Die Bande des Schreckens (1960)

When he is arrested at a London bank, Clay Shelton, a check forger and swindler who has been wanted for years, shoots and kills a police officer. After he is charged with murder and sentenced to be hanged, he makes a final request: that everyone involved, willingly or unwillingly, in his arrest and conviction appear before him, so he can prophesy his revenge on them. After Shelton’s execution, these warnings are initially forgotten, until Chief Inspector Long—who played a major role in Shelton’s arrest—narrowly escapes an attempt on his life. The prosecutor, the judge, and the executioner are soon mysteriously murdered. At the crime scenes, Clay Shelton, who is believed to be dead, is repeatedly seen. Since Long believes neither in ghosts nor hallucinations, he has the hanged man’s coffin opened. It contains nothing but a pile of bricks and a list of the doomed. As Long investigates further, he uncovers mysterious intrigues surrounding the attractive Nora Sanders, who works as a secretary for Mrs. Revelstoke, also on Shelton’s death list. When the banker Monkford’s twin brother is accidentally killed, Monkford decides to avenge his death with Inspector Long’s help—at the golf week in Little Hartsease, where Monkford will be present to challenge the gang. Among the guests are Long, Nora Sanders, Mrs. Revelstoke, and several plainclothes police officers. At dinner, Nora is given a ring by an unknown person. Long warns her that she is in great danger. The next morning, the real Monkford is also found mysteriously murdered in his room—shot through the telephone. Long takes Nora Sanders to safety at his father’s country estate. But the gang manages to kidnap her too. Fortunately, Inspector Long receives help from the police photographer Edwards, who recognizes one of the perpetrators in a photograph. This clue leads Long to a boathouse belonging to Shelton, where Nora is being held. But she has already been freed by Crayley, an animal lover. As they flee, they are rammed by the boat of the so-called “Boss.” Crayley disappears, while Nora is rescued by Inspector Long, who suddenly appears in a police boat. He takes her to hospital, while Crayley’s body is found with a note on his chest reading “Traitor.” Mrs. Revelstoke also vanishes without a trace. Shortly afterward, the killers kidnap Nora Sanders again from the hospital. Inspector Long learns of the abduction from a call by the “Gang of Terror” and sets off for the golf hotel in Little Hartsease, where he has been summoned. Nora is in the criminals’ hands there. After escaping an attempt on his life, Long manages to incapacitate the perpetrators—but they end up dead. Nora is freed. Meanwhile, Long’s father has alerted the police task force, and the officers storm the building. Before their eyes, the mastermind behind the murders—and the supposed ghost of Shelton—is unmasked: the missing Mrs. Revelstoke. She is Shelton’s widow, who avenged Shelton’s death with her three sons. She takes her own life with a poisoned hairpin. Long and Nora become a couple.