1958's films <b><a href="../movies/u47(1958).shtml">U47 - Kapitänleutnant Prien</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/u47(1958).shtml">U-47 Lt.Commander Prien</a></b> and <b>Die Grünen Teufel von Monte Cassino</b> though, Reinl tried his hand on the war genre, which was on the rise in Germany following the <b><i>08/15</i></b> series - and Reinl proved to be quite a specialist for action scenes. Suddenly he could prove his cinematic world did not start and end with the mountains he grew up in ...</p> <p> </p>  <p>And since both these films were reasonable successes, this made Reinl a bankable director, and so when <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?constantin film"><i> Constantin Film</i></a> (which produced Reinl's 2 war films) hired the Danish (!) production outfit <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a><i> </i>to produce an adaptation of Edgar Wallace's crime novel <i>Fellowship of the Frog</i> in Germany with an all-German cast, their choice of director fell on Harald Reinl ... and Reinl delivered: He compensated the film's shortcomings (German landscapes and actors all desperately trying to look British - and often failing -, an overconvoluted plot and a relative lack of logic in the script) with an incredible feeling for eerie atmosphere, a directorial overview to make the most of what he's got and an infectuous love for the genre.</p> <p>The outcome, <b><a href="../movies/froschmitdermaske(1959).shtml">Der Frosch mit der Maske</a>/<a href="../movies/froschmitdermaske(1959).shtml">Frøen</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/froschmitdermaske(1959).shtml">Fellowship of the Frog</a></b> (1959), would become a tremendous success, and it's hard to overrate this film's influence on German cinema of the day. Not only did it lay the foundation for <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a>'s <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a>, which became one of the most successful film series in German cinema, with 32 entries until 1972 (and a few more in the 1990's) - and that's only counting the films produced by Rialto, <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a> and a few other outfits also tried their hands on Edgar Wallace - ot also marked the start of the German <i>Krimiwelle</i> (= crime movie wave, <i>Krimi</i> is the German word for crime story, or murder mystery), with most German Krimis that followed picking up - or trying to pick up - the mood of  <b><a href="../movies/froschmitdermaske(1959).shtml">Der Frosch mit der Maske</a></b> and the <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace films</i></b></a> to follow (of which Reinl directed some more).</p> <p> </p> <table align="right" border="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table> <p>An odd result of this was that for a time, an incredible number of German murder mysteries were set in Great Britain (but were <i>not</i> fimed there). And in the long run, the <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a> would be a forerunner of the Italian giallos (= a very Italian take on the whodunnit genre, more often than not featuring a psychopathic serial killer) ...</p> <p> </p>   <p>Eventually, Harald Reinl directed four more <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace films</i></b></a>, <a href="../movies/bandedesschreckens(1960).shtml"><b>Die Bande des Schreckens</b></a>/<a href="../movies/bandedesschreckens(1960).shtml"><b>The Terrible People</b></a> (1960), <b><a href="../movies/faelschervonlondon(1961).shtml">Der Fälscher von London</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/faelschervonlondon(1961).shtml">The Forger of London</a></b> (1961), <b><a href="../movies/zimmer13(1964).shtml">Zimmer 13</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/zimmer13(1964).shtml">Room 13</a></b> (1964) - in which Karin Dor, who has since made herself a name as a Krimi actress, for the first time portrays a killer - and <b><a href="../movies/unheimlichemonch(1965).shtml">Der Unheimliche Mönch</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/unheimlichemonch(1965).shtml">The Sinister Monk</a></b> (1965), all somewhat naive but nonetheless very atmospheric murder mysteries. </p> <p>  <p> Harald Reinl's input into the <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a> did not go unnoticed, so when <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a>, who had just (re)launched the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Dr. Mabuse">Dr. Mabuse</a></i></b> series but had to replace Fritz Lang - who did <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Dr. Mabuse">Mabuse</a> </i></b>films in the 1920's and 30's as well as the first of <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a><i>'</i>s series, <a href="../movies/tausendaugendesdrmabuse(1960).shtml"><b>Die Tausend Augen des Doktor Mabuse</b></a>/<a href="../movies/tausendaugendesdrmabuse(1960).shtml"><b>The Thousand Eyes of Dr.Mabuse</b></a> (1960) -, their choice quite naturally fell on Harald Reinl. </p> <p>Reinl handled the second and third <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Dr. Mabuse">Mabuse</a></i></b>-film, <b><a href="../movies/imstahlnetzdesdrmabuse(1961).shtml">Im Stahlnetz des Dr. Mabuse</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/imstahlnetzdesdrmabuse(1961).shtml">The Return of Dr. Mabuse</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/imstahlnetzdesdrmabuse(1961).shtml">FBI vs Dr. Mabuse</a></b> (1961) and <b><a href="../movies/unsichtbarenkrallendesdrmabuse(1962).shtml">Die Unsichtbaren Krallen des Dr. Mabuse</a></b>/<a href="../movies/unsichtbarenkrallendesdrmabuse(1962).shtml"><b>The Invisible Dr. Mabuse</b></a>/<a href="../movies/unsichtbarenkrallendesdrmabuse(1962).shtml"><b>The Invisible Claws of Dr. Mabuse</b></a><b> </b>(1962), and while both of these films had rather silly scripts, Reinl handled the direction with aplomb and made these films worthwhile beyond the <i>so-bad-it's-good</i>-category. </p> <p>The male lead of both films was American actor Lex Barker <i>[<a href="lexbarker(1-06).shtml"><b>Lex Barker</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>, a former <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Tarzan"> Tarzan</a></i></b> actor who, with his star in the US  fading away, found plenty of work in genre-movies in Europe. Soon enough, Reinl's and Barker's ways would cross again, for something much bigger ... </p> <p>  </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" align="left"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table> <p>Reinl would stay true to the Krimi-genre with the German/Italian/Spanish co-production <b><a href="../movies/teppichdesgrauens(1962).shtml">Der Teppich des Grauens</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/teppichdesgrauens(1962).shtml">The Carpet of Horror</a></b> (1962) and <b><a href="../movies/weissespinne(1963).shtml">Die Weisse Spinne</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/weissespinne(1963).shtml">The White Spider</a></b> (1963), both adaptations of novels by crime writer Louis Weinert-Wilton, and he also made one of the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Bryan Edgar Wallace-series">Bryan Edgar Wallace-films</a></i></b> - a series of movies based on the works of Edgar Wallace's son as a rather blunt attempt<b><i> </i></b>by <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a> to cash in on the <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a>, never one slow to jump a bandwagon -, <b><a href="../movies/wurgervonschlossblackmoor(1963).shtml">Der Würger von Schloss Blackmoor</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/wurgervonschlossblackmoor(1963).shtml">The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle</a></b> (1963), but Reinl's future - rather surprisingly - would be away from <i>Krimis</i> ... </p> <p> </p> <p>In 1962, <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i>Rialto</i></a>, encouraged by their success with the <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a>, which nobody really thought to be successful in the first place, decided to take another gamble: To produce a Western - based on a novel by popular German author Karl May - in Yugoslyvia. Now if a German Western produced in Yugoslavia might sound weird, the cast would make it sound even weirder: The lead character of the Apache chieftain Winnetou was played by Pierre Brice, a handsome Frenchmen who did not look in the least bit Native American <i>[<a href="pierrebrice(5-07).shtml"><b>Pierre Brice</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>, and his German friend Old Shatterhand would be played by the only American in the cast, Lex Barker ... and this was a film supposed to be set in America.</p> <p>Now this is a recipe that spells disaster from square one, yet the outcome, <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Treasure of Silver Lake</a> </b>(1962), was nothing short of great ... and that's in no small part thanks to the film's director, Harald Reinl.