The dog from Blackwood Castle
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The dog from Blackwood Castle |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Vohrer |
| script | Alex Berg |
| production |
Rialto Film ( Horst Wendlandt , Preben Philipsen ) |
| music | Peter Thomas |
| camera | Karl Löb |
| cut | Jutta Hering |
| occupation | |
| |
The Dog of Blackwood Castle is a German crime film that was made in 1967 under the direction of Alfred Vohrer . The on motives of Edgar Wallace -based work was also on the Sherlock Holmes -novel The Hound of the Baskervilles : (AKA The Hound of the Baskervilles by) Arthur Conan Doyle inspired. The color film was premiered on January 18, 1968 in the Mathäser-Filmpalast in Munich on the occasion of an anniversary celebration as the 25th Edgar Wallace film by the production company Rialto Film . Overall, it was already the 30th Edgar Wallace film with German participation since 1959.
action
A certain Mr. Tucker wants to visit the English castle Blackwood Castle. However, he is lured into one of the nearby moors and killed by a dog with poisonous teeth. Lady Agathy Beverton, the landlady of the neighboring Old Inn , is concerned because she heard the terrifying howl of a dog and her overnight guest , Mr. Tucker, has disappeared without a trace. Her brother Lord Henry Beverton and the doctor Doc Adams who were also present do not want to have heard of it. Another guest, the alleged hunter Humphrey Connery, watches as Tucker's body is sunk in the moor. But even he later claims not to have noticed anything conspicuous.
The next day, 22-year-old Jane Wilson appears at Blackwood Castle, where she is expected by the sinister servant Grimsby and the attorney Robert Jackson, the family administrator. The recently deceased captain Allan Thurnby Wilson, Jane's father, left her the ruined castle. Jackson wants 10,000 it instantly pounds sold. But Jane, who has not seen her father for 10 years, refuses to sign the sales authorization. A little later, Jane watches a man named Edward Baldwin offer the lawyer even £ 20,000 for the castle. Jackson declines the offer, claiming the house is not for sale. Jane decides to keep Blackwood Castle and move into the dilapidated castle.
Scary things happen during the night. A skeleton appears in front of Jane's bedroom, the servant Grimsby is attacked in the basement by a python from Captain Wilson's reptile collection and later the young woman finds one of the snakes in her bed. The howling of a dog can be heard from the moor. This time Edward Baldwin falls victim to the murderous beast. Doc Adams watches as Humphrey Connery loads the body into the trunk of his car. A short time later the servant Grimsby appears at the crime scene to look for the dead man.
Lawyer Robert Jackson is amazed when he finds the murdered Baldwin in the palace hall in the morning hours. Jane notifies Scotland Yard , whose boss Sir John takes the case personally. He just takes his secretary Miss Mabel Finley with him. The police doctor Dr. Sheppard suspects that the fatal bites indicate the use of snake venom. When Baldwin's body is being removed, Sheppard and some police officers find the lawyer dead in his burning car in a sand pit. When the officers return to the ambulance, Baldwin's body is gone. It will be removed from Grimsby on the Moor after dark.
Sir John makes inquiries about the missing men from Lady Agathy and Lord Henry Beverton, with whom he has known for years. The Bevertons were once lords of Blackwood Castle, but sold it to Captain Wilson years ago and have run the Old Inn ever since . New guests appear: Douglas Fairbanks and his girlfriend Dorothy Cornick, who also has a relationship with Humphrey Connery. Catherine Wilson, the divorced wife of Captain Wilson and once a celebrated singer enters, meanwhile unsuccessfully in a nightclub in London's district of Soho on. Doc Adams goes there and tells her about her daughter Jane's inheritance. Catherine goes to Blackwood Castle. Jane reacts distantly to her mother, who has not looked after her for 10 years and is now mainly interested in selling the castle. On the moor, Douglas Fairbanks is followed by a dog that Connery shoots at the last moment. Then someone appears again who is interested in Blackwood Castle: Ken Nelson, who pretends to be a historian and is interested in old castles.
The Scotland Yard boss finds out that Fairbanks, Nelson and the murdered Baldwin and Tucker were on the crew list of Captain Wilson's ship. Miss Finley discovered that a valuable collection of jewels disappeared on this ship, the President Monroe , a few years ago. Fairbanks and Nelson go to the Blackwood Castle mausoleum . It is only after Lord Henry Beverton and Doc Adams operate a mysterious mechanism in the Old Inn that Fairbanks and Nelson can open the coffin to see for themselves that the captain is dead. A little later, Fairbanks thinks he saw the dead man at the Old Inn . Nelson is mysteriously murdered. Tom Heyes, another former crew member of President Monroe , appears just as the body is being removed . After Grimsby equips a dog with poisoned teeth in the basement, Heyes and Fairbanks want to search the lock for the jewels. When Catherine Wilson gets in the way of the crook Fairbanks, she is shot. Jane is brought out of the castle by Connery and his assistant Dorothy Cornick. Heyes is pursued by a dog on his escape and sinks into the moor.
