Edgar Wallace: Das Volk mit der Maske

Starting in the late 1950s, the West German box offices rang particularly loud and fierce every few months. The crime novels by the English writer Edgar Wallace run here as film versions. The first installment of the Wallace film series, which mixes crime and horror, is called The Frog in the Mask and is released in 1959. 37 more film versions follow until 1972. For thirteen years, they captivate audiences.
But the films repeated norms and patterns that dated back to the time of National Socialism. Can we learn something about ourselves today, in the time of a looming neo-fascism, by recapitulating these films?

Trailer

Im Herbst 2021 bringen wir mit Edgar Wallace: Das Volk mit der Maske eine Tour über das Gelände der Burg zu Euch, die zum Filmset für einen neuen Wallace-Streifen wird. Text von Jörg Albrecht, Lisa Danulat und Özlem Özgül Dündar begleiten uns dann. Als kleiner Vorgeschmack hier ein Trailer der Videokünstler*innen Philipp Wachowitz und Alina Schäfer.

»Hallo! Hier spricht Edgar Wallace«

Storyboards

For the texts of the authors Jörg Albrecht, Lisa Danulat and Özlem Özgül Dündar, the fabulous Michael Graessner created storyboards in our pandemic-related online workshop for the project, which we share with you here.

Virtual exhibition

Students of the WWU Münster (M.A. Kulturpoetik) have jointly developed a virtual exhibition in the seminar of Prof. Dr. Andreas Blödorn: Edgar Wallace - 'German Grusel': Between Pop Culture and Moral Portrait of the 60s. [A critical look at Germany's longest-running motion picture series].
It comprises three chapters: 1. genre and seriality, 2. space & society and 3. sexuality & violence.

Zur virtuellen Ausstellung

The E-Journal in the PARADIGMA Chair Series

Parallel to the virtual exhibition, there is an accompanying booklet as a special volume of the German Studies Institute's e-journal PARADIGMA, which we are pleased to link here.

Zum E-Journal