"Der Henker von London" or "The Mad Executioners" is a west German movie from 1963 and as this one is already over 50 years old, it is still a black-and-white film. The director is Edwin Zbonek, who is not too well-known anymore today, but some people may still have heard of Robert A. Stemmle who adapted the novel by Bryan Edgar Wallace. And the latter is the son of Edgar Wallace, who followed in his father's footsteps and is responsible for this mix of crime, drama and horror. The lead actor is Hansjörg Felmy and he is also still somewhat known today and movie buffs from Germany may be familiar with his name and also with Dieter Borsche and Werner Preiss. Sadly, this decent cast did not result in a quality movie in my opinion. The premise isn't bad about a group of vigilantes who killed (alleged) criminals, but the longer this 90-minute film runs, the more is loses focus I felt. At the end, I did not really care for anybody anymore, let alone the action and plot. This one does not stand out compared to other Wallace films (and there are quite a few),but then again i have never been a fan of these anyway. I f you like the Rialto films more than I do, then maybe you will even like this one. I give it a thumbs-down though. Not recommended.

The Mad Executioners is a solid but flawed film.

The plot's terrific and the ending's pretty neat, problem is that you're not invested in the characters enough. Which is also part of why the ending works. That and it makes his decision to let his girlfriend be bait a bit more understandable, but still stupid. Ann getting in the car with them following on foot, really stupid. John walking right up to the doctor with his gun pointed at him and the doctor with a knife, incredibly stupid. She tries to buy time, but just goes along with everything. Obviously don't drink the tea, say you don't drink tea and don't go down into the lab, come on to him or something. The hooded executioner scenes don't work that well because they're grabbing unknowns and the hangings aren't shown. It gets better as it goes though.

This is an above average Edgar Wallace thriller.Some creepy opening scenes set the pace. A hooded society passes judgement on criminals"beyond the reach of the law".They are hung and dumped into the Thames river.A hangman's rope from Scotland Yard is repeatedly stolen and used in the executions.Is there a member of Scotland Yard in the society? An inspector tries to find out.A phoney society is set up by criminals and quickly brought to an end.In the meantime a serial killer is beheading young women and absconding with their heads.

The serial killer while tying into the society feels like it came out of another movie (a sci-fi flick).The killer is a scientist trying to attach living heads to a robot's body. This drags the film down from a being a superior film. All in all still a minor classic.