The Inn on the River

The Inn on the River (Das Gasthaus and er Themse) (1962)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Alfred Vohrer

Starring: Joachim Fuchsberger, Brigitte Grothum, Elisabeth Flickenschildt, Klaus Kinski, Eddi Arent

From: Rialto Film

I finally returned to the world of krimi and had a pretty good time. A few have been watched before and these predecessors to the giallo genre (which have more a focus on the mystery than the horror) based on the work of genre author Edgar Wallace have been a sheer delight the past several years. This continued the trend. For those new to the genre, they are German productions where the original language was German yet the setting was London and all the signs you see are in English.*

The big gimmick here is that the lead villain (The Shark; their identity is hidden until the conclusion) is a guy who wears a SCUBA wetsuit and has the lethal weapon of a harpoon fired from a speargun; the escape is done in the water… yes, this reminds me of the plot to Amsterdamned also. Inspector Wade of Scotland Yard investigates and much of the action is centered on a dive bar by the wharf called Mekka; do NOT compare it to Mecca. It is a trashy joint where you can do The Twist probably also the Tutti Frutti but it’s owned by shady characters and other nefarious folks stay there… including probable real-life villain Klaus Kinski. What misfortune for 17 year old Leila then that Mekka’s matriarch is a shrewish old lady who’s her aunt.

It's what you expect from a mystery tale—red herrings, plot twists, deaths, going undercover, a climatic showdown, mannequin hands… OK, the last detail is exclusive to this film, but for some reason Mekka has several of these on the premises. Not all the humor works but thankfully there is not much comedy at all to begin with. Mix in some atmospheric foggy scenes down at the docks and this was an engrossing motion picture the entire runtime. 

* By the way, the London setting and one scene featuring a hanging photograph of Queen Elizabeth II (done to further immerse the audience in the UK world it was supposed to be) reminds me to make a topical comment: that I have no comment on King Charles III’s Coronation that commenced just hours ago as I post this review! I’m a Yankee anyhow so my lip will be buttoned concerning this topic.