User Reviews

Prussic gas, a murderer donning a red clansman suit and hood wielding a white whip, and the murders of college school girls at the hands of paid convicts enlisted by a mysterious mastermind who keeps his face hidden within an office containing aquariums of turtles and fish. The inspectors at Scotland Yard, Higgins(IJoachim Fuchsberger)and his superior Sir John(Siegfried Schürenberg)certainly have their hands full with this case. It all seems to center around student Ann Portland(Uschi Glas), who, when she turns 21, is to inherit a great deal of wealth. The girls who are targeted share a room with Ann, but the reason for their murders remains a mystery SY's finest must figure out. The staff of the girls' dormitory all seem to be hiding something and certain members of the faculty are falling prey to the killer in the red monk robe disguise, talented enough to precisely strangle the necks of those attacked with the whip. Two prisoners are commissioned by a mystery man to use the newly created toxic gas created by a scientist murdered at the beginning of the film during what was supposed to be a monetary exchange for his creation. It's a clever scheme where a driver, Greaves(Günter Meisner)meets the convicts(..who hide in a barrel)who are assisted by a corrupt prison guard. Taken blindfolded to the secret room of the mastermind, he gives them orders on who to kill and how. Uncovering this operation is a top priority for Higgins and Sir John for it will lead them to the truth they seek in regards to the murders and why they are happening. Under suspicion are girls' dormitory headmistress, her author brother, a sweaty, incredibly nervous chemistry teacher, a snooping gardener, and the Bannister. Some are red herrings until they are disposed of, throwing the viewer for a loop each time until the real mastermind is discovered. The ending features multiple twists.

Out of the Krimi films I've seen, THE COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS is the closest to a giallo with it's colorful killer, a convoluted plot yielding lots of surprises and potential suspects, & sordid shenanigans between adults and the college girls at the dormitory. I think you can also see the influence of James Bond on this particular Krimi film with the villain mastermind's secret hideout with an alligator pit(..which isn't used), the fake bible/water pistol, when opened, fires the gas into the face of startled victims, the Greaves' Royles Royce which has latches that cause flaps to darken the windows without revealing the passenger in the back seat, and the peep holes used to spy on the girls in their rooms and while swimming. Many might consider Sir John a liability due to his bumbling, buffoonish behavior and how he often undermines Higgins' abilities to get at the truth(..perhaps poking fun at know-it-all British inspectors who harm a case more than solve it)..I felt he was used as comedy relief, particularly with his attempts at psychoanalyzing suspects and potential victims, often misunderstanding what are told to him. Higgins, using the skills adopted over his years as an investigator, instead follows the clues/facts, often avoiding Sir John as much as possible. Capable direction by the reliable Alfred Vohrer who keeps the pace humming at a nice speed, and the screenplay is full of interesting characters and lurid content..the fact that so many of the adults surrounding the dormitory are suspect, any of them might be the one wielding the whip or calling the shots behind those murdered girls' executions. I'd say this may be one of the best(..if not the best)examples of the Krimi genre, for it keeps you guessing, always one more ace up it's sleeve..the revelations unearthed at the very end are quite eye-opening(..and, you even get a literal unmasking of the real mastermind pulling the strings to top it all off).

Beyond Dario Argento and Mario Bava, perhaps the true father of the giallo is Edgar Wallace. And yes, it's somewhat strange that a British-born writer - in fact, the same man who wrote the original script for King Kong - would beget a uniquely Italian film genre, but sometimes that's how it works.

Wallace toiled in the army press corps and at London's Daily Mail, constantly skirting bankruptcy and scandal before he finally became known as the King of the Thrillers. His output was staggering - 170 novels, 18 stage plays, and 957 short stories - with him often dictating his novels just by speaking them aloud as secretaries typed them out. He often worked on three books at once, which was just as well. At one point, he wrote one in four books read in the UK.

Basically, Wallace was constantly on the run from loan sharks and bookies, so he churned out novels to keep them away. It wasn't until long after his death that his name became even more famous overseas.

Of course, Wallace's movies had been adapted for the screen for decades, starting with 1916's The Man Who Bought London and continuing throughout the 60's with the forty-seven films in the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series.

In 1959, the Danish company Rialto Film made Der Frosch mit der Maske, which started the krimi genre. These films are marked by quick zooms and hidden, yet flamboyant, supervillains. Often, these killers wear a mask and as you watch these films, you can see their influence on the giallo that would come in their wake. Indeed, the very name giallo comes from the garish yellow covers that detective novels by Wallace sported on Italian newsstands.

At the point where The College Girl Murders was made, it's obvious that the films were not adaptions word for word from Wallace, but used his titles or themes to inform new ways of telling his stories.

There are mad scientists making gases who are soon killed by a monk wearing a red robe and wielding a whip and another lethal gas weapon that's hidden inside a Bible. Yes, that's just in the first few minutes of the film.

