The Soho Gorilla

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Movie
Original title The Soho Gorilla
The Soho Gorilla Logo 001.svg
Country of production Federal Republic of Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1968
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Alfred Vohrer
script Alfred Vohrer ,
Horst Wendlandt
(both as Freddy Gregor ) with the assistance of Editha Busch
production Rialto Film
( Horst Wendlandt , Preben Philipsen )
music Peter Thomas
camera Karl Löb
cut Jutta Hering
occupation

The Gorilla of Soho is a German crime film that was shot in 1968 under the direction of Alfred Vohrer . This 32nd entry in the German Edgar Wallace film series is a remake of the film Die toten Augen von London (1961), which is based on the novel of the same name (original title: The Dark Eyes of London ) by Edgar Wallace . The Soho Gorilla opened in German cinemas on September 27, 1968.

action

The Australian Richard Ellis is fished dead from the Thames in London . A doll with an enigmatic label can be found next to the corpse. Since it is already the third allegedly drowned millionaire from overseas, Inspector Perkins does not believe in an accident. Scotland Yard boss Sir Arthur provides the investigator with the attractive Susan McPherson, an expert in African languages . She can decipher the words “crime”, “murder” and “the monster and the gorilla ” on the doll . The inspector suspects that the once feared "gorilla gang" is behind the murders. This organization always carried out its crimes in the costume of a gorilla. In the meantime, Perkins' assistant Sergeant Pepper has learned that Ellis bequeathed all of his fortune to the charitable organization "Love and Peace for People", or "LPFP" for short. Perkins pays their boss, Henry Parker, a visit and meets the crook Sugar in his office. The inspector almost witnesses Mr. Sugar blackmailing Parker. The sleazy fiend once helped Parker get rid of his brother Donald, to whom Sugar lost his girlfriend. The inspector then visits a nightclub where, in addition to Mr. Sugar, Donald Parker's former lover Cora Watson also visits.

The next day, Inspector Perkins, Sergeant Pepper and Susan McPherson drive to the St. Maria girls' home, which the gorilla gang used to use as a shelter. The inmates make the dolls here, one of which was found on Ellis' body. The strict sister Elisabeth remembers Jack Corner, the former boss of the gorilla gang. He worked as a stoker in the institution and disappeared after a serious accident that disfigured his face. Only then did today's superior took over the house. Shortly after the visit, Susan discovers that she has been slipped a doll. “The gorilla sometimes comes at night, the matron doesn't know anything about it” it reads. Henry Parker's secretary Edgar Bird, however, shares some juicy details from the LPFP's office with Cora Watson. Parker himself is meanwhile by Gordon Stuart and his notary Dr. Jeckyl received. After Stuart recently learned that his illegitimate daughter, Susan Ward, was alive, he changed his will. Instead of “Love and Peace for People”, this should inherit all of Stuart's assets. In the evening Cora Watson ambushes Henry Parker and tries in vain to blackmail him. At the same time, Susan McPherson, posing as a welfare worker, is smuggled into St. Mary's Home. While Susan asks some inmates about their accommodation, Gordon Stuart, kidnapped by the gorilla, is drowned in a washing kettle in the basement. Sister Elisabeth forces the deaf, mute and colored Dorothy Smith to help. The girl puts a doll described with warnings in the dressing gown of the murdered Stuart before he ends up in the Thames.

In the morning the investigators find out about the murder of Stuart. A little later, Edgar Bird discovers the strangled Cora Watson. Inspector Perkins, who observes this, lets the paroled Bird walk to his own surprise. Dr. Jeckyl informs Perkins and Pepper of Stuart's change of will. In the evening, the officers are out with the house driver of the hotel in which Stuart stayed. Perkins hopes to find a clue to Stuart's missing daughter, Susan Ward. Perkins and Pepper are amazed when the driver takes them to a house and Susan McPherson opens the door for them. Susan excitedly tells us that her mother was kidnapped. Perkins immediately initiates a search message. The crook Sugar has since discovered that Henry Parker has the key to Cora's apartment. When he goes to the LPFP office to blackmail Parker again, he is murdered by Edgar Bird. Meanwhile, Susan McPherson is almost kidnapped by the gorilla, but at the last moment she is rescued by Sergeant Pepper.

