This is one funky crime-thriller, or Krimi, since it's a German movie after all.
This movie and it's story are both being quite silly. It's really a product of the '60's and it does nothing to conceal this. It's a type of movie Austin Powers used to make fun of. It has silly weapons (a gun that sprays gas, a bible that kills), a stupid evil criminal plot, people who do silly and unlikely things in general, silly James Bond like villains, that live in a lair with crocodiles and other sea animals surrounding the villain, who sits with his back to the camera in a chair and who we can only hear speak. This really seems like the German answer to James Bond's growing popularity. But luckily the movie also doesn't take itself very serious. It has fun, almost quirky like characters and some good comic relief as well, from time to time.
The movie is being based on a Edgar Wallace novel, that were quite popular, not in the very least because Edgar Wallace was also the author of King Kong. A whole series of movies got made of his books. The books were actually a lot older than the movies, so it's hard to say how much of the silliness actually comes from the books themselves. Probably very little and the books in essence were mostly being serious crime-thrillers, with always a mysterious villain, that inspector Higgins had to unmask.
The movie is just basically a whole lot of fun. The villains, the silly plot, all of the other characters, it's funky '60's style and atmosphere, all make this a very likable movie. This really is the movie its strongest point, since if you have to look at this movie deeper and more serious you really can't call this movie a good one at all. The story and storytelling is far from likely or well done, so overall you can really call this movie a bad one, if you look at it very strictly. But luckily nobody will be able to, due to the funky silliness of this movie. Everybody will probably get taken by it and will enjoy this movie because of that.
A great guilty pleasure movie.
7/10
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