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Der Schwarze Abt
The Black Abbott
West Germany 1963
produced by Preben Philipsen, Horst Wendlandt, Erwin Gitt (executive) for Rialto
directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb
starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Grit Boettcher, Dieter Borsche, Charles Regnier, Eva Ingeborg Scholz, Werner Peters, Alice Treff, Harry Wüstenhagen, Friedrich Schoenfelder, Eddi Arent, Klaus Kinski, Kurd Pieritz
screenplay by Johannes Kai, Franz Josef Gottlieb, based on the novel by Edgar Wallace, music by Martin Böttcher
Rialto's Edgar Wallace cycle, Edgar Wallace made in Germany
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Lord Chelford (Dieter Borsche) is possessed by the idea that there's a
treasure hidden and Chelford Manor - and it seems it's only thanks to his
custodian Alford that he doesn't dig up the whole place. Lord Chelford is
also madly in love with Leslie Gine (Grit Boettcher), whom he considers
his fiancée, even if she has never officially accepted his proposal,
because you know, she's secretly in love with Alford of course. Now
Leslie's brother Arthur (Harry Wüsenhagen) is a crooked lawyer who has
lost all of his money gambling and has embezzled some of Lord Chelford's
money. His right hand man Gilder (Werner Peters) knows that ... because
he's Arthur's bookie, and has made quite a fortune from his employer's bad
luck. And now he tries to blackmail Arthur in giving him Leslie's hand in
marriage, otherwise he'll see to it that he's thrown in the slammer.
Something Alford tries to prevent at any cost, because he's also in love
with Leslie. There's also Chelford's ex employee Mary Wenner (Eva Ingeborg
Scholz), who claims she knows where the Chelford treasure is, and now
tries to get Gilder to get her in favour with Chelford again and get
Leslie out of the way so she can marry Chelford - in exchange for the
treasure. Now on top of all this, there's a killer on the prowl, The
Black Abbott, who starts killing people involved with the story, and
soon enough everything collapses like a house of cards, and when two
Scotland Yard inspectors (Charles Regnier, Eddi Arent) arrive on the
scene, they only succeed in creating an even bigger mix-up, until in the
very end, Chelford goes totally bonkers and dies in a collapsing tunnel
looking for the treasure, Alford is (to nobody's real surprise) revealed
to be the good guy of the piece, and of course he gets the girl in the
end. Klaus Kinski plays Lord Chelford's butler, but is little more than
a creepy red herring. Even for an Edgar Wallace adaptation,
this movie has a very convoluted and confusing plot, with a few too many
characters having a few too many hidden motives, while the ending's
(almost as per usual) pulled out of the hat rather than grounded in the
narrative. But really, if you enjoy German Edgar Wallace movies (as do I),
especially from a nostalgic perspective, you've pretty much come and
expect this and leave the part of the brain at the door anyways that
notices leaps of reason, and then this film becomes a likeable little romp
that moves fast, is full of the usual eccentricities, and is competently
enough crafted to entertain in the series' typical, even for the early
1960s slightly old-fashioned way.
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