THE COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS (1967)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

THE COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS probably doesn't resemble much about the Edgar Wallace book on which the film was ostensibly based, but this may be a point in its favor. The book sounded like a minor Gothic mystery, with some crook dressed up like the ghost of a monk and pretending to haunt a monastery on some British estate. Here, well-practiced krimi director Alfred Vohrer and his screenwriter have a girl's college haunted by a crimson-cassocked monk who's not the least bit ghostly, since he kills his victims with the expert crack of a whip that can break victims' necks. 

Surprisingly, the "Monk with the Whip" (a phrase used as an alternate title) is not the mastermind of a gang devoted to killing off several girls at the college. It's belatedly indicated that the Red Monk serves the unseen mastermind, though the film isn't always consistent on this point. The mastermind also has control of a virulent new poison gas, and he uses ordinary-dress crooks to dispense the poison upon the helpless femmes with such odd devices as gas-guns and books rigged to dispense the vapor. Why? The script doesn't spend a lot of time on motives, but suffice to say that if the viewer knows the rationale of Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders," the rationale will become evident, if no less shaky. 

Scotland Yard inspector Sir John, who's a bit of dunderhead, had already appeared in previous krimi-mysteries, and this time he's teamed with a forward-thinking young policeman, Higgins, who also becomes romantically entwined with one of the potential victims. Both the Monk and the plain-clad killers rack up a respectable number of deaths, and it should be noted that not all of them are college girls. A couple of college professors-- both of whom seem to be fiddling around with the students-- get aced as well, which to some extent defuses the notion that sex is the motive for murder. Some tension is added when the mastermind's henchmen report to HQ for instructions or for chastisement, and it's evident that the unnamed villain has been studying his Ian Fleming, since he's got such setups as a dummy-at-a-desk to distract assassins and an alligator pit.

The script does dole out just enough information to give some interesting moments to the reveals of both the mystery mastermind and the Red Monk. (To make my categories clearer, I should explain that though the mastermind is not a perilous psycho, the Monk is, and that there's even a tolerable explanation for "his" skill with the whip that has nothing to do with monkish reputations for flagellation.) I for one don't really care when this type of mystery doesn't cross all the T's and dot all the I's: I enjoy seeing stimulating visuals-- and MURDERS is at least the equal of some of the mid-level giallos in that respect.