Customer Reviews

Edgar Wallace Collection, Vol. 2: Curse of the Yellow Snake/The Phantom of Soho

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

 

 

I don't know why they gave CURSE OF THE YELLOW snake top billing. PHANTOM OF SOHO is far superior. It's like a cross between a Dario Argento giallo and a Fritz Lang movie. The only difference is that the victims are mainly middle-aged men. The black and white scope cinematography is beautiful. Love those shiny metallic gloves that the killer wears. (AVOID the crappy cropped print of this title from Alpha video!)

Edgar Wallace movies have a certain charm to them, some of them are really Gothic and atmospheric while others just can be really dull. This DVD contains one of each..
The first movie, the one I like the best between the 2 is called Phantom of Soho where a golden gloved murderer is killing off a specific group of people. Full of atmosphere, good characters,a clever story, blackmail and elements that make a good mystery I can recommend this one. Alpha Video had put this out a long time ago, but late last year Retromedia released this with slightly better transfer. The transfer is letterboxed from Retromedia & contains some very brief nudity (part of the movie is in a night club with dancers). The first few minutes the transfer is really bad as I think the film elements might be really damaged.
The 2nd movie The Curse of the Yellow Snake is kind of a boring movie. It has its moments & there are some parts to it which are ok but its not as atmospheric or suspenseful as Soho. It has to do with an Asian cult capturing the Yellow Snake (a piece of Asian art) used to take over the world or something like that. It is not so much a who done it. There is a blackmail subplot, one of those getting married for the money deals. The print was okay to good overall - letterboxed as well.
Both movies were in English language which I have no problem with.
There are some really expensive Region 2 Wallace box sets which are like 80.00 a set and there are at least 10 of them. The prints are remastered and contain the original German language. Id recommend these to those who can afford them and are total Wallace perfectionists that need the original language with the best transfers. Yes that is how they were shot, but the movies aren't all time classics & on top of that these movies are pretty obscure to the general public so I can accept them when Retromedia distributes. They have a following but nothing compared to Godzilla , Batman & other mainstream movies.
For me the movie works well in English and the transfers are good enough for me and not being perfect adds to the grittiness to the film. I am glad to have discovered these movies as most are really entertaining. Cozy up on the couch or bed and have a nice affordable Wallace mystery double feature (even if Soho is the better of the 2 movies, just my humble opinion) :-)
I wish Retromedia or some other company that cares about transfers would release some more of the Wallace movies

Short and simple: If you like krimi film, then this is a must buy, even if you already have Phantom on DVD. The print of Phantom is the best I've seen. These German krimi films are not always presented from 35mm, but you can tell that this DVD set used 35mm materials. Yes, there are scratches, occasional audio drops (twice, but for only a second), and a few missing frames. However, the film is one of the best krimi ever and this DVD is likely to be the best presentation we get for a long while.

The other film on the set, Curse of the Yellow Snake, is an oddity at best. It's not a traditional "detective krimi," but instead makes a mystery around a group of Chinese assassins looking to kill a man who has taken the.....yellow snake, a golden snake with the power to make armies invincible.

So, 1) If you like Phantom, buy it. 2) If you like Italian Giallo, buy it. 3) If you like kitsch genre done well, buy it.

Phantom is 2.35:1 ratio, and in beautiful black and white. Best print I have seen. Best krimi there is. Movie itself is 5/5 stars.

Yellow Snake is 1.85:1 and probably a very good print for what it is. Never saw it before this DVD set. 2/5 stars.