Klaus Kinski Movies
Though he invariably looked sickly and tubercular, Polish/German actor Klaus Kinski rose to fame in roles calling for near-manic aggressiveness. His war career consisted primarily of a year and a half in a British POW camp. After this experience, Kinski took to the theater, where he rapidly built a reputation for on-stage brilliance and off-stage emotional instability. He made his first German film, Morituri, in 1948; three years later, he made his English-language movie debut with a fleeting bit in Decision Before Dawn (1951). Villainy was Kinski's film stock in trade during the 1950s and '60s, with several appearances in Germany's Edgar Wallace second-feature series and in such Italian spaghetti Westerns as For a Few Dollars More (1965). International stardom came Kinski's way via his off-the-beam appearances in the films of director Werner Herzog, notably Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1973), Woyzeck (1978), Nosferatu (1979), and Fitzcarraldo (1982). With 1989's Paganini, Kinski proved to be as colorful and chaotic a director as he was an actor. Kinski was the father of actress Nastassja Kinski, though the two seldom saw each other and were never close. He died in 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1964
German director Alfred Vohrer often based his films on popular novels written by the likes of Edgar Wallace and Johannes Mario Simmel. British novelist James Hadley Chase's book Pay or Die was adapted to the screen for this Vohrer action feature. After denying a crime syndicate 100,000 pounds on demand, a British millionaire is soon dead. His nephew Don (Gotz George), heir to the fortune, is determined to get his vengeance and begins his own search for the guilty parties. It would seem Don has fortune on his side as the gang boss (Richard Muench) is having problems not only among his men, but also with his woman (Hildegarde Knef). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Götz George
- 1964
In this western, an entry in the "Winnetou" series based on Germany's Karl May's novels, follows the attempts of two con men to cheat the Apaches out of their oil rights. They are foiled by Old Shatterhand and Winnetou, his Apache partner. The film was made on location in Yugoslavia. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, (more)
- 1963
In this suspense film, two heirs visit the isolated estate of their benefactor and find themselves hunted by a strangler with an Indian scarf. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
People are being shot with bullets shaped like black widow spiders, and now it's up to London Sensation reporter Welby to track down the killer. When Welby discovers that the leader of an old Mexican expedition was killed by the bite of a black widow, his investigation leads him to the darkest corners of the human psyche. O.W. Fischer, Klaus Kinski, and Doris Kirchner star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
The German The Squeaker is the third film version of the Edgar Wallace mystery novel of the same name. The title character is an omnipotent "fence" who has cornered the diamond-smuggling racket. The fence travels in polite society under the guise of a wealthy philanthropist. A Scotland Yard detective pretends to be an ex-convict in order to infiltrate the Squeaker's gang and to track down the stolen gems. The Squeaker was one of several German Edgar Wallace adaptations of the 1960s, ground out simultaneously with Britain's long-running Wallace B-picture series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heinz Drache, Barbara Rutting, (more)
- 1963
Fritz Lang had washed his hands of the Dr. Mabuse series with 1960's 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. Thus, the directorial reins of Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse) were in the capable, if not inspired, hands of Paul May. Declared legally dead, the evil, megalomaniac Mabuse continues to exercise his influence from beyond the grave. The Doc's spirit takes over the body of a kindly and above-reproach professor. A London crime wave ensues, with Scotland Yard always one step behind Mabuse. Wolfgang Preiss (as Mabuse and his alter ego), Peter Van Eyck and Klaus Kinski are featured in this heady combination of crime drama and sci-fi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This mystery is based on an Edgar Wallace tale and centers upon an enigmatic, seemingly supernatural abbot who lives in a tower connected to an abandoned old country manse said to contain a fabulous treasure. It is the black-hooded monk's duty to keep thieves at bay. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
This West German production is the second film based on the Edgar Wallace novel of the same name (the first was the 1940 Chamber of Horrors). The story -- which owes a great deal to The Cat and the Canary -- concerns the potential heirs to an eccentric's fortune, whose potential wealth (and fate) is tied to the acquisition of seven keys that will purportedly unlock a secret treasure vault. When the heirs begin turning up dead with said keys in their possession, a Scotland Yard inspector (Heinz Drache) attempts to assemble the puzzle. Things are further complicated by a series of abductions involving a sadistic mad scientist and his diabolical experiments. This threadbare but lively pulp thriller benefits from effective black-&-white photography and features an early appearance by Klaus Kinski. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
In this tense espionage drama set in 1942, William Holden plays Eric Erickson, an American-born Swede who is put on the Allied blacklist for trading oil with the Nazis. Collins (Hugh Griffith), a British intelligence agent, offers to expunge Erickson's name from the blacklist after the war in return for information on the Nazis. Erickson agrees to the plan and proceeds to make it look as if he is pro-Nazi. This subterfuge causes him to be branded a traitor, and his wife, believing Eric to be a Nazi, walks out on him. Nevertheless, Eric continues with his deceit and makes the Germans think that he is planning to construct an oil refinery in Sweden to serve as a fuel supply for Germany. As a result he is allowed entrance to four German oil refinery, and he passes on the information to Collins. But Eric is being put under surveillance by the Nazis. They discover that Eric's lover, Marianne (Lilli Palmer) is working for the Allies. Suddenly both Marianne and Eric are arrested and thrown into Moabit Prison -- with dire consequences for both of them. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Lilli Palmer, (more)