Jazzy 60's music? Creeps staring at women from hidden windows in a swimming pool? Frustrated cops trying to put it all together, yet with a red hooded killer always one step ahead? Pits of alligators ready to menace comely young women? Uschi Glas from Seven Blood-Stained Orchids? Ewa Strömberg from Vampyros Lesbos? Yes, this film has all of that and more.

"The Monk with the Whip" has at least a few ridiculous motifs to distinguish itself from the average krimi film:

1. People are killed with books that contain a small electronic device that sprays poison mist at whoever opens them; 2. The killer, the "monk" of the title, wears what looks like KKK regalia dyed red; 3. At the all-girl boarding school some of the movie is set at, the swimming pool has an underwater window that looks into the headmaster's office, so he can observe the students swimming; 4. A bumbling detective who attempts perhaps the most inept interrogation of a suspect ever committed to film.

Aside from that, it's pretty standard late-krimi fare. Boring, hard to understand, and you can't even tell who the hero is supposed to be... or the protagonist.

"Der Mönch mit der Peitsche" is another German movie made in the late 1960s that was based on the crime novels of author Edgar Wallace. these were fairly famous back then. The director is Alfred Vohrer who made several of these and the cast also includes a couple familiar names. Uschi Glas and Joachim Fuchsberger for example showed up in several of these Edgar Wallace films, especially Fuchsberger. And bother are also actors that are still very well-known in Germany today. Also Grit Boettcher may still be a name to some. The title here says already who this film is about, as usual they included the main antagonist and this time it is a murderous monk with a whip. I must say that he did look pretty ridiculous when we saw him and I cannot say I was scared, but this is nothing new for these German Wallace movies as they usual includes a handful of comedy, sometimes more obvious, sometimes more subtle. Unfortunately the story here is not really that good. There were okay moments, but there were also some pretty weak moments that did not make sense in the grand scheme of things, such as the detective dressing up as the evil monk himself to provoke him with no references if he was even near or why he would care. Yeah, overall I am glad this was fairly short. These films rarely make it to the 90-minute mark, some even stay under 85. I give this one here a thumbs down. Not recommended.

DVD Review "College Girl Murders" By Marcus Pan

Another revival of an old 60's release, Dark Sky has put out "College Girl Murders" on DVD this year (2005). Written by Edgar Wallace of 1933's original "King Kong", "College Girl Murders" brings out the 60s in its full groovy form. All the funkadelic hijinxs of the time are whipped up in a smattering of death, gas and mad scientists with a soundtrack that would make Austin Powers shimmy away.

Dr. Kaplan, scientist of the strange, formulates an odorless deadly gas poison. His intentions of wealth are met with a whip of death at a dark night rendezvous. As the movie moves along we're treated to an elaborate jailbreak, mysterious men and a Catholic all girls' college riddled with secret passages, pervy teachers and lots of strangeness being investigated by an over-zealous police chief trying to rely solely on his recent psychological training.

The bumbling Sir John rambles from mistake to mistake with his new age psycho-babble while Inspector Higgins does his best to keep his hands around the elusive case with the arrival of a monk in red, eccentric writer, mysterious gardner and strange after hours parties where rendezvous are scheduled and mysteries conducted. As people on campus drop like flies, including two of his most important leads, Higgins tries to piece together a strange series of ritual like college girls gone dead.

A monk swathed in red shows up to whip things about and the mad doctor's poison finds its way scattered about campus as a mysterious benefactor breaks men out of prison to do his murderous bidding. Utilizing a silly looking poison gun that shoots deadly silly strings, inspector Higgins follows the breadcrumb trail of strangeness to a reptile infested home of the man behind the crimes. The final scene includes a cheeky Scooby Doo like unmasking and the final bumblings of Inspector Clueso-like Sir John.

"College Girl" Murders has a nice mix of mystery and murder while keeping it light and humorous. One detracting caveat is the voice overs being a bit off from the on-screen speakers, but considering the 1967 dating of the movie you can forgive a little distraction what-with the fact that this movie would have disappeared if it weren't for Dark Sky. I liked it - a movie that helped build the shenanigan clichés of modern slasher spoofs without being too over the top. And the mystery of it was really quite good so the plotline, while silly sounding, really isn't bad at all.

--- Originally published in Legends #152. Minor edits since.

One of the better Edgar Wallace West German made, English-dubbed late 60's color crime thrillers. A scientist concocts a lethal gas and, in the act of selling it to a high bidder gets offed by a whip wielding red frocked masked monk. From here we go to a men's prison where an inmate is smuggled out to do a dastardly deed and smuggled back in.

From there college girls at a boarding college start dropping from the poison gas. Why? Has some good atmosphere and even some spookiness. This is the first Edgar Wallace film I ever saw, on New York's Channel 9, and it got me hooked. I have the Dark Sky DVD version, and it is probably the best available. Highly recommended.