Humphrey Connery reports in the yard that he works for a company that has insured the missing jewelery collection. Dorothy Cornick was assigned to spy on Douglas Fairbanks as his assistant. The latter is currently confronting Lord Henry Beverton and Doc Adams at the Old Inn . The two suspect that the jewels are hidden by the snakes in the cellar. At the same time, Jane Wilson is brought to safety at Connery's apartment, where she receives a mysterious phone call. Meanwhile, Fairbanks searches the basement of Blackwood Castle. He can't believe his eyes when he meets the lively captain there. Fairbanks storms into the castle hall, where he is arrested by Sir John. In the mausoleum, Sir John and Humphrey Connery open the coffin that contains the captain's body. Lady Agathy Beverton reports to Miss Finley that her brother and Doc Addams have committed a crime. In the meantime, the two have decided not to let the captain out of the coffin and to retrieve the jewels themselves. But Lord Henry is arrested. Doc Adams is surprised with the jewels of Captain Wilson and Humphrey Connery, who meanwhile join forces and leave the fate of the doctor to the dogs with the prepared fangs.
In the castle hall, Connery shoots the captain and pretends to Sir John, who has arrived, that he is the only main criminal. Jane Wilson rushes to unmask Connery as the captain's accomplice. At Connery's apartment she had received a call from her father, who was believed to be dead. He believed he was talking to Dorothy and gave instructions to murder Douglas Fairbanks. In addition to the confessed Dorothy, Connery and the servant Grimsby are arrested.
History of origin
Background and script
The Edgar Wallace films The Blue Hand and The Monk with the Whip, launched in 1967, once again proved to be good business for Horst Wendlandt's Rialto Film and the distributor Constantin Film . At the beginning of 1967 the current plans provided for the shooting of the Wallace film The Angel of Terror to begin in the fall of the same year . The film, which was also to be Rialto's 25th Wallace anniversary film, would have been like The Secret of the White Nun with subsidiary Rialto Film Preben Philipsen Ltd. to be realized in London. The proposed English title was Angel of Terror .
At the same time, Rialto Film made preparations for further Edgar Wallace films. In May 1967, Franz Seitz junior was commissioned to write the now untraceable screenplay entitled The Black Dog of Blackwood Castle under his pseudonym Georg Laforet . This was followed by a revision completed in the summer of 1967 by Herbert Reinecker under his pseudonym Alex Berg . The dog of Blackwood Castle , as the film should ultimately be called, is based solely on motifs by Edgar Wallace . However, it ties in with the Sherlock Holmes novel Der Hund von Baskerville (original title: The Hound of the Baskervilles) by Arthur Conan Doyle . The theatrical release for the project was initially planned for March 5, 1968.
After the British Rialto Film stopped production after the production of The Secret of the White Nun , the realization of the film The Angel of Secrets was postponed indefinitely. In addition, Horst Wendlandt was unable to realize other projects such as the adventure film The Great Driven Hunt directed by Alfred Vohrer . The finished script for the film The Dog from Blackwood Castle caused Wendlandt to start the project earlier than planned. Since the new anniversary film could now be completed by January 1968 without any problems, there was also the possibility of holding a celebratory world premiere during the Mathäser Film Ball.
occupation
In addition to director Harald Reinl, the first announcement was made by the actors Heinz Drache , Karin Baal , Peter Pasetti , Siegfried Schürenberg , Horst Tappert , Ilse Pagé and Ralf Wolter . In the fall of 1967, Reinl was busy shooting and finishing the Jerry Cotton film Dynamite in Green Silk . At the same time, he was already working on The Dog from Blackwood Castle and paid a visit to the planned location of Schloss Hastenbeck , which was already featured in The Unheimliche Mönch . After the shooting was brought forward, the project The Dog of Blackwood Castle was handed over to the director Alfred Vohrer, who made a few changes to the script with his assistant Eva Ebner . The final scene, which takes place in Reinecker's script in the mausoleum, was moved in front of the palace. West Berlin was the only one chosen as the location . At least the planned cast of the main roles could be retained except for two changes. Peter Passetti was replaced by Hans Söhnker and Ralf Wolter by Alexander Engel .
Heinz Drache , who played a villain part for the first time in the series, ended his cinema career with this film. He then devoted himself to the theater and occasionally took on television roles. Horst Tappert also played a crook for the first time in a film in the series. In the two Wallace films The Gorilla of Soho (1968) and The Man with the Glass Eye (1969) he was supposed to play the role of the investigator. In this film, on the other hand, it is not an inspector who solves the case, as is usual, but Scotland Yard boss Sir John, played by Siegfried Schürenberg .