Sir Arthur finally authorizes a search of the girls' home the next day. The matron claims that the deaf and mute Dorothy Smith has disappeared. But over the phone, the police doctor can confirm the inspector's suspicions that the girl has long been disposed of in the Thames. Susan, who stays overnight in St. Mary's Home, can find the hiding place of the gorilla in the basement. The summoned Pepper takes on the pursuit of the sinister criminal, who meanwhile also has Susan's mother on the conscience. Meanwhile, Perkins secretly breaks into Parker's office, where he is surprised by Edgar Bird. The officer manages to outsmart the dodgy secretary, but an unknown knocked out Perkins and sent Bird to the afterlife. When Sir Arthur and Sergeant Pepper search the office a little later, there is no trace of the inspector. However, there is evidence that the inherited funds from the "Love and Peace for People" were transferred directly to the girls' home. There Susan and Perkins are already in the hands of the real main culprits, the Superior and Henry Parkers. The couple, who met five years ago in South America, now also want to kill Susan McPherson, who is actually Susan Ward, in the washing pot and in the Thames. The two want to collect Stuart's inheritance through a girl from the home who pretends to be Susan. Perkins manages to free himself and outsmart the superior. But Parker shoots his partner in cold blood and aims his gun at the inspector. At the last moment, Sergeant Pepper succeeds in overpowering both the gorilla and Parker and rescuing Susan from the almost full washing kettle.

History of origin

prehistory

While the Edgar Wallace films premiered in 1967 again ensured good business, the preliminary planning for the year 1968 was already in progress for Horst Wendlandt's Rialto Film . Since free material was now being filmed based on Edgar Wallace's motifs, planning usually started with only the Film title, a topic, the commissioned screenwriter and a suitable director. So concluded Rialto Film with the rental Constantin Film a contract for the production of three Edgar Wallace films in 1968. Plans were:

  1. The Gorilla of Soho (Script: Herbert Reinecker , Director: Harald Philipp )
  2. The Unheimliche (Script: Herbert Reinecker, Director: Alfred Vohrer )
  3. The man with the glass eye (script: Ladislas Fodor , director: Alfred Vohrer)

In November 1967, during the filming of The Dog of Blackwood Castle , Rialto Film firmly assumed that the film The Gorilla of Soho would be made after its premiere . In order to provide variety within the film series, after three films by Alfred Vohrer, Harald Philipp was now to be engaged as the new director. At this point the project had already progressed so far that Rialto Film created a detailed cast list:

Constantin Film then expressed concerns about the project because they did not want to have two Edgar Wallace films with an animal in the title (dog and gorilla) follow one another. Rialto Film decided to first make the film Der Unheimliche (later title Im Banne des Unheimlichen ), directed by Alfred Vohrer and based on an alternative script by Ladislas Fodor. A large number of the actors originally intended for The Gorilla of Soho were used .

First script

Harald Philipp, who was still to be the director of Der Gorilla von Soho , has meanwhile reworked Herbert Reinecker's script into a ready-to-shoot version. With Heinz Gietz , who was supposed to compose the film music, another personnel change was planned. The plot devised by Reinecker under his pseudonym Alex Berg was summarized as follows:

One evening, young Susan Macpherson is asked to come to the monkey house at London Zoo . A stranger promises to inform her about the death of her father, who was killed in a hunt in Africa. At the monkey house, Susan witnesses how the stranger who is waiting for her there is strangled by a gorilla. Chief Inspector Jenkins and his assistant Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard are interested in the participants of a Macpherson-led expedition to Africa. The investigators cannot prevent that one after the other most of the expedition members as well as some supposedly bystanders are murdered by the gorilla. In search of the true circumstances of her father's death, Susan comes across three large rough diamonds. In the end, Scotland Yard succeeds in cornering the gorilla and unmasking it.

Rialto Film again created a detailed list of the intended actors:

The premiere of the film Im Banne des Unheimlichen took place on April 26th . On May 16, Rialto Film received an appraisal from Filmkredittreuhand GmbH Berlin (West) , which supported the project The Gorilla of Soho . Filming should start in June.

Second script

For reasons unknown today, the finished script was discarded in the middle of the preparations. A possible explanation could be problems with the filming permit in the Berlin Zoo . Concerns about the cost and time required of the project are also suspected. In any case, Rialto Film was obliged to Constantin Film to complete an Edgar Wallace film by September 1968. Wendlandt and his preferred director Alfred Vohrer finally came up with the saving idea: A remake of the successful Edgar Wallace crime thriller Die toten Augen von London , which Vohrer had directed in 1961, adapted to the title Der Gorilla von Soho .

