The Monster of London City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Monster of London City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 21, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Eureka! Entertainment's Terror in the Fog: Wallace Krimi at CCC collection.

Eureka recently released Mabuse Lives!, a really fun box set featuring six early to mid-sixties efforts that reintroduced the enigmatic title character to global audiences, including the first film in the series which offered a "return visit" from "founding Mabuse director" Fritz Lang. A number of the supplements on that set allude to some of the films in this set, since both the Dr. Mabuse productions and these so-called Wallace Krimi films were the brainchild of one Artur (also spelled as Arthur) Brauner, a German impresario who founded Central Cinema Company (CCC) in 1946 as his nation was in the throes of recovering from the disasters of World War II. Brauner was an absolutely fascinating man as is evidenced not just by his studio's output, but also his own personal history, a lot of which is discussed in passing by his energetic daughter Alice, who is featured in interviews included both in the Mabuse Lives! set and this one as well. One of Brauner's early producing "revelations" was that while, yes, he could produce "message" films that were important to him, he needed to fund those efforts with other less portentous offerings that would appeal to a broader demographic. Therefore, as Alice mentions, while his earlier career had a number of rather interesting and distinctive films that may not have had mass market appeal, Brauner actually had to wait until after series like the Mabuse and Wallace Krimi franchises raked in enough dough for him to really concentrate on films about a central focus of his, the effects of the Holocaust on European Jews. And in fact part of Brauner's entrepreneurial spirit was keeping track of other studios' successes, perhaps none more so than more or less direct competitor Rialto Film. When Rialto had huge hits with their line of Edgar Wallace krimi films, Brauner rather smartly if perhaps just a bit deceitfully entered into a deal with Edgar's son Bryan Edgar Wallace for the rights to that Wallace's writing, but probably more importantly, to that Wallace's name, which then allowed Brauner to market films with a supposed Wallace imprimatur that quite frequently had next to nothing (and in some cases, absolutely nothing) to do with Wallace.

If The Phantom of Soho kind of dabbled in Jack the Ripper adjacent territory, The Monster of London City goes whole hog and/or Whole Whitechapel, as the case may be. There's also a "meta" aspect at play (play being the operative term), with a stage version of Jack the Ripper's exploits starring an actor named Richard Sand (Hansjörg Felmy). Could he, somewhat like the character played by Ronald Colman in A Double Life, be taking "method acting" a bit too seriously? Well, there have been a series of grisly Jack the Ripper style murders afflicting London (or at least this series' kind of comical approximation of it), which gets Inspector Dorne (Hans Nielsen) involved. Suffice it to say there is a rather tangled web of interrelationships offered in this tale, including a love interest played by Marianne Koch, a woman who turns out to be at least as perceptive a detective as some of the ostensible police on the case.

The Monster of London City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Monster of London City is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This film arguably has some of the most pronounced noir stylish tendencies of the entire series, at least in some quasi-stalking and/or attack scenes, and this transfer offers some really crisp imagery with solid contrast and appealing detail levels, even in what are often rather wide framings (something that kind of ironically tends to increase claustrophobic tension as various potential victims are being chased). In closer framings, fine detail can be commendable. Some surprisingly fulsome shadow detail is available in a number of intentionally shrouded scenes in the theater in particular. There are some very brief anamorphic oddities I'm chalking up to lens deficiencies. Grain resolves without any issues.

The Monster of London City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again as with the other films in this set, The Monster of London City features LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks in either German or English, though in this particular case, I frankly didn't hear much variance in amplitude in toggling between the tracks. Both show just the barest hint of minor distortion in the opening masthead music, but the bulk of the diagetic music sounds fine. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Monster of London City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction by Tim Lucas (HD; 7:44) is available as a standalone supplement or under the Play Menu where it is authored to lead directly to the main feature.


• Audio Commentary by Kim Newman & Stephen Jones


• Passing the Knife: From Krimi to Slasher (HD; 18:24) is a fun video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. She does cover the intermediary step of the giallo.


• The Monster of London City German Trailer (HD; 3:28)

The Monster of London City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are a few other tethers to A Double Life that this outing offers, for those who may want to screen an admittedly weird double feature. The mystery here may not be overly compelling, but this is strong on mood and some of the angst provoking stalking scenes are really creatively shot. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements appealing. Recommended.