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Saturday, June 1, 2013

Phantom Of Soho (1964)

Starring Dieter Borsche, Barbara Rutting, Hans Sohnker, Peter Vogel, Helga Sommerfeld
Directed by Franz Gottlieb

A Scotland Yard inspector tries to discover the identity of a killer who stabs several people to death in London's Soho district.
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

One of several German adaptations filmed in the 1960s of the works of novelist Edgar Wallace, this is an intriguing mystery with some good suspense and touches of humor.  In one of the filmmakers' best visual ideas, the murders are all filmed from the killer's point of view showing a flash of their ghostly hands and the gleaming knife, but leaving us to guess at their identity and why they seem so fearsome to the victims.  As the screenplay drops hints here and there as the film progresses, it takes us on a twisting journey which I found very involving.  There's some unnecessary brief nudity in scenes within a seedy nightclub, but otherwise I found little at fault in this film.

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