Margheriti or Mario Bava at their cheesiest. It’s derivative of the Bond films made to that point, particularly DR. NO and GOLDFINGER, but it also points ahead to where Roger Moore’s adventures would later take that series, from a vantage that has almost, but not quite, reached the point of Continental Op. As a director, Parolini is much more antic than either Bava or Margheriti and his film, which he co-authored, feels carried away at times by his inability to control his invention, re- sulting in a story that is pleasing to the eye though overplotted to the point of incoherence. Highlights include a giallo-like sequence that is revealed, as in a Jess Franco film, as a stage performance; Oberon’s retinue of blonde, bare-navelled, gun- toting defenders; Jo’s fancy wardrobe closet, which houses nude female mannikins draped in his sar- torial splendor (what would Freud say about this?); and a world-class island explosion at the end that sends a literal ring of fire sky-high.
Parolini’s ambition within his means is remark- able: the Serbian locations are impressive, the scale model and pyrotechnical effects are quite good, and Brad Harris steals the film with a variety of impressive stunts, including a cliff dive that makes the one in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID seem reticent by comparison. The film is at- tractively shot in Techniscope by Francesco Izzarelli (who also supervised the camerawork in Harris’ earlier peplum films with Parolini), whose crew consists of camera operator Emilio Varriano (who went on to serve the same function on several Bava films in the 1970s) and assistant Sandro Mancori (who went on to photograph several Margheriti films after the death of his first principal photog- rapher Riccardo Pallottini). Mladen Gutesa’s score, which includes the “I Love You, Jo Walker” theme sung by Angelina Monti, reflects careful study of what made John Barry’s Bond scores work and shares something of their early panache. At the center of all this accomplishment are Brad Harris and Tony Kendall, with Harris com- porting himself with greater confidence onscreen. Kendall (who had previously played Daliah Laví’s fiancé in Bava’s THE WHIP AND THE BODY) looks reasonably like early Connery in his snap-brim hat but plays Jo Walker as someone who imagines himself to be a cool operator rather than some- one who genuinely is. He’s self-conscious and spoofy in a way that doesn’t complement or flat- ter the more ambitious work being done in the other departments. He’s a bit like Telly Savalas with hair, a likeness that becomes amusing when Tom Rowland reprimands Jo’s constant cigarette- begging by advising him to suck lollipops instead.
The source print carries the KISS KISS... KILL
KILL title card in widescreen, with the German title sequence preserved among the extras. The 2.35:1 picture quality is spectacularly vivid for a non-HD presentation, making the best possible impression. The 2.0 mono track is very good in English; when the German track breaks into the English audio in three segments—two short, one more lengthy— deleted from the American release, it’s hobbled by an unfortunate hiss. The extras consist of a German trailer (2m 7s) made up of alternate takes and angles; a German Super 8 condensed version (17m 27s) that runs, at 1.66:1, from Pamela’s abduction to the island explosions; and examina- tions of the German film-programme, pressbook, posters and stills.
KOMMISSAR X: DREI GELBE KATZEN
“Kommissar X: Three Golden Cats” aka DEATH BE NIMBLE, DEATH BE QUICK 1966, 91m 50s, €20.90, PAL DVD-2
The series’ first sequel was directed by Rudolf Zehetgruber, reportedly more of a narcissist and
autocrat than was amiable kook Parolini and not much liked by the two stars. Regardless of any- thing that might be said against Zehetgruber, the series as a whole would be of considerably less in- terest without DEATH BE NIMBLE, DEATH BE QUICK, which is its GOLDFINGER. It’s an altogether more stable, confident and audacious film than KISS KISS... KILL KILL, though once again the plot points are not very clearly delineated. Though it was the second of three Kommissar X films released in the same year, it was shot in a variety of exotic locations including Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. The title refers to an ancient gnostic sect, re- cently revived as a criminal organization whose lim- ited membership all carry with them an ivory carving of a Cerebus-like three-headed feline. The threesome consists of Nitro (Siegfried Rauch), who unbelievably carries loose vials of liquid nitroglyc- erine in the inside pocket of his jacket; King (Dan Vadis), a bald-pated, well-muscled, karate-killing villain who ceremoniously dons a black belt headband prior to dealing out death; and Sunny (H.D. Kalatunga), a Ceylonese local without obvi- ous talents who bites the dust early on. At this point, another off-camera ringleader is introduced, communicating his instructions to the others by telephone.
Jo Walker and Tom Rowland get involved in this latest case when a man named Rogers (Paul
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