''The Avenger'' (german: Der Rächer) is a 1960 West German

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Karl Anton Karl Anton or Karel Anton (25 October 1898 12 April 1979) was a Bohemian-born German film director, screenwriter and film producer. Biography He was born in Prague on 25 October 1898. His father Wilhelm Anton (1861–1918) was a physician. An ...

and starring

Heinz Drache Heinz Drache (; 9 February 1923 – 3 April 2002) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1953 and 2002. He was born in Essen, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany of lung cancer. Selected filmography * '' Once I ...

Ingrid van Bergen Ingrid van Bergen (; born 15 June 1931) is a German film actress. She has appeared in 100 films since 1954. She was born in Free City of Danzig, today Gdańsk, Poland. Career Since 1954, Ingrid van Bergen appeared in more than 170 film and tele ...

and

Ina Duscha Ina Duscha (born 1935) is a former Austrian film actress.Bergfelder p.253 After marrying in 1963, she retired from the German film industry. Selected filmography * ''Labyrinth'' (1959) * ''I Will Always Be Yours'' (1960) * '' You Don't Shoot at ...

. It is based on the 1926 novel '' The Avenger'' by

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

. It was shot at the

Bavaria Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art director

Willi Herrmann Willi Herrmann (1893–1968) was a German art director. Selected filmography * '' Madness'' (1919) * '' Child on the Open Road'' (1919) * '' Jettatore'' (1919) * ''Humanity Unleashed'' (1920) * '' The Secrets of Berlin'' (1921) * ''The Maharaja ...

Plot

A number of packaged disembodied heads have been in random areas of the English countryside. In each package is a letter to the police from the killer, who dubs himself "The Executioner." Each victim is seemingly unrelated to one another. When a

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

employee is killed, Detective Mike Brixan (

) of Special Branch is called in to investigate. The only clue is that a black, four-door sedan has been seen at the scene of the crime and that the typewriter that the letters have been written on have two offset letters. When Ruth Sanders (

), the niece of the man killed and the last person to see him alive, is located as an extra working on location, Brixan discovers a page of a script that has been written on the same typewriter as the Executioner's letters. Consequently, Brixan believes that the Executioner is among the cast, crew, or parties involved in the film shoot.

Cast

as Michael Brixan *

as Stella Mendoza *

Benno Sterzenbach Benno Sterzenbach (born 3 March 1916 Osnabrück - died 13 September 1985 Feldafing) was a German cinema and theatre actor and director. Biography His first major role on stage was ''Götz von Berlichingen'' at which he played next to Ellen S ...

as Sir Gregory Penn *

as Ruth Sanders * Ludwig Linkmann as Henry Longvale *

Siegfried Schürenberg Siegfried Schürenberg (12 January 1900 – 31 August 1993) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1933 and 1974. He was born in Detmold, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany in 1993, at age 93. Although he never p ...

as Major Staines *

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor, equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality. He appeared in over 130 film roles in a c ...

as Lorenz Voss *

Rainer Brandt Rainer Brandt (born 19 January 1936) is a German film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1959 and 1986. He was born in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography Actor * ''The Red Hand'' (1960) * ''The Juvenile Judge'' (1960) as Kurt * ''Horrors ...

as Reggie Conolly *

Friedrich Schoenfelder Friedrich Schoenfelder (17 October 1916 – 14 August 2011) was a German actor and voice artist. Schoenfelder was born in Sorau/Lower Lusatia and died in Berlin. He was 94. He was the German dubbing voice of David Niven and Vincent Price. In th ...

as Jack Jackson (as Friedrich Schönfelder) * Al Hoosmann as Bhag (as Al Hoosman) *

Maria Litto Maria Litto (1919–1996) was a German ballet dancer, choreographer and film actress. In 1970, she pioneered dance programming on German television. Early life Born in Ovenhausen, Höxter, on 9 September 1919, Litto attended the town's primary and ...

as Malaiische Tänzerin *

Franz-Otto Krüger Franz-Otto Krüger (1 April 1917 – 17 March 1988) was a German film and television actor. Krüger already started his acting at Berlin theatres in 1934, but his career was interrupted by his service in the Second World War. He appeared in over ...

as Regie-Assistant Frankie *

Rainer Penkert Rainer Penkert (23 June 1921 – 11 April 2012, in Munich) was a German actor. Selected filmography * ''Our Miss Doctor'' (1940) - Bierlinger, Primaner * ''Menschen in Gottes Hand'' (1948) - Karl Renken * ''Anonymous Letters'' (1949) - Axel Brack ...

as Camera Man *

Albert Bessler Albert Bessler (15 February 1905 – 4 December 1975) was a German film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1942 and 1975. He was born in Hamburg, Germany and died in West Berlin, West Germany. Partial filmography * ''Front Theatre'' (1 ...

as News Hound

Reception

Author and film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, calling it " nAbove-par shocker". Dave Sindelar, on his website ''Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings'' gave the film a mixed review, criticizing the film's poor dubbing, and pacing. However, Sindelar also wrote, "Some of the other Edgar Wallace movies from this time feel the same way, and I sometimes wonder if the movie would fare better in subtitled form. Still, there is a sense of dark, morbid fun to the stories, and I suspect that some time in the future, another enterprising movie company will see the appeal of Wallace’s work and make their own series. And, you know, I wouldn’t mind that at all."

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

awarded the film a mixed two out of four stars, calling it "A charming mix of old dark house cliches and behind-the-scenes drama".

Release

''The Avenger'' was released on August 5, 1960 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

References

Bibliography

* Bergfelder, Tim. ''International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-Productions in the 1960s''. Berghahn Books, 2005.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Avenger, The 1960 films 1960s mystery films 1960s crime thriller films German mystery films German crime thriller films West German films 1960s German-language films German black-and-white films Films directed by Karl Anton Films based on works by Edgar Wallace Films based on British novels Films shot in Munich Films set in London Films shot at Bavaria Studios Films about filmmaking 1960s German films