</p> <p>Reinl did not make the mistake to try and imitate the Westerns of John Ford or such, nor did he try to make a (then fashionable) psychological Western. <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b> was closer to the American B-Westerns from a decade or two earlier, but Reinl gave the whole film more of an adventure film touch which uses the romantic flair of the scenic Yugoslavian settings - which do not look particularly <i>Old West</i>-like -, to give the film a certain romantic, atmosphere, and thus gave the film a fairy tale-like aura all of its own. The cheesy but catchy soundtrack by Martin Böttcher and of course the actors who are easily distinguishable between good (Pierre Brice, Lex Barker, Karin Dor, Götz George) and bad (Herbert Lom at his villainous best) of course also helped in creating this film's atmosphere of a boys' adventure novel come to life ...</p> <p> </p>  <p><b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Treasure of Silver Lake</a></b> might have been a gamble to produce, but it was an enormous success at the box office, the most successsful German film so far and the most successful film of its year, easily outselling competition from abroad (including American Westerns). To noone's real surprise, <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a> decided to turn the film into a series, one that would be even more successful than their <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a> - and thus, the <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></b></i>-series was born.</p> <p> </p> <p>Soon enough, Harald Reinl was brought back to Yugoslavia to film <b><a href="../movies/winnetou1(1963).shtml">Winnetou I</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/winnetou1(1963).shtml">Apache Gold</a></b> (1963), and with him were of course most of the cast and crew, including of course Pierre Brice and Lex Barker in the leads. <b><a href="../movies/winnetou1(1963).shtml">Winnetou I</a></b> is a prequel to <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b> (in a time before that word even existed), as it details the first encounter of Apache cieftain Winnetou (Pierre Brice) and his white (still German) friend Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker), with the villainy handled by Mario Adorf.</p> <p> </p>   <p>Like <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b>, <b><a href="../movies/winnetou1(1963).shtml">Winnetou I</a></b> was a smashing success, and arguably it was even better than its predecessor, so it was of little surprise that Reinl would direct <b><a href="../movies/winnetou2(1964).shtml">Winnetou II</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/winnetou2(1964).shtml">Last of the Renegades</a></b> - the story of Winnetou's one true love Ribanna (Karin Dor) - the following year, with Anthony Steele as main villain, Klaus Kinski as one of his henchmen, and a very young Terence Hill (as Mario Giorotti) as the man who gets Karin Dor in the end. In 1965, <b><a href="../movies/winnetou3(1965).shtml">Winnetou III</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/winnetou3(1965).shtml">Desperado Trail</a> </b> - in which Winnetou dies - with Rik Battaglia as the baddie would follow.</p> <p> </p> <p>These two films were of the same high quality as <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b> and <b><a href="../movies/winnetou1(1963).shtml">Winnetou I</a></b>, but the series as such - in films not directed by Harald Reinl - would rapidly deteriorate.</p> <p>First came <b><a href="../movies/oldshatterhand(1964).shtml">Old Shatterhand</a></b>, directed by Hollywood veteran Hugo Fregonese. This film, a rather blunt attempt to jump the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></i></b>-bandwagon by Artur Brauner's <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a> by finding a legal loophole and producing a <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></b></i>-film with <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a>'s main stars Pierre Brice and Lex Barker and their beloved sidekick Ralf Wolter, had more in common with Hollywood-Westerns but was a continent away from Reinl's fairytale-approach.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a><i> </i>itself meanwhile tried to side Winnetou with a new white friend, Old Surehand, played by Stewart Granger. The 3 resulting films, <b> Unter Geiern</b>/<b>Among Vultures</b> (1964, by Alfred Vohrer <i>[<a href="alfredvohrer(10-06).shtml"><b>Alfred Vohrer </b>bio - click here</a>]</i>), <b>Der Ölprinz</b>/<b>Rampage at Apache Wells</b> (1965, by Harald Philipp) and <b> Old Surehand</b>/<b>Flaming Frontier</b> (1965, by Alfred Vohrer) did miss Reinl's fairytale approach and feel for the genre though, and the success of these films was steadily decreasing.