In addition, other actors from earlier Edgar Wallace films such as Agnes Windeck , Mady Rahl , Uta Levka , Tilo von Berlepsch , Harry Wüstenhagen , Kurd Pieritz , Arthur Binder , Rainer Brandt and Kurt Waitzmann were engaged . The actor Otto Stern also appeared in the next Edgar Wallace film, Im Banne des Unheimlichen . Director Alfred Vohrer and Eva Ebner can be seen in extras in the scene in front of the nightclub.
production
The shooting for the color film (Eastmancolor), which was produced in the widescreen format 1: 1.66, took place from October 16 to November 27, 1967 in West Berlin. For the third time in a row, no London recordings were made at all. The following locations can be seen in The Dog of Blackwood Castle :
- Wooden bridge to the Beelitz hunting umbrella on Pfaueninsel : murder of Mr. Tucker
- Frigate Shed on Peacock Island: Removal of Mr. Tucker's body
- Pfaueninsel Castle : Blackwood Castle, exterior
- Spandauer Tor with neighboring building in Berlin-Kladow : Gate of Blackwood Castle
- Sand pit in hunting 86 in the Grunewald : Sand pit
- Filming locations in Berlin
Wooden bridge on the Pfaueninsel
Pfaueninsel Castle
Sandpit im Jagen 86 in Grunewald
Berliner Tor in Berlin-Kladow
Frigate shed on Pfaueninsel
The CCC-Film studios in Berlin-Haselhorst served as the film studio . The film structures came from Wilhelm Vorwerg and Walter Kutz . Ina Stein was responsible for the costumes . The production line took Wolfgang Kühnlenz , the line producer Erwin Gitt . The assistant director was Eva Ebner, who later said about the shooting: “In it, Rainer Brandt played a gangster chased by dogs. In his distress, he was supposed to race into a moor that had been specially dug for this scene on the CCC studio grounds. We shot at night, it was cold and drizzly. Rainer came to the location in an elegant, white fur coat and initially didn't want to part with him because of the cold. But that was out of the question: a light brown trench coat was intended for turning - and he had to wear it. The scene worked, Rainer was done and disappeared soaked into the cloakroom. Later, freshly washed and blown dry, he reappeared on the set. Of course, he was wearing his beautiful fur coat again, stood next to me on the edge of the 'moor' and watched the filming with the dog, which was rushing through the murky water. The night was cold, the mood was at zero when, out of sheer high spirits and to cheer up the mood, I said: 'So - and now we're all going straight ahead.' The only one who knew the moor inside and out was Rainer Brandt. Nonetheless, he took a big step forward. I still heard him 'Oh, my god!' say when he disappeared into the depths of the moor - including a fur coat, of course. Later the exasperated cloakroom attendant said to me: 'You can see, Evchen, what the actors do to get a new coat.' In this rare case he did the actors in general and Rainer Brandt in particular an injustice… ”(According to another version, Brandt shouted, less elegantly:“ Shit! ”Before sinking into the moor.)
Film music
The soundtrack was penned by Peter Thomas , who composed his 14th soundtrack to an Edgar Wallace film for The Dog of Blackwood Castle . For the title theme, he decided on a very jazzed-up arrangement , which was accompanied by the speaking voice of the actual guitarist Joe Quick. The double CD released in 1992 and the single CD Peter Thomas - Film Musik of the same name released the following year contained the following pieces with a total running time of 8:36 minutes:
- The Dog of Blackwood Castle (theme music)
- Into The Swamp
- Boldwyn Is Out
- Bossa for Jane
- Take a bite
The title music and the track Bossa For Jane also appeared on the CD The Best of Edgar Wallace from 2002.
The title Boldwyn Is Out , which is the instrumental version of the title music not synchronized with vocals, was reused by Peter Thomas for a scene in the film Zum Teufel mit der Penne (1968).
Post production
Some filmed scenes were removed from the final cut of the film:
- After about 10 minutes, Mr. Baldwin (Kurd Pieritz) arrives in front of Blackwood Castle by taxi and says to the driver: "Please wait here!"
- About half an hour before Sir John (Siegfried Schürenberg) and Miss Finley (Ilse Pagé) arrive at Blackwood Castle, they are discussing English castles while driving.