- 1962
In this remake of The Return of the Frog, Scotland Yard investigates a series of murders which take place on the waterfront. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this mystery, a young countess almost loses her life. Investigators soon discover that the attempt is linked to a murder that occurred 20-years ago. The plot is based on an Edgar Wallace story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this detective film, a Chinese detective breaks up a drug smuggling ring and tries to find the "Daffodil Killer." The drug smugglers had devised the ingenious method of smuggling heroin from Hong Kong in the stems of daffodils. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1961
Even while a series of British second features based on the works of Edgar Wallace was flourishing in the 1960s, Germany was grinding out its own Wallace series. Secret of the Red Orchid top-bills British actor Christopher Lee in a story of a joint effort between the FBI and Scotland Yard. The target of these combined forces is a far-reaching crime syndicate. The stellar international cast includes Klaus Kinski (a semi-regular in the Wallace series), Marissa Mell, and silent film veteran Fritz Rasp. Secret of the Red Orchid was originally titled Puzzle of the Red Orchid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Originally titled Die Toten Augen von London, this German melodrama is the second film version of Edgar Wallace's The Testament of Gordon Stewart. The story centers on a seemingly kindly blind man who covertly controls a sinister criminal organization comprised of sightless henchmen. Actually, he isn't blind at all, but the police are (figuratively speaking) until lovely Karin Baal foils the villain's scheme. Dead Eyes of London was released in the US in 1965 as Dark Eyes of London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
If you're into stories about disgruntled postal employees, you'll probably get an extra kick out of the gory German melodrama The Avenger. The "hero" is a criminal who uses the European mail services to (literally) dispatch his victims. First he slices off the heads of his enemies. Then he neatly packages up those heads and sends them through the mail. We'd like to say that he's foiled by insufficient postage, but we'd be fibbing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 196z
When his family is killed because of him, an amnesiac attempts to go after the responsible party, but cannot seem to remember anything. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Douglas Sirk directed this doomed World War II love story, seen from the German side of the war, as filtered through a distinctly late-'50s Hollywood banality. The film is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the author of the classic World War I anti-war novel All Quiet On the Western Front -- and who makes a cameo appearance in the film as an elderly schoolteacher. The film stars John Gavin as Ernst Graber, a young Nazi soldier home on leave during the height of World War II. While on leave, he falls in love and marries Elizabeth Kruze (Lilo Pulver). With bombs falling all around the young couple, they set up house with a kindly old woman. Then Elizabeth becomes pregnant. But before Ernst can grasp the reality of his becoming a father, he is sent back to the war -- to fight the brutal battle along the Russian front. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gavin, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1956
Gellebte Corinna (Beloved Corinna) was adapted from a novel by Robert Pilchowski. The title character is played by Swiss leading lady Elizabeth Mueller, whose second film this was. An impressionable country girl, Corinna follows her urban lover (Hans Soehnker) to the Big City, only to discover that he is already married. Her disillusionment is dissipated when it develops that the supposedly caddish Romeo is actually sincere in his affections for her, and that his wife is the real villain of the piece. Surprisingly old-fashioned in its approach, Gellebte Corinna nonetheless struck a responsive chord with its target audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elisabeth Müller, Hannelore Schroth, (more)
- 1955
O. W. Fischer stars as Ludwig II, the "mad king" of Bavaria. The film downplays some of Ludwig's most outrageous eccentricities, concentrating instead on his fascination with the Arts. The King's particular favorite in this realm is composer Richard Wagner, played by Paul Bildt. Ludwig's obsession with Wagner bordered on the psychotic, a fact that the film only slightly modifies. Ruth Leuwerik costars as Kaiserin Elizabeth, the wife of Austrian emperor Franz Joseph, with whom Ludwig carried on an ill-advised affair. Also appearing is Friedrich Domin as the great German political leader Bismarck, the man who set the stage for Ludwig's ultimate downfall. Ludwig II was filmed on location in and around the Mad King's opulent castle, which now stands as a popular tourist attraction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.W. Fischer, Ruth Leuwerik, (more)
- 1955
Roberto Rossellini directs his then-wife Ingrid Bergman in the suspenseful drama La Paura (Fear), based on the book by Stefan Zweig. Guilt-stricken Irene Wagner (Bergman) is forced to hide her secret affair with Erich Baumann (Kurt Kreuger) from her husband, Professor Albert Wagner (Mathias Wieman), a scientist in the midst of a serious breakthrough. However, Erich's ex-girlfriend, Joanne (Renate Mannhardt), finds out and threatens blackmail. This throws Irene into a fit of homicidal and suicidal rage. La Paura is an atypical entry in the Bergman-Rossellini film canon because of its German expressionist style and psychological plot twists. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ingrid Bergman, Mathias Wiemann, (more)