</p> <p>The last two <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></b></i>-films by <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i>Rialto</i></a>, <b><a href="../movies/winnetouunddashalbblutapanatschi(1966).shtml">Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/winnetouunddashalbblutapanatschi(1966).shtml">Half Breed</a></b>, directed by Harald Philipp and <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></i></b>, <b><a href="../movies/winnetouundseinfreundoldfirehand(1966).shtml">Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand</a></b>, directed by Alfred Vohrer, were even worse (with <b><a href="../movies/winnetouunddashalbblutapanatschi(1966).shtml">Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi</a></b> quite probably being the worst), lacking in both action and atmosphere what had made Harald Reinl's Western so special. Both films were box office failures, and after <b><a href="../movies/winnetouundseinfreundoldfirehand(1966).shtml">Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand</a></b>, <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a> terminated the <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></b></i>-series - which more than anything else proves how much Reinl was responsible for the series success. Why he wasn't called back though to do more entries into the series is left at anybody's buess.</p> <p> </p>  <p>In 1965 though, Harald Reinl did do another Western, for small-time production outfit <i>International-Germania-Film</i>, <b><a href="../movies/letztemohikaner(1965).shtml">Der letzte Mohikaner</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/letztemohikaner(1965).shtml">Last of the Mohicans</a></b>, starring Anthony Steffen as Hawkeye and Dan Martin as Uncas as well as Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor (both fixtures of the <a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle"><b><i>Edgar Wallace series</i></b></a> by the way, with whom Reinl has worked on numerous occasions). The choice of Reinl as director can't have been coincidental, since the film was, more than anything else, a thinly disguised attempt to cash in on the <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></b></i>-series, with Hawkeye and Uncas standing in for Old Shatterhand and Winnetou - a rather ironic choice, since James Fenimore Cooper's tales about Hawkeye were Karl May's main inspiration for writing his Winnetou novels in the first place ...</p> <p>Reinl once again, and on a tighter budget, manages to create his trademark fairytale or young boys' adventure like atmosphere, making this another ok German Western. Only the dream-team of Pierre Brice and Lex Barker is sadly missing and at times, the lack of budget does show ...</p> <p> </p>  <p>In 1966, Artur Brauner's <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a> hired Harald Reinl once again, to do a (for their standards) big budget film, the 2-parted <b>Die Nibelungen</b> (<b>Die Nibelungen 1.Teil - Siegfried von Xanten</b> [1966] and <b>Die Nibelungen 2.Teil - Kriemhild's Rache</b> [1967]), based on the famous German legend from the Dark Ages, which was previously (in 1924) filmed by Fritz Lang. The outcome is a naive, romantisized, simplified and at times downright cheesy duo of films, that of course pales in comparison to Fritz Lang's adaptation, but taken by its own merits they are still well-crafted and enjoyable. Herbert Lom, Karin Dor, Mario Giorotti/Terence Hill and sport star Uwe Beyer as Siegried would star.</p> <p> </p>   <p>In 1967, Harald Reinl made his (arguably) best film, <b><a href="../movies/schlangengrubeunddaspendel(1967).shtml">Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/schlangengrubeunddaspendel(1967).shtml">Castle of the Walking Dead</a></b>, his only excursion into straight-forward horror, starring Reinl regulars Lex Barker and Karin Dor and British import and horror star Christopher Lee. The story, only allegedly based on <i>The Pit and the Pendulum</i> by Edgar Allan Poe, is silly to the hilt, but in the film, Reinl proves an unexpected skill in creating a genuine macabre atmosphere and a directorial inventiveness that nobody ould have expected of him, who in other films only seemed to be a very gifted craftsman. But taken on its own merits, <b><a href="../movies/schlangengrubeunddaspendel(1967).shtml">Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel</a></b> is comparable to the works of other horror greats of its time like Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda or Jess Franco (his 1960's horror-output exclusively).