- In the final scene of the film Sir John says compassionately to Lady Agathy (Agnes Windeck): “If he is well behaved, two years, then you have him back.” Lady Agathy then says: “For God's sake Archie. That is far too little. Five years, that would be fabulous. Then I could finally convert our old inn into a first class hotel. I'll get in touch with my childhood friend Sir Cock ... ", Sir John interrupts:" Cocks travel agency !? "Agathy continues:" ... get in touch and sign a contract as a first class tourist attraction. "Lady Agathy turns to Jane (Karin Baal ): “I could use a good girl like you.” Jane replies, “Suppose; but only if we take my castle as a hotel with us. ”Sir John:“ Fabulous, Jane. I am your first guest, because after this case I urgently need some rest. ”Miss Finley adds with a smile and snuggles up to Sir John:“ And I'll come with you and prepare your tea! ”Everyone laughs.
reception
Publications
The film was released on December 22, 1967 by the FSK for ages 12 and up. The film premiered on January 18, 1968 as part of an anniversary celebration in the Mathäser-Filmpalast in Munich . The guests included numerous personalities who had made a name for themselves in the Edgar Wallace films, including Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor . Wolfram Engelbrecht, the then President of the Main Association of German Film Theaters , presented Horst Wendlandt with a gold screen for special services in the film industry . Then the Mathäser film ball took place.
Despite the extensive reporting from the anniversary celebration alone, The Dog of Blackwood Castle saw only around 1.2 million viewers during the premiere. This made the film less successful in the cinema than any of the previous Edgar Wallace productions by Rialto. In the polls carried out by the trade journal Filmecho / Filmwoche at the time , in which the cinema visitors rated current films on a scale from 1 (excellent) to 7 (very bad), the film received a grade of 2.9. For comparison: The previous Edgar Wallace film The Monk with the Whip (1967) received a grade of 2.4. The following Wallace crime thriller Im Banne des Unheimlichen (1968) was also given a slightly better grade of 2.5. The dog of Blackwood Castle was still a hit film through re-performances, especially in youth performances and repetitions on television .
The film was also marketed abroad and ran there under the following titles, among others:
- Denmark : Uhyret fra Black Castle
- France : Le château des chiens hurlants
- Greece : To teras tou mavrou kastrou
- Italy : Giallo cobra
- United States : The Monster of Blackwood Castle / The Horror of Blackwood Castle
The film was first broadcast on German television on January 18, 1974, exactly six years after its premiere, on ZDF . For this, the film was shortened by the scene in which Grimsby (Arthur Binder) takes a snake out of the terrarium and prepares the dog's teeth with its poison. In 1991 the film was released as a purchase video. The cut scene was still missing in the video and TV versions. The uncut theatrical version of the film has now been released on DVD .
criticism
"Vohrer's staging is concerned with speed and effect, so that the audience does not get bored for a minute with the reliable delivery of corpses."
"In their anniversary film, the 25th of the most successful German film series of the post-war period, producer Horst Wendlandt, author Alex Berg and director Alfred Vohrer brought a particularly captivating and tense story to the screen based on motifs from the post-war work of the English crime fiction master."
“The 25th Edgar Wallace crime thriller from Berlin's Rialto Film shows the first signs of wear and tear of the cinema series, despite the more elaborate staging. The makers ran out of ideas, and the few well-known German actors were slowly becoming worn out. "
"The 25th Edgar Wallace crime thriller (the first in color) [sic!] Is designed a little more elaborately and offers harmless entertainment in which scary and gimmick ingredients are balanced."
“The only moderately exciting, the horror effects and the slapstick of some earlier examples amply repeating 25th German Edgar Wallace film adaptation. If necessary from 14. "
Others
For the Wallace film parody Der Wixxer (2004), the film title served as the inspiration for Blackwhite Castle .
literature
- 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
- The Monster of Blackwood Castle in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The dog from Blackwood Castle ( Memento from December 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) at deutscher-tonfilm.de
- The dog from Blackwood Castle at Filmportal.de
- Sound carrier with the film music
Individual evidence
- ↑ 92 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 89 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2529 meters
- ↑ 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. 292-310 .
- ↑ 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. 336-344 .
- ↑ Interview with Eva Ebner. March 2002, archived from the original on February 21, 2008 ; Retrieved September 5, 2015 .
- ^ Gerd Naumann: The film composer Peter Thomas. From Edgar Wallace and Jerry Cotton to Orion space patrol . ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8382-0003-3 , p. 155 .
- ^ CD Peter Thomas - Film Music (double CD). Polydor . 1992. Order no. 845 872-2
- ↑ CD Peter Thomas - Film Music (single CD). Polydor . 1993. Order no. 517 096-2
- ^ CD The Best of Edgar Wallace . All Score Media. 2002. Order no. ASM 005
- ↑ Golden screen for special services in the film industry. Retrieved September 5, 2015 .
- ^ Joachim Kramp and Jürgen Wehnert: The Edgar Wallace Lexicon. Life - work - films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-508-2 , p. 97 .
- ↑ The Dog from Blackwood Castle. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 28/1968.
