Asesinato en Ciudad del Cabo

I bought this video off of EBAY sight-unseen, and was pleasantly surprised. It's actually a very entertaining, campy soap opera from South Africa circa 1985. I think it compares favorably to RETURN TO EDEN, a more well-known but similar melodrama from Australia.

In this film, Zoli Marki (misspelled "Zoli Marks" on the American video sleeve) plays "Suzie with a Zed," a young woman living a life of forced prostitution in order to repay an evil madam to whom her father owes money. Enter Howard Carpendale, who I must admit I'd never heard of before. He plays a veterenarian who travels from the bush to Johannesburg to help save the endangered Rhino. He also sings the theme song and contributes other material used for obligatory music video sequences. Elke Sommer plays an old hooker friend of Suzie's who cares about her and shows her the ropes. Elke alone makes the film worth seeing. In a completely unrestrained performance, Elke screams, dances, cries, laughs, gives inspirational pep talks, makes faces, sticks her tongue out, etc. (sometimes all in the same scene!). That's not mentioning her "singing in the bathtub" sequence, which has to be seen to be believed!

In addition to the freaked-out acting and dialogue, there is an alarming amount of animal footage in this film. Even though the bulk of the film is set in the city, there is at least one lion's face or gazelle leaping every fifteen minutes.

Almost every scene is touched with inspired madness - making for a truly surreal viewing experience.