I like low-budget thrill-packed international intrigue films, and maybe you do too. This '63 effort really does fill that bill in the way only a late-night UHF-TV offering from the sixties and seventies could, with longtime English star John Bentley playing an Amerigan jack of somethingorother who becomes the bodyguard of a stripper after some toughie tries to assassinate her in a Trieste nightspot. That's only the beginning, what with yet another gal (who previously put her cigarette out on Bentley's hand and I don't think she was ever a member of Circle One!) and two World War II turncoats on the hunt for some treasure that the Nazis had stashed somewhere in Africa, and if you don't think that the more suspicious amongst the batch ain't gonna do all they can to grab the moolah for themselves then buddy are you mistaken!
It's actually good enough to keep your attention, though if you were watching this on some late-night UHF outlet you might be battling to keep awake before the National Anthem. Bentley is fine as the male he man lead, sorta reminding me of Dick Powell without the crooning while Faten Hamama does a pretty good Eyetalian even if she's from Egypt. And Anita West as the stripper is also pretty snazz-o even if there's something about her that makes me think she'd rather be auditioning for the lead in MARY POPPINS. The other two guys are slimy enough with John Gabriel as the mid-aged British sell-out and Ferdy Mayne as the Nazi waiting for a comeback to the point where I'm sure some of you'll be rooting for 'em the same way I find more empathy with the Germans and Japanese in World War II-era propaganda films because well...they sure ain't the squeaky clean two-shoe types that unfortunately peppered up "our" side!
But Bentley's natural acting ability and downright cool'll keep you from going total Third Reich with his nonchalance and standing up for everything manhood used to be before the great nut-lopping began way back in the seventies. For that alone you should see SHADOW OF TREASON lest what passes for manhood in today's world give you that automatic vasectomy that so much of today's "entertainment" seems bent on doing whether we like it or not!
No comments:
Post a Comment