Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Klaus Kinski - Ich bin so wie ich bin (Book review)

Klaus Kinski, book review
Klaus Kinski - Ich bin so wie ich bin (“Klaus Kinski - I’m just the way I am”) is quite possibly the best value film book I have ever discovered. 

Last year I bought this for only €2.76 (plus international postage of about €5 to Ireland) from one of Amazon Germany’s market sellers. Up until very recently it was still available along that priceline though the same seller (MEDIMOPS) that I also got my copy from and who is willing to ship internationally has recently raised the price to around the €15 mark but even at that price it is still a Must Have in my eyes.

This is for what they call the paperback version. The hardcover usually goes for considerably more but even the paperback version is not too far off from being a softcover coffee table book, not a standard sized paperback as one would expect from the description. 

Published in 2001 by DTV this is a 288-page book that is also of interest to international movie fans with no German language skills as it is chock full of often lesser known photos tracing Kinski’s career from his start on the German and Austrian stage to his numerous film parts. 

For those who only know Kinski as a film star, seeing nearly one half of the book dedicated to his theatre work, reciting, recordings etc. will probably come as a surprise but he was indeed first and foremost a serious classical actor, something that from an international point of view had never been that well reported. At one point in his career he had even played with the idea of opening his own theatre and his manic and excessive speech practises had become notorious. 

The book collects essays from a variety of different authors like Georg Seeßlen about the different stages of his life and career as well as a reprint of a famous cover article by leading German news magazine Der Spiegel from as early as 1961. The book also quotes from Kinski’s letters to his first wife. 

The emphasis of this book is very much on Kinski the actor. As such it leaves out most references to his private life. 

Klaus Kinski, book review, Der Spiegel
Something unknown to me was that prior to any acting success whatsoever Kinski had actually tried making it as an artist and in 1954 even had managed to get a gallery in Berlin to display his charcoal drawings but just two days prior to the opening managed to annoy the gallery owner so much that the grand opening ended up being cancelled on short notice. Kinski, seriously underweight and underfed, had visited the gallery owner at his apartment. The owner took pity on him and gave him a couple of sandwiches that Kinski then shared with the owner’s bull terrier. Despite being repeatedly told not to feed the dog, Kinski kept this up even more aggressively until he was told to leave and to forget about his exhibition. 

Even when Kinski was an up and coming star of the German language stage, he was already prone to scandals and pretty much got fired from just about any theatre that had employed him. He broke stage conventions at the time by throwing kiss hands to an enthusiastic audience or argued excessively when he even heard the slightest murmur from them. 

During stage performances he often changed the classic texts and got in trouble with Bertold Brecht’s wife and publishers over that whereas Schiller had no way to intervene. 

These antics turned him into a Bête Noire for Classic Theatre but also highly successful especially with a younger slightly more rebellious audience. His one-man recitations are sold out. His LP recordings break all sales records for Spoken Word albums. There is traffic chaos at his first public signing and in 1958 he even enthrals an audience of a staggering 80.000 people during an open-air event. 

And as much as he makes financially during that time, it is never enough to finance his life style which eventually brings him to a career in international cinema where he accepts roles based on the money he’ll make with them and only once more in 1971 returns back to the stage in a radical new interpretation of the New Testament that became notorious due to Kinski’s excesses and attacks on audience members. The book highlights how very physically Kinski got involved in the Spaghetti Westerns in scenes that would usually require a stuntman and also points out that in contrast to his stage antics he never really "ruined" a film as such but was often commented upon for his professionalism. This was helped by the fact that he for the most part was never the star of the films and the "lesser" the director the more he could often shine.

 A notable exception to all those points was of course Werner Herzog with whom by chance he had already shared an apartment house for a while when the director was still a teenager. (Of course Kinski ended up being thrown out of the house.) 

Not just his behaviour but also his looks were quite transgressive carrying both male and female traits or looking both young and old. No wonder that he never quite fit into the Hollywood system with his later films but instead had his biggest success with his European roles. 

Klaus Kinski - Ich bin so wie ich bin is an amazing richly illustrated book and at the price this is currently still going for a worthwhile addition to any cult film aficionado's book shelf.

You can BUY THIS BOOK ON AMAZON GERMANY. Please find below some sample images of it.


Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review

Klaus Kinski, book review


Friday, February 16, 2024

Guesting on THE BLOODY PIT OF ROD podcast

Dr Mabuse, Bloody Pit of Rod, podcast

Seems like the 1960s Dr Mabuses have definitely become "my thing" as I have now also guested on The Bloody Pit of Rod podcast in a 2+ hour episode to discuss this series of movies,

Go check it out....

