For sure one of the better entries in the long and qualitatively irregular series of Edgar Wallace krimi-adaptations, and this for two specific reasons. Number one: "The Strange Countess" does everything - and I do mean everything - to uphold the mystery. The plot isn't exceptionally great or convoluted, but since very few exploitations or clues are given until late in the final act, it remains a compelling movie to follow. Number two: being one of the older krimis, "The Strange Countess" also doesn't feature those daft attempts at inserting unnecessary slapstick comedy. Eddi Arent stars and, although his character is still the most annoying, he's not undermining the suspense or ruining the atmosphere for a change.

Miss Margaret Reedle, a nice 20-year-old girl without any enemies, suddenly becomes the target of several cowardly murder attempts and menacing phone calls in one day. Her stalker's identity isn't kept secret. It's good old Klaus Kinski, but why does he want to kill Margaret because he has never seen or spoken to her before? And, clearly, someone knows her life is in danger because Margaret suddenly has a private bodyguard (krimi-veteran Joachim Fuchsberger) following her around and preventing her from getting killed. When Margaret goes to work for the eccentric Countess Moron (what's in a name...) and live in her castle, the mystery only increases.

I will not reveal any further details of the plot. Again, not because the denouement or the twists are so amazing, but merely because the entire cast and crew work so hard to reveal so little, and I don't want to ruin that. The only need-to-know information is that "The Strange Countess" is a good mystery/thriller krimi, with a handful of unexpected suspense moments (the balcony sequence in particular) and a more than adequate cast (including Lil Dagover, who's been around since the silent German expressionist era, and starred in the ultimate horror masterpiece "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari").

This was an all right one. Initially, it suffers from the whole "characters being really dumb to advance the plot" syndrome, when the girls keep on getting phone calls from Klaus Kinski (who's now gone full Kinski) and the blonde keeps on dismissing them with "It's just a harmless crank," with the heroine believing her. Darling, if he knows your full name and your phone number, odds are that he knows your address too. Then not calling the police after two attempts on your life within an hour? Okay, the police were already there, in the form of Fuchsberger, but you didn't know that. Then, the same night, sleeping with the window open... on the ground floor? (Fuchsberger, just get the damned chocolates and get out, like the Milk Tray Man in reverse. Don't stand there until she wakes up and sees you and then do it!) Then the blonde getting a phone call from Kinski and going off alone to the park in the middle of the night. Really? Are you both that desperate to die?

Things get better as the story unfolds. The countess is great. Though she seems serenely lovely at first, it soon becomes clear that the title is apt and she 's more than a bit cuckoo. Eddi Arrent pretty much plays it straight here and he's not bad. I find the butler's death oddly moving.

The clinic part is very good, quite disturbing with the way the patients are treated and the situation looking dire for Heroine and Mummy Dearest. I groan a bit, though, when they bring out the old chestnut of "Marry me, or else." It seems like everything in these films always revolves around a beautiful young woman being coerced into a relationship. But then, it might be like that in real life. I'll ask my mail order bride when she arrives. Fuchsberger performs an escape from a straitjacket that would make Houdini feel so inadequate he'd quit performing and get a job at McDonalds.

It's over. Fuchsberger's had to be saved from old, scrawny, alcoholic doctor by Heroine and Fast Eddi. The countess exits with diva bravado. Eddi doesn't seem to mind too much. He and Blondie are going to make moronic babies together. Heroine, of course, walks off clutching Fuchsberger, as mandated by legal decree, rather than her newly-found mother. Walking off hugging her mother wouldn't indicate clearly enough that Fuchsberger will be serving her some tasty German salami - sorry, English sausage - tonight and the women in the audience would be furious. This is the way it has to be.

The end.

In this mystery, a young lady almost loses her life. Investigators soon discover that the attempt is linked to a murder that occurred 20-years ago.

What is there not to like here- An eccentric Countess (Lil Dagover is quite good here, polite but there's a sinister undercurrent bubbling underneath, and that's not just because she wears this high-collared dress like Countess Dracula) in a eerie manor house, prisons, asylums, a deranged Klaus Kinski, Joachim Fuchsberger doing a Houdini escape, and an outstanding performance by Brigitte Grothum who plays the young lady who gets threatening phone calls, gets almost poisoned, almost crushed by falling debris at a building site and would fall through the balcony's collapse if she has clung on in time - there are other narrow escapes in this tense thriller that ticks all the boxes in order to get one gripped. Unlike some Krimi thrillers, this has no dull spots, is fast paced and doesn't jump randomly to different scenes with different characters. It sticks mainly with the lead actress. There are so many plot hooks that it reels you in and keeps you there till the 'ende credits.