</p> <p>Unfortunately though, the film was not a success, it hardly made a ripple in the flood of horror films which were released back then, and only now it seems to be (slowly) rediscovered by genre- and filmfans from around the globe. Sadly enough, Reinl never did return to the horror genre ...</p> <p> </p>  <p>In 1968 though, Harald Reinl did make a return to the <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetou</a></b></i>-series with the film <b><a href="../movies/winnetouundshatterhandimtaldertoten(1968).shtml">Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/winnetouundshatterhandimtaldertoten(1968).shtml">In the Valley of the Death</a></b>, which was produced by <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?CCC-Filmkunst"><i>CCC-Filmkunst</i></a> in an effort to revive the series that was begun by <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Rialto"><i> Rialto</i></a> ... and thus they hired not only Reinl to give the film the proper look, but also Pierre Brice, Lex Barker, Ralf Wolter, Eddi Arent and Karin Dor, as well as composer Martin Böttcher, to make it seem just like in the good old days ...</p> <p>But unfortunately, the <i>good old days</i> were gone, and were not likely to come back for this film, mainly for two reasons: First off, the script was little more than a rehash of Reinl's classic <i><b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?winnetou">Winnetous</a></b></i>, but as a whole seemed rather muddled compared to the earlier films. And secondly, in the six years since <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b>, much water ahs run down the river: The time saw the emnergence of the Spaghetti Western, and with it, the genre was changed forever, for better or worse, and suddenly a fairytale-like Western/adventure seemed almost anachronistic. Even upon its release, <b><a href="../movies/winnetouundshatterhandimtaldertoten(1968).shtml">Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten</a> </b>seemed like a reminder of a by-gone, maybe better time ... but that said, it couldn't hold up to the classic movies, <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b> and <b><a href="../movies/winnetou1(1963).shtml">Winnetou I</a></b>, <b><a href="../movies/winnetou2(1964).shtml">II</a></b> and  <b><a href="../movies/winnetou3(1965).shtml">III</a></b>, so why watch an inferior imitation ?</p> <p> </p> <p>By and large, Reinl's career was on the decline in the late 1960's: He was hired to direct the last three installments of the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Jerry Cotton">Jerry Cotton</a></i></b>-series, a series about an FBI-agent set in the USA, but - safe for some stock footage - filmed entirely in Germany. And while it worked to turn Yugoslavia into the Old West, the make-believe of the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Jerry Cotton">Jerry Cotton</a></i></b>-films was rather less successful. The three films that Reinl delivered - <b><a href="../movies/dynamitingrunerseide(1968).shtml">Dynamit in Grüner Seide</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/dynamitingrunerseide(1968).shtml">Death and Diamonds</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/dynamitingrunerseide(1968).shtml">Dynamite in Green Silk</a></b> and <b><a href="../movies/todimrotenjaguar(1968).shtml">Tod im roten Jaguar</a> </b>(both 1968), and <b><a href="../movies/todesschusseambroadway(1969).shtml">Todesschüsse am Broadway</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/todesschusseambroadway(1969).shtml">Deadly Shots on Broadway</a></b> (1969) were competently done action films, and might nowadays be good stuff for nostalgia night ... but at the same time they totally fail to impress.</p> <p>  <p>However, it came worse: With the late 1960's, German movie business was rapidly changing, the once so popular <i>Krimis</i> - in which Reinl excelled - failed to pull the audiences they once did, the viewers these days demanded more violence and sleaze, thanks to the Spaghetti Western the Western genre has gotten a lot more violent since Reinl's triumph with <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b> in 1962, then there was the emerging <i>new wave</i> of German filmmakers, Rainer Werner Fassbinder being the most prominent of them, who dismissed <i>Opas Kino</i> (grandpa's cinema), of which Harald Reinl, despite his technical brilliance, was a representative. And then, in 1970 a film came out that would (rather unexpectedly) take the title most successful German film away from <b><a href="../movies/schatzimsilbersee(1962).shtml">Der Schatz im Silbersee</a></b> and would set the tone for the next 10 years or so of German moviemaking. The film's title was <b><a href="../movies/schulmadchenreport(1970).shtml">Der Schulmädchenreport</a></b>/<a href="../movies/schulmadchenreport(1970).shtml"><b>Schoolgirl Report</b></a>, directed by Ernst Hofbauer, and the many sequels and rip-offs that followed that film would put the whole rip-off-industry of the 1960's to shame.