The Green Archer (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The green archer |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1961 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jürgen Roland |
| script |
Wolfgang crowd Wolfgang Schnitzler |
| production | Preben Philipsen |
| music | Heinz Funk |
| camera | Heinz Hölscher |
| cut | Herbert Taschner |
| occupation | |
| |
The Green Archer is a crime film by director Jürgen Roland and the fifth German Edgar Wallace film of the post-war period . The film adaptation of the 1923 novel of the same name (original title: The Green Archer ) by Edgar Wallace was filmed from October 1960 to January 1961 in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and produced by Rialto Film . The film was shown in German cinemas on February 2, 1961.
action
Julius Savini, the secretary of the American millionaire Abel Bellamy, illegally organizes tours for tourists in Garre Castle , his employer's estate, which, according to legend, is home to the ghost of a green archer. When one of the visitors was shot with a green arrow, the police intervened.
The neighboring property, Ladys Manor , is bought by Mr. Howett, who moves in with his goddaughter Valerie, who is looking for her missing birth mother, Elaine.
When Abel Bellamy arrives at London Airport to return to Garre Castle , there is an unfriendly encounter with former prison warden Creager. Shortly afterwards, Creager is also shot with a green arrow, just as he is about to offer Scotland Yard information about Bellamy. Scotland Yard quickly finds out that Creager was connected to Bellamy and received regular money from him.
Scotland Yard's Inspector Featherstone is investigating the murders and comes across both the beautiful Valerie Howett and numerous opaque characters, such as the nightclub owner Coldharbour Smith, who have to do with Bellamy's dark past. In order to find out Bellamy's secret, Featherstone quarters in the castle as a caretaker. The following night Bellamy receives a visit from the green archer, but the shots he fires at him do not hit their target. Only a handkerchief with the letters V.H. is found. Bellamy is certain that Valerie Howett must have been in the castle. The next night, Valerie Howett sneaks into the castle again. Bellamy is walking around impatiently when suddenly a bucket is knocked over. He immediately sets the dogs on the intruder. Valerie Howett escapes. But the green archer shoots one of the dogs.
Shortly after Featherstone visited Coldharbour Smith's dock and was able to save Valerie from the unscrupulous operator, he had Abel Bellamy's castle searched. However, he has to give up his position as an inspector. But the police can't find anything and leave.
But Bellamy doesn't give up. With the help of a feint, he has Valerie Howett kidnapped and put on a ship. The police are soon there again and investigate the ship after a clue from Savini's wife, who works as a barmaid in Smith's bar, but again fails to find anything. So the officials leave again. Meanwhile, Savini, who followed Valerie, sneaks onto the ship and tries to free Valerie. He is caught, but can escape again. Meanwhile, Coldharbour Smith is hit by a green arrow in the presence of Valerie Howett. Valerie escapes from board with Savini.
Bellamy's patience is slowly running out. Shortly afterwards he locks Savini, his wife, who are about to run away, Valerie and Inspector Featherstone, who fell for a trick Bellamy, in a dungeon and floods the room in order to eliminate everyone. In the meantime, the special police unit has surrounded the lock. The reporter Spike Holland does not miss these headlines either. Bellamy's servant Sen fired at the officers from the tower - with a rifle. Meanwhile, Bellamy is sitting armed in his room when the door suddenly opens. The green archer stands before him, the bow is drawn to the fatal shot. Bellamy drops the gun. This is where Bellamy's secret comes to light: he had his nephew John flogged in prison by the guard Creager, who has received regular money ever since. Bellamy was hoping that his nephew would die in the process. But that was a mistake. When John Wood went into hiding, he swore to take revenge on Bellamy. Before Bellamy can find out everything else, including that the green archer has freed Valerie's mother, the deadly arrow hits him. The prisoners down in the basement escape their fate when the green archer pulls the lever that opens the dungeon. When Featherstone and the others enter the room, the first thing they see is Bellamy's lifeless body. The police officers storm up too.
The question of who the green archer is is quickly revealed. Featherstone unmasked the man from whose arrows some people died: John Wood alias John Bellamy. However, he can no longer arrest Wood. The green archer was killed in an explosion of an explosive device that the police had thrown at Bellamy. Featherstone clarifies Valerie's past and the officers begin their final investigations. Spike Holland also keeps recordings on his camera. The film ends with the epilogue: Holland turns to the audience. If someone should find a green arrow when leaving the cinema, they should hand it in at the box office. The reason for this is that one of the figures, which is a replica of the green archer, suddenly has no arrow when Sergeant Higgins searches the figure for fingerprints and Holland takes measurements from the figure. In reality, this arrow is stuck in Holland's back, which is holding a sign that reads: "END".
