"Der Würger von Schloß Blackmoor" or "The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle" is a West German German-language movie from 1963, so this one is already over 50 years old and as many of these early (Bryan) Edgar Wallace adaptations, it is a black-and-white film. And also like many of these, it runs for approximately 90 minutes, slightly shorter in fact. Also the names of the writers and cast are known to people who know a bit about these Wallace films. I am referring to the likes of Giller, Nielsen and Dor and others as well. The director is Harald Reinl, an Austrian Oscar nominee, who is most known for his Winnetou movies these days I guess. But he also made some of these Wallace films, even if most people don't know. The story here is also like in these other Wallace films. Nothing really stands out. Men of authority, stunning young women, a cop investigating, (not so) dangerous dogs, murder, some comedy etc. You really know what you can expect here if this is not the first Wallace adaptation. Kinski is not in here, which could have elevated the material at least a bit. I think with these Wallace films that if you have seen one you have seen almost all of them as they are just so very similar to each other. But the good thing is also that if you like one, then you will maybe like almost all of these. But it's really difficult to like them in my opinion. The cases are rarely as interesting as they want them to be. The acting is mediocre at best and the humor is a failure most of the time. And the title is a true give-away what this film is about, not just to which series it belongs. A strangler is killing people and the film is set in Great Britain as always. So yeah, now you see that it's all the same as in these other films as I already wrote in the title. Not worth checking out in my opinion. Thumbs down.
