The Letterbox

KERMIT AND THE KRIMI


I have spent the past few days plowing through every Rialto Edgar Wallace krimi I can lay my hands on. (Thanks to the Kim Newman article in VW 134, I am now seriously in debt!) One in particular caused my jaw to drop. In THE HAND OF POWER [Im Banne des Unheimlichen], one charac- ter (Ramiro) is bright green— as green as Kermit the Frog! The explanation within the film is that he has a serious illness which has discolored his skin, so much so that his


78


own brother hires him as a handy-man, does not recognize him and assumes he must be West Indian, specifically Creole! Having had limited exposure to mid-’60s German film output (not much call for it in Crewe, Cheshire), I am still wearing the same grin on my face several hours after having turned off the DVD player... Is this sort of explanation common within this genre or have I missed something?


I notice that Kim made no reference to this curiosa in his review—perhaps he couldn’t believe his eyes or ears either!


Can I just say that Kim’s Wallace survey was one of my favorite articles in years? It has been a real joy to hunt down and watch a whole new genre I had never seen before! Many thanks for filling in another chunk of my cinema experience; it’s a per- fect example of why VW is so important.


Jonathan Condliffe Essex UK


Didn’t know that Tony Curtis played a Gillman, did you? Janet Leigh shows him the mail in HOUDINI.

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84