<p> </p>   <p>For some reason or another, Reinl did not see his future in either sex or violence, so to keep working, he would find himself directing a few very light (and not particularly good) comedies, like <b>Dr.med.Fabian - Lachen ist die beste Medizin</b>/<b>Dr.Fabian: Laughing is the Best Medicine</b> (1969), <b>Wer zuletzt lacht, lacht am besten</b> (1971), and two entries into the very weak <b><i>Die Lümmel von der ersten Bank</i></b>-series, <b>Pepe, der Paukerschreck</b>/<b>Pepe: His Teacher's Fright</b> (1969, part 3 of the series) and <b>Wir hau'n die Pauker in die Pfanne</b>/<b>We'll take Care of the Teachers</b> (1970, part 5).<p>But at least in 1970, he also found time to direct one project dear to his heart: <b>Erinnerungen an die Zukunft</b>/<b>Chariots of the Gods</b>, a documentary based on the works of Erich von Däniken. Eventually, he would even do a sequel to this film in 1977, <b>Botschaft der Götter</b>/<b>Mysteries of the Gods</b> ... from today's somewhat jaded point of view though, both this films might be nothing more than a laugh riot.<p> <p>By and large though, the 1970's brought for Reinl nothing but a series of increasingly unimportant and unmemorable films, like the last entry into the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Kommissar X">Kommisar X</a></i></b>-series starring Tony Kendall and Brad Harris <i>[<a href="bradharris(9-08).shtml"><b>Brad Harris</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>, <b>Kommissar X jagt die Roten Tiger</b>/<b>FBI Operazione Pakistan</b> (1971), the romances <b>Verliebte Ferien in Tirol</b> (1971) and <b>Sie liebten sich einen Sommer </b>(1972), the Alaska-set Westerns <b>Der Schrei der Schwarzen Wölfe</b>/<b>The Cry of the Black Wolves</b> (1972, based on a Jack London novel, starring Ron Ely) and <b>Die Blutigen Geier von Alaska</b>/<b>Hellhounds of Alaska</b> (1973, starring Doug McClure), the <i>Heimat</i>-films <b>Grün ist die Heide</b>/<b>The Heath is Green</b> (1972), <b>Schloss Hubertus</b>/<b>Hubertus Castle</b> (1973) and <b>Der Jäger von der Fall</b> (1974) and the adventure yarn <b>Ein toter Taucher nimmt kein Geld</b>/<b>Deadly Jaws</b> (1974).<p>None of these films was as successful (or as good) as most of Reinl's 1960's output.<p> <p>In the late 1970's, the German filmindustry seems to have all but forgotten Reinly, safe from above-mentioned Erich von Däniken-<i>documentary</i> and <b>... und die Bibel hat doch recht</b> (1977), another rather far-fetched <i>documentary</i>, about facts of the bible.<p> </p>  <p>1982, Harald Reinl directed his last feature film, but this one is hardly worth mentioning: <b><a href="../movies/imdschungelistderteufellos(1982).shtml">Im Dschungel ist der Teufel los</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/imdschungelistderteufellos(1982).shtml">Crazy Jungle Adventure</a></b>, an adventure comedy designed to highlight then-popular German teen-stars Thomas Ohrner and Jenny Jürgens. It's sad to see a skilled director like Harald Reinl depart the film business with an unimportant film like this, but somehow the film mirrored the state of the German film industry, which at the time the movie was produced was breathing its last ...<p> <p>Harald Reinl's private life met a tragic end in 1986: In their house on Tenerife, Spain, he was stabbed by his third wife (he divorced Karin Dor in 1968), the Czech actress<font size="2"><b> </b>Daniela Maria Delis, who was a chronic alcoholic and at the time of the crime was heavily intoxicated.</font><p> <p><font size="2">In all, Harald Reinl might never have been a visionary like Fritz Lang was, and his films might hardly qualify as art, but his films would invariably be well-crafted pieces of (genre) cinema, with traces of greatness occasionally shining through. And for some years in the early 1960's, his films reigned supreme at the German box office.</font><p>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top" height="1%">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2006"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcreditsart.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>