Der Henker von London/The Mad Executioners (1963)

Mysterious hooded vigilantes stringing up criminals 'beyond the law' in London and dumping the bodies in the Thames.  Scotland Yard baffled as the secret society of vigilantes keep stealing their hangman's rope for their executions.  A serial killer on the loose and criminals using the vigilantes' modus operandi to cover up their own crimes.  All in German and glorious monochrome - it can only be another Edgar Wallace 'Krimi'.  Well, sort of - while The Mad Executioners (1963), to give the film its English language title, was originally released in Germany as being an 'Edgar Wallace' film, Rialto, who made the real Edgar Wallace 'Krimis' threatened to sue, as the film was actually based on a novel by Edgar Wallace's son: Bryan Edgar Wallace.  The publicity campaign was adjusted accordingly, but didn't diminish the film's popularity.

It wasn't surprising that the success of Rialto's series of Edgar Wallace adaptations would spawn imitators and where better to find inspiration for them than with the work of his lesser known son?  Hence, a series of films were produced in West Germany during the sixties carrying his name.  While some were adaptations of his novels and stories, others simply featured screenplays worked on by Bryan Edgar Wallace.  Produced by CCC Films, the series also crossed over with the company's series of 'Dr Mabuse' films - sequels to Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse (1960) - with 1963's Scotland Yard vs Dr Mabuse, which puts the title character into the milieu of the German Edgar Wallace version of London and was based on a Bryan Edgar Wallace story.  Following the German series of adaptations in the sixties, the early seventies saw a couple of international co-productions based on Bryan Edgar Wallace stories.  Death Avenger of Soho (1971) was a German-Spanish production directed by Jesus Franco - its source novel, 'Death Packs a Suitcase' had already been adapted as part of the CCC Films series in 1962.  The Dead Are Alive (1972) was an Italian-German giallo movie directed by Armando Crispino, with American lead actors in the form of Alex Cord, Samantha Eggar and John Marley and based on a Bryan Edgar Wallace short story.  Since this decade-long blaze of cinematic popularity, Bryan Edgar Wallace has pretty much fallen into obscurity, even more so than his father.