Review "Amulett des Todes"/Cold Blood 1975 Rutger Hauer goes German Krimi

 Given the impeccable talents involved in this late-style Krimi this has got to be good, right? Oscar winning Michael Ballhaus is behind the camera and Krimi-legends Horst Frank (Cat O'Nine Tails, The Head, Vegeanace of Fu Manchu asf.), Günther Stoll (Return of Sabata, Castle of Fu Manchu, What have they done to Solange), Vera Tschechova (Die Gruft mit dem Rätselschloss, Playgirls of Frankfurt and of course "The Girl with the Cat's Eyes"), Walter Sedlmayer (!!!) (People in the Net) and of course Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Hitcher) are in front of it.

Slight suspicion creeps in as the script was written by a guy whose biggest accomplishment in the movie industry had been "Pornography in Denmark" a few years before and it is directed by Ralf Gregan, a comedian that had previously done such epics like "Five Bunnies on the Loose" (idmb-score: 3.4) and most notably the Edith Teichmann (Green Archer) sc epic "The Sinful Bed" that also stars another Edgar Wallace woman with Heidrun Hankammer. The score is provided by one Rolf Brauer who is remembered best for his "astounding" work on Jess Franco's "Virgin Report" -...- or not.

I honestly had no idea what to expect with this "Amulett des Todes" / Amulet of Death - that is better known as "Cold Blood" in englishspeakingcountry.

We start with a nice montage of school-teacher Corinna (Tschechova) having her last day at school. She is about to quit and will spend the next days in her cottage in  the woods. Arriving there she notices strange things that indicate that someone had been there in the meantime. 

She then witnesses a blonde man (Hauer) being persecuted and shot right in front of her window. The hunters enter the house to "capture" her and take care of the wounded and finally the "Boss" (Frank) arrives to bring things down to business. The movie is called in english and italian "Cold Blood" with a hint to the Capote story. But what could have turned into an ugly home-invasion plot thankfully (or not) is resolved as they all decide to leave but take Corinna with them in her car to care for wounded Hauer.

He obviously is in far better shape than thought as he is able to kill Horst Frank and Corinna and him flee in her car. The other two follow. On the pursuit, we get a nasty scene of the bullet taken out of his body by a doctor with a gun held to his head by Corinna (fake) and a real injection. 

The two are able to shake off their not-so-bright hitmen and now Rutger tells his story: He had been a pilot in the Luftwaffe, then went private and had to accept smuggling jobs by Horst Frank to pay his depths. Eventually he cashes in big-time and leaves with 1 million Marks. Naturally, the gang is not too happy.

Finally we end up at a castle where Rutger's friend Walter Sedlmayer lives, because Rutger has hidden the money there. Naturally the two killers show up and things boil down (including a twist-ending). And yes, and there is an amulet in there (like the green pin on "Solange") tangling between the bare breasts of Tschechova. Good enough for me.

With a surprising amount of blood and a stunning photography by Ballhaus (Goodfellas, Bram Stoker's Dracula), a very surprising early syntheziser score (1974!!!) and very good performances by all actors this is only let down a bit by the direction of Ralf Gregan, who obviously is not able to handle the amount of talent given to him. 

Nevertheless the movie is very nicely filmed, moves at a good pace and has strong performances (with Hauer actually being the most unconvincing of them all).

Rutger Hauer is here in his early roles and the only one dubbed - not because he was not able to speak German (as everyone in his generation in the netherlands, German had been obligatory at school), but because the Dutch accent would not have suited his role. This is one of the two movies Hauer made directly after his breakout "Turkish Fruits", the first one being "Pusteblume"/ Hard to Remember which had been directed by Krimi (and sleaze) legend Adrian Hoven. That, though, is slightly forgettable as it is basically a cheap rehash of "Turkish Fruits". Notable here that his co-star is aforementioned Heidrun Hankammer, who  had been a regular "star" for the sc-epics directed by Gregan and later appeared as uncredited extra in "Nonstop Nonsense", so one would assume that this was the connection that led to this movie...

Hauer and Hankammer, whatever, in "Pusteblume"

I certainly have a weak spot for Horst Frank ever since he had to stop his performance in a theatre because I was throwing things at him from the audience (man... I was 14.... sorry, Horst) and it is a pleasure to see the steel-eyed sociopath that he was in full glory in this movie. 

Tschechova is also very good and is naturally not afraid to show a lot of skin. Our two killers verge on the edge of comedy with basically playing Stan and Ollie, but they do it mostly straight. But we knew... they never had a chance to succeed.

Ralf Gregan would finally hit the big time when he was able to produce "Nonstop Nonsense" with his old left-wing comedy buddy Dieter Hallervorden for national TV and then proceed to direct the "Didi" movies that evolved out of this.

Hauer and Ballhaus went to Hollywood and made it big. Tschechova got recognition as a serious film producer and was in steady demand for the rest of her career. Horst Frank also was big until the mid 1980s but had not thought about getting old, living on social care in his latter days. 

Sedlmayer became a very popular actor on Bavarian television, becoming some kind of projection figure of Bavarian identity. He was brutally killed by his adopted son, revealing dark secrets that show a much darker side. There should be Krimi!-Special issue about all the Krimi-participants that were later murdered. I already got a list....

With Hauer making it big, the movie was released in a lot of foreign markets on video.

Verdict: Not at all a wasted movie. And comedy-director Gregan really tries to keep it straight, but it sadly is not his metier. A near-miss or a near-success, depending on what you expect. But very entertaining. And a feast for all Horst Frank fans. It does score two points higher on the Giallo-Scoreboard than on the Krimimeter thanks to a very nice 70ies feeling, created by the extravagant synthie-score and the exquisit camerawork that make a very impressive combination.

The DVD I saw had a 1:1.37 ratio and an english spoken (by Germans) track. It ran 84 minutes on PAL (=90 minutes in reel-time) and is supposed to be uncut, the international versions are supposed to be cut, running  1:22 h.

I liked it.

HERE IS THE SUBBED GERMAN THEATRICAL TRAILER

 

If you like this cover, the original artwork
is currently on sale...

Tschechova and Elvis. She nearly became Mrs. Presley...

... and another one