Coup de gong à Hong Kong

Lang Jeffries buys a portrait and wants to hang it on a wall in his empty mansion (His wife is divorcing him and most of the furniture is gone). He hammers a nail in the wall and a stash of "Former Government" diamond falls out. He kills the Policeman watching him and tries to flee Vietnam (in the movie they don't say the country but the novel says Vietnam), with the loot. Everyone else knows about the diamonds and chases him and his girlfriend. He trusts the local gangster Blackie Lee who, along with his brother, want the diamonds for themselves. After blowing up cars and a building, they almost escape in a helicopter but a gun battle ensues and all except Jeffries walks away. No diamonds and a dead girlfriend. Lang Jeffries is actually acting in this movie, unlike most of his work. An almost believable story. It could have been turned into a Euro-Spy with a few alterations. A rare gem indeed, well worth watching. Larry Anderson.

I heard about this adaptation of the novel by James Hadley Chase made in the late 60s but only came across the DVD very recently - and it was a German DVD, with both English and German-language versions. Overall, it is a decent film noir, with very good actors in it, even though we don't see them very often in English-language films. Lang Jeffries is excellent as a man consumed by greed; the Chilean actor Daniel Emilfork also very convincing as a creepy policeman, and the Italian Gianni Rizzio (who I remember from his cameo performance in "The Name of the Rose") as the underworld kingpin. Francesca Tu is OK as the leading man's girlfriend. So what can I say about the film today, exactly 50 years since its release? It is very watchable, and deserves to be seen. I hope it will be restored for the next edition, as it looks rather bleak on DVD. So if you like film noir and have a chance to watch this particular one, do.

A dissolute American living in a generic southeast Asian country finds a cache of diamonds, leading to complications. It's hard to reconcile the character's dissolute drunken gambler lifestyle with his job as elementary school teacher, and little else is convincing in this aimless and episodic tale. There is a little local color and a moderately interesting night club scene but events seem to follow each other senselessly, characters are introduced and eliminated, suddenly something blows up, and none of it seems connected in any way. The most notable feature of this film is some of the poorest day-for-night shots I have ever seen; people are wandering in bright sunlight under a white sky with only the sound of crickets to remind you that a moment ago they stepped out of a night club at midnight under a glowing neon sign. Eventually it seems as if they give up even trying to convince you it's actually night and there is little to make you care either way. This movie is a cultural artifact and not much more.