★ 6 / 10
Decent and intriguing Noir Film compellingly shot by recently deceased Jesus Franco or ¨Uncle Jess¨
ma-cortes
This is an average-budget as well as acceptable film realized in ordinary style dealing with a vendetta story and denunciation ; it contains thrills , a…
This is an average-budget as well as acceptable film realized in ordinary style dealing with a vendetta story and denunciation ; it contains thrills , a criminal intrigue and lots of murders . It's a passable thriller movie directed by prolific filmmaker Jess Frank and also produced by his own production company, Manacoa Films along with Eurocine of Marius Lesoeur and Naga Films . Here Franco manages to give us an adequate ambient , an evocative production design by Antonio Cortes , being rightly narrated , including a plot about fake identity and vengeance enough to keep you intrigued throughout the flick . In this his sixth film and first about his special sub-genre : an intrigue or espionage set in exotic places , and particularly in tropical ones , though many of them filmed in his natal Malaga or Canary Islands . This is a decent Noir intrigue set in Jamaica , being professionally written , produced and directed by Jesus Franco . Based on a story by Luis De Diego and screenplay by the same Jesus Franco or Uncle Jess ; being a complex but weak script concerning an informer who executes a revelation about gunrunning , then he takes a secret identity , while some policemen bent on uncovering the dark activities of this role and ultimately the subsequent revenge carried out by unexpected characters at a twisted finale . The picture was made by the time in which Franco directed nice movies such as The sadistic Baron Klaus , Rififi En La Ciudad , Miss Muerte or Diabolic Doctor Z , Necronomicon and Gritos en la Noche , developing a consolidated professionalism , as his career got more and more impoverished in the following years, but his endless creativity enabled him to tackle films in all genres, from "B" horror to erotic films . The picture was well starred by good Spanish actors , such as Conrado San Martin as our hero , Perla Cristal and Maria Silva , who subsequently worked for Jesus Franco in "The Secret of Dr. Orloff" . The Spanish support cast is frankly fine as Adriano Domínguez , Marta Reves , Gérard Tichy , Ricardo Valle , Agustin Gonzalez , Ángel Menéndez , Fortunio Bonanova who worked in Hollywood and the great Manuel Alexandre , among others . Highlights of the movie a the jazz soundtrack sessions , the spectacularly colorful carnival party , and the well paced fights between starring Conrado San Martin along with Jamaican people against Gerard Tichy and hoodlums filled with lights and dark in intimate Orson Welles ink . In fact , Jesus Franco loved Orson Welles and imitated to him in several pictures . Atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Juan Marime filmed on Southern Spanish locations as Marbella , Malaga . Well photographed film , full of lights and shades in Orson Welles style , in fact , Franco was direction-assistant in ¨Chimes at midnight¨ and edited ¨El Quijote¨ by Welles . Good musical score by Anton Garcia Abril , Franco's usual musician , including Jazzy sessions and musical numbers . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jesus Franco , a Stajanovist filmmaker who realized 203 movies . However , here he doesn't use his trademarks , as he pulls off a traditional narration , without zooms , neither lousy pace . As the picture belongs to Franco's first period in which he made passable flicks . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly . He often used to introduce second , third or fourth versions , including Hardcore or Softcore inserts or sexual stocks many of them played by his muse Lina Romay . In many of the more than 200 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" and the second picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" , it's followed by various sequels such as El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his recent death .
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★ 5 / 10
Jazz and death
BandSAboutMovies
Jess Franco remade this in 1977 as Kiss Me Killer, but before that, this black and white slice of noir feels like an altogether different director. Sure…
Jess Franco remade this in 1977 as Kiss Me Killer, but before that, this black and white slice of noir feels like an altogether different director. Sure, there's jazz - Franco himself is playing saxophone in one scene - but this looks and feels different to me. Sure, the easy difference is the black and white, but it feels like a different kind of sexy, if that makes sense. Both this and Rififi in the City have a certain look that I'd like to have seen more often.
Years ago, a guns for money deal went wrong. Trumpet player Julius Smith (Manuel Alexandre) thought he got away with it and then one night he's spotted by Lina (Perla Cristal), whose husband Castro was killed when it all went wrong. Now, she's married to another man of loose morals, Paul Vogel (Georges Rollin), who knows way more about hos Julius died than he lets on. The cops decide to find out just how much and have a new singer named Maria Santos (Danik Patisson) join the club and get close to him. Then, Castro (Conrado San Martin) comes back, the final member of the old smuggling operation, stinging from a decade in prison.
This movie looks great, way better than its budget and I get it, it's not New Orleans, but who cares? I also love that this is an early shared universe for Jess, as The Stardust nightclub also appears in Rififi in the City. All that's missing is a jewel thief, Dr. Orloff, Lina Romay in a blonde wig (that said, she was eight when this was made), vampire women and a mist that makes women enraptured.
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80%
AUDIENCE
6.0/10
305
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