Whether or not one views Der Schwarze Abt aka The Black Abbot as
the 13th or 15th of the German post-war Wallace series depends how you look at
it: two earlier Wallace films of the 15 to the date of this movie's release, Der
Racher / The Avenger (1960 / German trailer)
and Der Fluch der Gelben Schlange / The Curse of the Yellow Snake (1963 /
German trailer),
were not Horst Wendlendt Rialto productions; purists, therefore, do not count
them as among the "real" German Wallace films, despite the fact that
they also shared many of the same actors and, in the case of Der Schwarze Abt
and Der Fluch der Gelben Schlange, the same director, Franz Josef Gottlieb (1
Nov 1930 — 23 July 2006).
We took a small look at Der Schwarze Abt last year
in Part II
of our RIP career review of Joachim "Blacky" Fuchsberger, where we
call it the 13th Wallace film. Recently we had the pleasure of re-watching it,
and while it really wasn't quite as good as we remembered, we did enjoy it — as
did our company that evening, who had last seen the movie around 30 years ago,
when she was a wee lass much too young to even be described as prepubescent;
she marveled greatly at the fact that once upon a time, the movie scared her
poopless. It didn't now, and won't anyone — unless the viewer happens to be too
young to even be described as prepubescent.
The Black Abbot is often claimed to be the
first Wallace film to move away from straight crime and into the
"Gothic", we would tend to disagree: Harald Reinl's Der Fälscher vonLondon
(1961 / trailer),
which shares the same castle as its setting — Schloss Herdringen as Chelford
Manor (Abbot) or Longford Manor (Fälscher) — also moves well into the Gothic,
possibly even more so due to the movie's Expressionistic touches and all the
scenes of Jane (Karin Dor) running around darkened hallways in her white
nightgown.
Between the two movies, we really must say
that Reinl's film is the superior one, which isn't to say that the movie here
doesn't have its high points, including an exceptionally effective Klaus Kinski
as the two-face butler and a convincingly nutso Lord Harry Chelford (Dieter
Borsche of Der Henker von London [1963 / trailer],
Die toten Augen von London [1961 / English trailer]
and Der Pfarrer von St. Pauli [1970 / TV trailer]).
Like all Wallace films, the plot is
confusing and difficult to follow and pretty all over the place, but unlike so
often in the series, the ridiculous aspects and the logical parts do jell to
create a relatively comprehensible and linear plot, providing you listen
closely. Hell, even the first murder gets explained, as does the whole subplot
involving an old lady in black that shows up once or twice and a bearded man
who pops up out of nowhere to steal documents from a secret passage. So listen
carefully and you'll be able to follow the plot as well, despite all the
characters that flit in and out and about the movie. (Red Herrings and too many
characters are the salt and pepper of German krimis, after all.)
The two main threads around which the film
is constructed and the bodies fall are, firstly, that of a lost hidden treasure
at Chelford Manor and, secondly, the lead female Leslie Gine (Grit Boettcher of
Der Mönch mit der Peitsche [1967 / German trailer]
and [Der Tod im roten Jaguar 1968 / German trailer]),
a relatively colorless and uninteresting woman that, for some odd reason, a
variety of men are enamored with — including her arranged husband-to-be,
the slightly unhinged Lord Harry Chelford (Dieter Borsche), who's also obsessed
with finding the treasure, the crooked Fabian Gilder (Werner Peters, of the
masterpiece of East German post-war cinema, Der Untertan aka The Kaiser's
Lackey [1951 / German trailer]),
and the possible good guy Dick Alford (Joachim Fuchsberger), who is reticent
about his feelings as she is promised to his cousin Lord Harry Chelford, for
whom he works as steward of the manor. Other figures of more and lesser
importance slink around in the shadows of the castle, all pursuant of their own
secret or not-so-secret agendas. Who is the good guy and who is the bad? For
most of the movie you don't know, though you can be assured that, like the
wet-rag lead female lead, the Scotland Yard Detective
Puddler (Charles Regnier of A Study in Terror [1965 / trailer])
and his comic sidekick Horatio W. Smith (Eddi Arent) are good guys.
While an enjoyable Wallace, and perhaps
even one of the better ones, The Black Abbot is a bit slow now then, visually
and narratively. Some of the camerawork is rather inventive, if not humorous,
but often enough it is also rather staid and stiffly blocked. Also, there is a
lot of dialog in the movie: sometimes it seems as if all that really happens is
that characters meet and talk, and then meet others and talk, and then re-meet
again and talk. Nevertheless, there are a few murders and the big showdown in
the cellar (if somewhat clumsy in how its staged) is fun enough and nicely
ironic and is pretty good — though, as often is the case in the Wallace films
featuring Eddie Arendt playing a dolt, he shows up to do a last gag which ruins
the mood. Still, on the whole The Black Abbot is a fun and entertaining krimi and Wallace flick, and perfect for a rainy afternoon.
Director Franz Josef Gottlieb, by the way,
was a highly prolific Austrian director. He followed The Black Abbott, his first
Rialto Wallace film, with yet another Rialto Wallace film (Der Gruft mit dem
Rätselschloß [1964 / German trailer]), a
couple of Bryan Edgar Wallace films, a few Wallace imitations, an even larger
number of dumb sex comedies, and a couple of low-brow classics, including the
eternally entertaining Lady Dracula (1977 / German trailer).
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