Customer Reviews

The Edgar Wallace Collection: Mad Executioners/Fellowship of the Frog

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a fan of Italian Giallo cinema I came to read about the Edgar Wallace and his inspiration to said giallo movies. Having read very favourable reviews on IMDB I decided to take the plunge and give this brand new Retromedia DVD a go. First thing to mention is the print damage which is most noticeable at the beginning of the Mad Executioners, but sadly occurs throughout. I managed to forgive this for such an obviously rare movie.

There is some atmosphere of the dry ice smoke machine kind and the location chosen by the titular executioners imbues the viewer with mild dread. Cinematography is good, this is a very low budget production which the skill of the set designer and camera person manage to overcome.
Unfortunately the story is developed slowly, setting up many a red herring. There are some small magic moments to enjoy which I won't spoil for you, but this is not as good a piece of movie-making I was hoping for.
Mad Executioners is presented in wide-screen. I've yet to view the second movie on this disc which sadly is non-wide-screen.
On the strength of the first film I'd find this difficult to recommend to anyone like myself taking their first dive into the cinematic world of Edgar Wallace. Perhaps another Amazon customer can recommend a better film adaptation available on DVD.

The Mad executioners is the gem of this set. Sure, the print is a little scratched here and there, but this is the best presentation available in America. Many of the Edgar Wallace dvds from Germany, although spectacular, are in PAL format, so it could be unwise to purchase them. The other film is a caper-krimi, an early entry into the krimi genre. Not going into detail, the film is good, although, again, less of what we krimi fans have come to expect of the genre.

A quick note about reviewing these films in general.....

Grading genre films like Krimi is a funny thing. I feel you have to grade the film based on its own genre. So, if you only like films such as Godfather, Taxi Driver, etc., then Krimi may seem a bit over the top and silly. However, if you truly love the genre, not for its "kitsch" factor, or in some Greenwich Village "ironic" way, then this DVD set is sure to please you!

Mad Executioners, one of the better krimi, is presented in 2.35:1 in beautiful B&W. Film itself is 5/5.

Frog is 1.33:1, which is its original format. So, there will not be a "widescreen" version. It is from 1959 and this is just the way they decided to film it. Nothing wrong with that. The film is good, above average for a second billing picture on these dvd sets. 3.5/5 stars.