Under great time pressure and with the support of production secretary Editha Busch, Vohrer and Wendlandt wrote a screenplay under the shared pseudonym Freddy Gregor , which was essentially based on the original screenplay by Egon Eis . Despite many changes, several passages of dialogue from The Dead Eyes of London were taken almost verbatim. From Reinecker's original “Gorilla” script, however, only the names “Elisabeth” and “Macpherson” remained in the modified spelling “McPherson”. The characters "Inspector Perkins" and "Sergeant Pepper" were taken from the screenplay of the next Edgar Wallace film, The Man with the Glass Eye , which was being completed at the same time , in which both investigators were to be used again.

occupation

After a guest appearance as a crook in The Dog of Blackwood Castle , Horst Tappert was to be established as the new inspector in the Edgar Wallace series in The Gorilla of Soho . Uwe Friedrichsen was put at his side as assistant Sergeant Pepper. Since the 1965 television series John Klings Abenteuer , the actor was already known to a larger audience. Both of them, like Uschi Glas, Hubert von Meyerinck, Ilse Pagé and Maria Litto, had been engaged before the script was changed. In addition, the actors Claus Holm , Inge Langen , Albert Lieven and Hilde Sessak, who were also used in earlier Edgar Wallace films, were engaged . One-time guest appearances in the film series were made by Herbert Fux , Beate Hasenau and Ralf Schermuly . The "Gorilla" was played by the Berlin stuntman Michael Koch .

production

The then Gottlob Münsinger School, now an office building on the island of Eiswerder, served as the backdrop for the girls' home .
The frigate shed on Pfaueninsel in Berlin can be seen in the film as the hiding place of the "gorilla".

The shooting for the color film (Eastmancolor), which was produced in the widescreen format 1: 1.66, took place from June 18 to July 25, 1968 in West Berlin and London . The outdoor shots in Berlin were made at the Gottlob Münsinger School (in the film the girls' home) on the Eiswerder island and in the frigate shed on the Pfaueninsel , which was used here for the last time as a location for a Wallace film. For some scenes that were filmed on original locations, Uschi Glas and Uwe Friedrichsen traveled to London with a small film team. The studio recordings were shot in the CCC-Film studios in Berlin-Haselhorst , whose building was also used for outdoor recordings. The film structures came from Wilhelm Vorwerg and Walter Kutz . Ingrid Zoré was responsible for the costumes . The gorilla costume was made exclusively in London. Production manager was Fritz Klotzsch .

Film music

The composer Heinz Gietz originally intended for the film was ultimately replaced by Peter Thomas . Its theme music was clearly attached to free jazz this time . The easy-listening title Susan and Jim , which occurs in the film , appeared for the first time on the long-playing record Das Kriminalmuseum - Film and TV hits The title music was included on the 1995 CD Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra - Easy Loungin ' . Both pieces were also released on the 2002 CD The Best of Edgar Wallace .

reception

Publications

The film was released on September 16, 1968 by the FSK for ages 16 and up. The nationwide cinema release took place on September 27, 1968. During the premiere, the film had around 1.7 million viewers. In the polls carried out by the trade journal Filmecho / Filmwoche at the time , in which cinema visitors rated current films on a scale from 1 (excellent) to 7 (very bad), The Gorilla of Soho received a grade of 3.1. For comparison: The Rialto productions The Dog from Blackwood Castle (2.9), Im Banne des Unheimlichen (2.5) and Zum Teufel mit der Penne (1.9), also published in 1968 .

Both Rialto Film and the distributor Constantin Film refrained from providing evidence that it was a film adaptation of the novel The Dead Eyes of London or a remake of the black and white film of the same name from 1961. In any case, the great success of the original could not be repeated with the work that was created under time pressure. The success of its predecessor Under the Spell of the Eerie ensured that The Gorilla of Soho also had good business results. The disappointment with the film was sometimes so great that many viewers did not watch a new Edgar Wallace film in the cinema afterwards. Film producer Horst Wendlandt and director Alfred Vohrer continued to believe in a successful continuation of the series and prepared their next project, The Man with the Glass Eye , from autumn 1968 .

The Soho Gorilla could also be marketed abroad and ran there under the following titles, among others:

The film was first broadcast on German television on April 25, 1985 on the Sat.1 predecessor PKS. The age rating has since been downgraded from 16 to 12 years. In the 1990s, it was released as a video cassette . In 2005 the film was released on DVD in a newly scanned version .

Reviews

This section consists only of a cunning collection of quotes from movie reviews. Instead, a summary of the reception of the film should be provided as continuous text, which can also include striking quotations, see also the explanations in the film format .

“With real German thoroughness, director Alfred Vohrer has increased Wallace's horror story by adding the dimension of color and tone, and what he considers gags. You can laugh. "

- Darmstädter Echo , September 28, 1968

"Wallace, oh Wallace or Scotland Yard, how have you changed?"

