Dead Eyes of London

Original title: Die toten Augen von London

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

1.4K

YOUR RATING

Crime Horror Mystery Thriller

Wealthy, heavily-insured men are being murdered at an alarming rate. Scotland Yard investigates and finds clues that lead to a ring of blind men, led by a mysterious "reverend."Wealthy, heavily-insured men are being murdered at an alarming rate. Scotland Yard investigates and finds clues that lead to a ring of blind men, led by a mysterious "reverend."Wealthy, heavily-insured men are being murdered at an alarming rate. Scotland Yard investigates and finds clues that lead to a ring of blind men, led by a mysterious "reverend."

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

1.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
For the first time in Rialto's Edgar Wallace series, this black-and-white film featured colored opening credits with blood-red letters on a b/w background. This tradition was kept in the future with many different colors used. Until the late '90s, the colored opening credits were always shown in black and white on German television and were sometimes unreadable.

Goofs
When Flicker-Fred falls down the elevator-well, his scream lasts 6 seconds. This would be equal to a free fall of 176 meters.

Alternate versions
Till 2003 the opening credits of the movie were shown in black & white in TV. In the theatrical version and the TV versions since 2003 they show the opening titles in red.

Connections
Featured in Monstrous Movie: Dead Eyes of London (1974)

User reviews18

Review

Featured review

6/10

The Lugosi film is superior.

This is the second adaptation of Edgar Wallace's 1924 novel The Dark Eyes of London, the first featuring Bela Lugosi in 1939. A German production, this 1961 version stars Joachim Fuchsberger as Inspector Larry Holt who investigates a series of murders, the victims all wealthy men with hefty insurance policies. Holt's enquiries lead him to believe that the killings are somehow linked to a home for blind men run by Reverend Dearborn (Dieter Borsche). Glamour is provided by Karin Baal as Eleanor "Nora" Ward, an expert in Braille who helps Holt unravel the mystery.

Not nearly as effective as the 1939 movie, Dead Eyes of London suffers from a sloppy, convoluted script and muddled direction that ultimately leads to confusion. That said, even though the plot doesn't make much sense (why were all of the murder victims spectacle wearers?), there are still things to enjoy about the film: the hulking, sightless, hairy maniac called Blind Jack (Ady Berber); a weaselly lowlife by the name of Fleabite Fred (Harry Wüstenhagen); Holt's comedy relief sidekick "Sunny" Harvey, who likes to knit; Klaus Kinski looking creepy; a few cold-blooded killings; a jazzy avant-garde score; and, best of all, a POV shot from inside a man's mouth, which is so unexpected and bizarre that it automatically earns the film an extra point, raising my rating from 4.5/10 to 5.5 (rounded up to 6 for IMDb).