I'm toying with the idea of putting together a little book / booklet on the krimi films, along the lines of the Midnight Media giallo and slasher series or Tough to Kill: The Italian Action Explosion, as a sort of viewer's guide, nothing too heavy or serious.
This post is just really to gauge interest, to see if there would be any and also so see if you have any ideas for what could be used as ratings icons - e.g. bowler hats, London towers, Kinskis?
13 comments:
Nice idea, but I don't know how popular the genre really is - I enjoy the krimi films, but it seems to me as if many giallo fans are disappointed by the lack of gore and sleaze.
As for the ratings system: I reckon you'd have to use butlers (resp. Eddie Ahrend (sp?)) - fits in well with the idea of "Englishness" those movies always projected and the comic relief is also unique to the krimi.
Alternatively go with a flexible rating system - two whip wielding monks out of 5, 3 gorillas out of 5, etc.
You raise a good point.
I'm not sure how popular the krimis are either outwith Germany. I would be interested in knowing whether giallo fans tend to then look at other Italian filone or horror type stuff from elsewhere.
What is the typical path through this stuff, if there is one, and how much tolerance does one need to watch, say, a Decamerotic or how much is down to the availablity of decent looking versions in a language the viewer can understand.
I don't know how keen you're on collaborations and/or sharing ideas, but you could try and talk to the guys from Teleport-city (.com) - they reviewed some krimis and seem to have a fairly good idea how popular those movies are (in the States).
Being one of those Giallo fans that has not seen a single Krimi yet, I would find the book a useful starting point into the genre. I really enjoy the Giallo and Slash Hits books that Midnight Media put out.
Sutekh, you probably have seen some late krimis without necessarily being aware of it.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage , Cat o Nine Tails, What Have You Done to Solange and Seven Blood Stained Orchids were all Italian-German co-productions marketed in Germany as films in the krimi series; they tended to like titles with Mystery and Puzzzle in them - Bird became the Mystery of the Black Gloves, for example.
Each of those also has krimi regulars in the cast - Werner Peters, Joachim Fuchsberger, Uschi Glass etc.
As someone who has just started getting into Krimis, and very much enjoyed the ones I have seen so far, I would be more than happy with a little Krimi guide.
They offer a whole different kind of entertainment. The ones I have watched are knowingly silly and campy and pleasurably escapist fun.
If you do decide to go ahead with it, good luck!
Nadeem.
I have to (slightly) disagree with your krimi/Giallo comment - while it's true that some of the early Gialli doubled as krimis in Germany, the German versions were usually recut (mostly to remove some of the violence and nudity, but also to rearrange sequences, add new intros/outros, etc.). Most krimi fans also consider the Italian/German co-productions to be the worst krimis ever produced and while I don't necessarily agree, I don't think they make for a particular good starting point either.
Fair point, and I would have to admit that I've seen most of the late krimi / gialli crossovers in their giallo forms.
As a starting point, it maybe depends on where someone is coming from, whether these films provide a route in for the giallo viewer or just really showcase something that isn't particularly representative of the particular qualities of the krimi.
Thanks for your comments - it's always good to get as many perspectives as possible :-)
do you happen to know the book "hallo! hier spricht edgar wallace" by joachim kramp? (http://www.amazon.de/Hallo-spricht-Edgar-Wallace-Kriminalfilmserie/dp/3896026453/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220201672&sr=1-1) this one has it all, though in german language only. but the 500 pages contain at least as many illustrations (colour & b/w).
the funny thing, from a german point of view, is that in germany "krimi" is a term used for all kinds of crime movies and books, that would include everything from film noir to poliziottesco to edgar wallace. i am not a great fan of the "krimi" (as opposed to krimi), while they usually have great atmosphere, in other places they are just too silly. but as they used to say (and still do): the best thing about the edgar wallace movies is always klaus kinski. and you have to consider in how far you have to include a lot of the earlier jess franco movies, being german co-productions and featuring many german veterans of the edgar wallace movies.
I think the problem with using the gialli as a starting point is what I referred to in my first post - once you get to the "real" krimis, there's a good chance the lack of gore and nudity and the far sillier feel of the movies will disappoint you.
Btw.: http://www.deutscher-tonfilm.de/ewallace1.html is a very nice krimi/Wallace page (in german though).
I am a big fan of Euro-cult and support almost everything that comes out which was made by fans for fans so I would definitely by your publication for my Euro-cult library!
Good Luck!
www.marisa-mell.blogspot.com
Hi Keith,
I think it's a great idea. I know next to nothing about the Krimi genre so a pocket book (A5 or smaller please!) would be very useful, just as long as there's a way of reading about the films without having the plot given away (Midnight Media's Giallo series does this well - Blazing Magnums on the other hand...). Would you make it available on Lulu or print it up youself?
I'd be very interested too. Krimis are something I've only really dabbled in. There's definitely a niche in the market for a 'Giallo Scrapbook' type guide.
It seems to me that they're still quite 'under the radar' (at least to Anglophone audiences) compared to the gialli, spag westerns, sword and sandal etc...
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