- Film sheets , October 1968

“Alfred Vohrer delivered a well-tended, suspenseful conversation with a good mixture of“ sex and crime ”, in which the joke is not neglected either. Horst Tappert, Uwe Friedrichsen, sweetheart Uschi Glas, Albert Lieven and Hubert von Meyerinck provide the necessary variety. "

- Hamburger Abendblatt , January 1969

“Again very generally undifferentiated, exaggeratedly garish and [...] only interspersed with somewhat speculative, extended sex. This color film is something for very notorious Edgar Wallace fans. "

- Protestant film observer

“A Soho shocker flattened. (Rating: moderate) "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier , Berndt Schulz : Lexicon "Films on TV", 1990

"Good actors in a movie that Wallace would have been upset about."

- Joachim Kramp : The Edgar Wallace Lexicon, 2004

"The black and white version is creepier."

- TV Movie

"In the plot, illogical Edgar Wallace film with trite effects and calculated sex."

- Lexicon of international film

literature

  • Edgar Wallace: The dead eyes of London (Original title: The Dark Eyes Of London ). Unabridged edition, newly translated by Hardo Wichmann . Scherz Verlag, Bern 1997, ISBN 3-502-55225-8 .
  • Joachim Kramp , Jürgen Wehnert: The Edgar Wallace Lexicon. Life, work, films. It is impossible not to be captivated by Edgar Wallace! Verlag Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-508-2 .
  • Joachim Kramp: Hello! This is Edgar Wallace speaking. The story of the legendary German crime film series from 1959–1972 . 3. Edition. Verlag Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-645-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 94 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 90 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2576 meters
  2. ↑ a b c Joachim Kramp: Hello! This is Edgar Wallace speaking. The history of the crime film series from 1959 to 1972. Third, revised and expanded edition . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-645-3 , p. 357-367 .
  3. ^ Joachim Kramp and Jürgen Wehnert: The Edgar Wallace Lexicon. Life - work - films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-508-2 , p. 268-269 .
  4. ^ Gerd Naumann: The film composer Peter Thomas. From Edgar Wallace and Jerry Cotton to Orion space patrol . ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 3-8382-0003-9 , p. 155-156 .
  5. ^ LP Das Kriminalmuseum - Film and TV hits . Intercord . Order no. 989-08 MB
  6. ↑ CD Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra - Easy Loungin ' . Polydor . 1995. Order no. 529 491-2
  7. ^ CD The Best of Edgar Wallace . All Score Media. 2002. Order no. ASM 005
  8. ^ Joachim Kramp and Jürgen Wehnert: The Edgar Wallace Lexicon. Life - work - films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-508-2 , p. 97 .
  9. ↑ The Soho Gorilla. In: Abendblatt.de. Hamburger Abendblatt , January 4, 1969, accessed on May 26, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 481/2014
  11. ↑ The Soho Gorilla. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 3, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
The German Edgar Wallace films
Pre-war period

The Great Unknown (1927) • The Red Circle (1929) • The Strangler (1929) • The Zinker (1931) • The Witcher (1932) • The Double (1934)

post war period

The Frog with the Mask (1959) • The Red Circle (1960) • The Avenger (1960) • The Gang of Terror (1960) • The Green Archer (1961) • The Dead Eyes of London (1961) • The Secret of the Yellow Daffodils (1961) • The Forger of London (1961) • The Strange Countess (1961) • The Riddle of the Red Orchid (1962) • The Door with the Seven Locks (1962) • The Inn on the Thames (1962) • The Curse the yellow snake (1963) • The zinc man (1963) • The black abbot (1963) • The Indian cloth (1963) • The drums of death on the great river (1963) • Room 13 (1964) • The crypt with the riddle lock (1964) • The Witcher (1964) • The Gates of Traitors (1964) • Sanders and the Ship of Death (1965) • News from the Witcher (1965) • The Scary Monk (1965) • The Mystery of the Silver Triangle (1966) • The Hunchback of Soho ( 1966) • The White Nun's Secret (1966) • The Blue Hand (1967) • The Monk with the Whip (1967) • The Dog of Blackwood Castle (1968) • Under the Spell of the Eerie (1968) • The Gorilla of Soho (1968) • The Man with the Glass Eye (1969) • The Face in the Dark (1969) • The Devil Came from Akasava (1971) • The Dead from the Thames (1971) • The Secret of the Green Pin ( 1972) • The Mystery of the Silver Crescent (1972)