Friday, January 12, 2024

Sensational Sixties #10

 

Sensational Sixties, Dr Mabuse, Fritz Lang, Lex Barker, Gert Fröbe

Proud as punch that I got my first article into SENSATIONAL SIXTIES #10.

My contribution focuses on the five Dr Mabuse movies of the 1960s not directed by Fritz Lang.

The magazine is a beauty and looking at the contents I find myself in the illustrious company of the likes of Kim Newman, Bruce G. Hallenbeck and Rachael Nisbet.

The magazine can be ordered via Hemlock Books.



Tuesday, December 12, 2023

MAELSTROM 01 - French fanzine dedicated to the Edgar Wallace Krimis


 I was just browsing through some old files on my laptop and happened to come across a PDF of MAELSTROM 01 - numero spécial Edgar Wallace, a richly illustrated 124-page French language fanzine covering all 32 Rialto Edgar Wallace Krimis.

Other than that it was published more than ten years ago in April 2013 I have no further info about this. It was clearly a one-off and I don't think there were even any other issues of this magazine created. The only thing I found online about this is this French language blog post that had also provided a download link (long since expired). 

To the best of my knowledge this zine had only ever existed as a free PDF for fans of this subgenre.

I have now uploaded this fanzine to archive.org to make this wonderful publication more easily accessible again. Even if you don't speak French, it is well worth exploring and an utter joy.


Saturday, October 7, 2023

Rialto Wallace Top 5 - Guest Contribution by Douglas Waltz

This is the first in (hopefully!) a series of guest contributions about everyone’s favourite Krimis (Rialto, Wallace or otherwise) that I am hoping to publish here on this blog. 

Douglas Waltz has kindly agreed to start this off. 

I first got to know Doug via the Euro Trash Paradise (ETP), a Yahoo Group - remember those? - dedicated to Eurocult productions of all kind. Long gone and deeply mourned by practically everyone who was involved in it, this was and will forever remain my favourite cinematic online hangout. Nothing that ever came in its wake, ever had the friendly and casual but also seriously well informed vibe that I encountered in this group and I am still in touch with many of its regular members. 

It was there that I first learned that a) there are Krimi fans outside of Germany and other German language countries and b) that the non-availability of decent English friendly prints is by far the biggest drawback and hurdle for new fans of this genre. 

Over the last couple of years Doug penned the series of Monster Killer books, fast quick reads about contemporary Monster Killer Morgan St. Cloud. Based on online reviews I seem to be the only person who actually ever reads those which really is a pity as they are so much fun and contain an incredible amount of world building packed into its short reading time. 

His Killer F**cking Squirrels was another Must Read for me. 

Doug is also a big fan of micro budget film making and when he doesn’t direct his own No-Budget oeuvres, he writes about film makers like the Polonia Brothers

On his YouTube channel he does his “Old Man Comic Book Reviews” or presents “The Basement of Baron Morbid”. 

Doug, thank you so much for this article! 

If anyone else would like to pen a few virtual lines about their favourite Krimis, please let me know. I really would love if we could create a little roundtable for other international Krimi-Fans. 

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Die Nylonschlinge/Nylon Noose (1963)

Die Nylonschlinge, Nylon Noose, Krimi, Helga Sommerfeld, Dietmar Schönherr,
When a Scotland Yard detective gets killed with a nylon noose in a seedy nightclub after incorporating the victim of a blackmail attempt, the few hints point to a shareholder meeting of an oil consortium in Elford Manor. Inspektor Harvey (Dietmar Schönherr) goes to investigate and soon discovers that one by one all the share holders receive blackmail notices and anyone not paying up is faced with the same gruesome death. 


 There's something to be said about journeyman directors, directors who never really truly shine but keep showing up and regularly produce watchable fare. 

 I generally have nothing but the greatest respect for those cinematic work horses. The downside, however, is that this type of director tends to rise and fall with the material and supporting talent that is given to them. 

A true master may elevate average stories into something magnificent and even hide tremendous plot holes from the viewer. 

A hack on the other hand highlights all those faults and amplifies them to the nth degree and thereby may come up with some involuntary entertaining results. 

A journeyman? Well, they just plod along in that case and neither properly thrill nor entertain. 

Rudolf Zehetgruber is exactly one such director. 

In the two years of 1963/64 he shot a handful of standalone Krimis before directing two Kommissar X and other action movies and finally finding his calling in a series of Herbie clones about a VW superbug called Dudu in which he also played the leading role, a character called Jimmy Bondi. 

Two of his films I have reviewed on this blog - Die schwarze Kobra/The Black Cobra (1963) and Piccadilly Null Uhr Zwölf (1963) - and the overall impression for me was mainly a very decided "Meh!"