History of origin
Waldfried Barthel , Gerhard F. Hummel (both Constantin Film) and Preben Philipsen (Rialto Film, Prisma-Filmverleih) planned the production of the four Edgar Wallace films Die Bande des Schreckens , The Green Archer , The Secret for the 1960/61 cinema season of yellow daffodils and The dead eyes of London . While the already proven screenwriter Egon Eis was supposed to write the scripts for the last two films, the writer Wolfgang Schnitzler was chosen for the next Wallace adaptations .
In 1960, the production manager for the German-language Rialto films, Helmut Beck , moved to NDR . Horst Wendlandt , who was previously production manager at Artur Brauner's CCC-Film , took on this role. Besides The Face in the Dark (1969), this was his only Wallace production that did not mention his name in the opening credits. As a director, the young director Jürgen Roland was engaged for the second time after Der Rote Kreis . Alluding to the television series he has directed, the film shows a scene in which Eddi Arent says that he already knows the work of the police from the steel network . Well-known from Roland's television work, the author Wolfgang Quantity revised the script to its final version.
Some roles were originally supposed to be cast by other actors, such as Ulla Jacobsson instead of Karin Dor , Dietmar Schönherr instead of Heinz Weiss and Fritz Rasp instead of Hans Epskamp . Karin Dor took part in her only Edgar Wallace film that was not directed by her then husband Harald Reinl . Harry Wüstenhagen , who appeared in a total of six films in the series up to 1969, was in front of the camera for the first time in a Wallace film. Klausjürgen Wussow played here for the second and last time in an Edgar Wallace film. Director Roland also said goodbye to the series after two films. In 1961 he was to direct scenes for the sick director Josef von Báky for his Wallace film The Strange Countess .
The outdoor shots took place in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein (including on the Inner Alster , at Ahrensburg Castle and at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport ). The London recordings came from the archive. The interior shots were made in the Real-Film studio in Hamburg-Wandsbek . The film was approved by the FSK without editing requirements from the age of 12. Nevertheless, the film was severely shortened for television, especially the ironic final scene in which Eddi Arent addresses the cinema audience ( fourth wall ). The film can now be seen in the original version.
Reviews
"In addition to the usual opacity, there is an excess of complications that are loosened up by well-played, bizarre figures."
“After all, it is almost no longer of interest who the mysterious archer actually is. The not always funny gag of speaking to the audience, of breaking through cinematic fiction, has also been adopted from the Eddie Constantine films. "
“With a twinkle in his eye, steel net spinner Jürgen Roland, the Hamburg police's dearest child, serves us his first [sic!] Edgar Wallace film adaptation. Persiflage and little jokes interrupt the usual creaking of the doors as well as the nocturnal screams and ensure that the goosebumps of the audience can relax every now and then. Unfortunately, in the labyrinth of assumptions and fallacies into which the viewer is sent, the scriptwriters have also gotten lost, so that in the end, when the identity of the murdering Robin Hood is revealed, a number of loose ends of the plot remain. "
"There are enough bodies, only the quality is lacking."
"An enjoyable Edgar Wallace film adaptation."
“After his thriller“ The Red Circle ”, this was the second and last Edgar Wallace film adaptation that Jürgen Roland took on (with modest success). He just couldn't find the typical style of the series, such as Alfred Vohrer and Harald Reinl had created. So "The Green Archer" has become nothing more than an entertaining, but only average crime film. "
"The second Wallace crime thriller based on a script by Wolfgang Menge ('Disgust Alfred') unites a large German star community and amuses with funny interludes."
"Highlight of the series peppered with irony."
“'The Green Archer' is certainly one of the most high-profile Wallace films in terms of cast. Gert Fröbe is absolutely convincing as an opaque castle owner! Then there is crime expert Jürgen Roland, who only made two Wallace films, but despite all the routine, brought a breath of fresh air to the film series. "
"A scary and comical Edgar Wallace film that is crammed full of the set pieces of the genre and offers great entertainment."
Trivia
- Wallace's novel The Green Archer (German first edition 1928 as The Green Archer ) had been produced under the same title in the United States in 1925 and 1940 as a film series .
literature
- Edgar Wallace: The Frog in the Mask / The Inn on the Thames / The Green Archer . Three novels in one volume. German translation. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-442-05538-5 .
- 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 . Verlag Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005 (3rd edition), ISBN 3-89602-645-3 .
Web links
- The Green Archer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The green archer ( Memento from December 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) at deutscher-tonfilm.de
- The green archer at Filmportal.de
- Sound carrier with the film music
Individual evidence
- ↑ The green archer . In: Paimann's film lists . No. 2608 , February 15, 1961 ( Reizfeld.net ). Reizfeld.net ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The green archer . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . April 12, 1961, p. 14 ( abendblatt.de [PDF; 1.9 MB ]).
- ↑ Tuesday, January 14th; 8.15 p.m. ZDF . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1986 ( online ).
- ^ Frank Ehrlacher: film review at moviemaster.de
- ↑ The green archer. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
