DEAD EYES OF LONDON (1961)

Blind Jack, a creepy, burly, blind Tor Johnson lookalike, is stalking the foggy night streets of London. He grabs a man walking in the fog and throws him into a waiting van. The man is later found dead in the River Thames, and it's assumed that he was wandering drunk in the fog and fell in, but the coroner finds that he was killed before he hit the water, and is part of a string of recent deaths of older men all of whom had recently taken out insurance policies with one company. Because pieces of paper inscribed in braille are found on the bodies, Inspector Holt (Joachim Fuchsberger) suspects the killings are the work of Blind Jack who has a violent reputation. Holt goes to a church which functions as a home for blind pensioners where Blind Jack has been known to stay, and asks for help from the Reverend Dearborn (who is also blind) and his assistant Nora. The insurance company, owned by Stephen Judd, is also investigated. Supposedly, the payout from the policies go to charity, but suspicions remain, especially when Judd's assistant is a creepy guy named Edgar (Klaus Kinski). This German krimi is based on an Edgar Wallace novel that provided the basis for the American B-film THE HUMAN MONSTER (aka Dark Eyes of London). The plots play out similarly, though this version is stuffed with more characters and plotlines that it can really balance. Both films also have a horror movie look and feel, but they are both fairly traditional urban crime stories. This one, directed by Alfred Vohrer, has an interesting, somewhat gimmicky visual style with some surprising shots including one which, for no apparent purpose, is from inside the mouth of a man using a waterpik. It seems like a 3D stunt, but the movie was never in 3D. There is also a memorable death scene in an elevator, a TV set with an attack gun inside, and the breaking of light bulbs with bare hands to facilitate the murders—the playing of Beethoven's 5th is what sets Blind Jack on his sinister missions. Fuchsberger is fine as usual, reliable if not exciting, and Karin Baal is a slightly better than average damsel in distress. Eddi Arent is again serviceable comic relief as an assistant Scotland Yard detective who knits. Ady Berber is memorable as Blind Jack—in real life, he was a pro wrestler and later ran a successful restaurant in Vienna. Dieter Borsche deserves mention as the blind minister. Not perhaps the best of the krimi lot, but quite watchable. Pictured are Fuchsberger and Arent. [YouTube]