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A mad scientist transforms a panther into a man-like creature that escapes and goes on a murderous rampage.

This gritty, atmospheric war movie dramatizes a chapter of World War II history in which 10,000 Japanese soldiers, fearing execution if they surrendered, disobeyed their own superiors' orders and barricaded themselves in Manila's Intramuros section along with a thousand or so unfortunate civilians. The walled city-within-the-city was built by Spanish colonialists from 1590 onward. Leading Allied forces trying to wear the trapped Axis troops' resistance down is Jock Mahoney as a gruff American officer carrying a big load of guilt from a prior operation gone wrong. Shot in impressive chiaroscuro-lit black-and-white on location, this was a fairly rare U.S. coproduction at the time, though the Philippines would shortly become a hub for English- language exploitation movies (with co-directors Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon among the busiest creators of features designed for both local and overseas audiences). WALLS OF HELL must have been a bittersweet project for de Leon: during WW2 he was forced to make propaganda films by Japanese occupiers even as he secretly worked against them in the underground resistance. - Dennis Harvey

This low-budget Asian-set adventure concerns The reformed smuggler Stuart Allison finds his missing wife Marion in Hong Kong. Marion has fallen in with a bad crowd and is involved with narcotics and stolen government bonds, requiring Stuart to extricate her from her woes.