Die Nylonschlinge, Nylon Noose, Krimi Die Nylonschlinge/Nylon Noose (1963) in all its averageness is probably the best of the lot as it does successfully incorporate some of the much loved tropes like secret passageways, catacombs and eccentric scientists. 

 Nylon Noose is a standalone Krimi and not based on any novel. 

 Produced by Erwin C. Dietrich, who in the 1970s would be in charge of a range of German sex comedies, it’s fairly statically filmed with only two actors more widely known for an International Krimi audience: Dietmar Schönherr and Ady Berber. 

Dietmar Schönherr (Das Ungeheuer von London City/The Monster of London City) carries off the role of the charming Inspector well. 

 And Ady Berber’s already imposing features are further disfigured by having his face covered in gruesome scars from an accident. His character is told to always stay out off sight from all the guests in the manor so as not to frighten them which explains why he is always seen lurking about in the catacombs or climbing up the outside walls as opposed to just enter the place through the front door. Ultimately he is, however, more of a gentle giant type with a heart of gold. 

Individually there is a lot to be enjoyed in this production: We have an eccentric professor type (Gustav Kloster) who experiments on mummies for the secret to a prolonged life. We got creepy underground passageways and a bit more skin on show than normal for a film of its time. It is indeed the actresses that mainly remain in the viewers' memory: 

Helga Sommerfeld (who can also be spotted in the two Bryan Edgar Wallace Krimis Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Koffer/The Secret of the Black Trunk (1962) and Das Phantom von Soho/The Phantom of Soho (1964)) is the main female lead and love interest for Dietmar Schönherr’s character and one wishes she’d have more often been placed in prominent roles in those films. 

Real life dancing sensation Laya Raki brings an exotic touch to the story by… playing an exotic dancer. Whenever the lights quickly go off during her performance, either money changes hands or someone gets killed, though it is never quite clear a) why the nightclub doesn’t get closed down with such a death count at this very moment and b) why from all the places in good ol’ foggy London Town it is this sleazy establishment that gets chosen all the time for this transaction. (Well, there are some possible hints about this towards the end but I’ll be damned if I understood them.) 

Die Nylonschlinge, Nylon Noose, Krimi, Ady Berber
And finally we have a wonderfully scheming pair of mother (Hedda Ippen) and daughter (Chris Van Loosen). The younger of the two even has no compunction about going after her mother’s Beau (Kurt Beck) who at one stage is being described as young, handsome and ruthless when to my mind he came across as middle-aged, bland and out of his wit. 

The soundtrack is also of interest as it combines traditional swinging Krimi tunes with experimental sound effects. 

So, it all sounds great. 

 And yet as a whole the film doesn’t really quite blend it all together all that well. Various of the narrative strands have little to nothing to do with the case and its solution which is indeed ultimately more than mundane and in contrast to some of the set pieces. 

The direction is quite flat and lifeless and at times it feels as if they’re just ticking off a check list of motions to go through. We even have a bowler hatted comic relief (Denys Seiler) who actually really does nothing remotely funny and for the most part plays everything straight. 

The remaining group of male supporting characters are all united in just being presented as being a very unpleasant bunch one and all that as a viewer one can’t ever hope that any one of them will remain alive. In one particularly head scratching and icky moment the uncle of Sommerfeld’s character (Gustav Knuth) is clearly hitting on his own niece which leaves Schönherr’s Inspector to comment that he really can’t blame him. As much as I am enamoured by Sommerfeld myself, I still draw a line at praising incest. 

All in all this is a good but not a great production. 

 Though one of the lesser known Krimis, in contrast to other similar films the English dubbed version of this film is easily available but that cut runs six minutes shorter than the original. 

WATCH IT IN GERMAN

WATCH IT IN ENGLISH

BUY THE DVD

  

Monday, March 20, 2023

23, l'année de Marisa Mell

 Yes, I know I pilfered Serge Gainsbourg's oeuvre for the title of this blog post but it really does feel as if 2023 will be the year where Marisa Mell will finally get her long overdue recognition... at least in her native Austria as there is a ton happening there right now.

Best known as Eva Kant in Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik (1968), she also featured in scores of International productions as well as playing in Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee/Secret of the Red Orchid (1962) and Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds/Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972). She was one of the most stunning women of her time and yet her (ultimately tragic) life story had somewhat faded into oblivion. 

Singer/Actress/Author Erika Pluhar wrote a beautiful German language book, Marisa, about their friendship and Mirko Di Wallenberg kept the flame alive on his blog, but other than that there was very little.

Not any more though....