This one is missing most of the ingredients
that can make the Krimi films so much fun. No mystery villain, no secret
organizations with the members in hoods, no plans of conquering the world,
no femme fatale, no torture or fiendish manners of bringing death. Two of
the usual cast of Krimi actors are on hand though - Klaus Kinsky as his usual
shady character and Eddi Arent as the comedy relief. It didn't help
that it was shot in bland black and white with the director Helmut Ashley
(who lived to 101 years old) adding no style to it. The dubbing in the English
version is particularly dull with no inflection at all. People who have viewed
the German language version seem to have enjoyed it much more. The plot is
fairly straightforward - from one of Edgar Wallace's hundreds of books I
assume - two Chicago groups of gangsters end up in London town and both engage
in criminal activities when not trying to kill each other. Scotland
Yard is of course after them.
It begins in the Plaza Hotel in Chicago
where a small group of men have gathered to play poker in a smoky room. Their
wide ties give away their occupation. They are part of the O'Connor gang.
O'Connor ignores a phone call that the number two-man, Gunner Steve (Kinski)
is making to warn them that the Minelli Gang (headed by Eric Pohlmann) is
on their way up with machine guns. The O'Connor gang gets blasted away and
for good measure a hand grenade is tossed into the room. The Plaza needs
to be more careful who they rent their rooms to. Not much later the FBI deports
Minelli out of the country. Their agent is played by Christopher Lee, dubbed
by someone else in the English version but not in the German version. The
film feels like a step down for Lee after his Hammer output but in this same
year he appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the German production of Sherlock
Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, also speaking German,
Both gangs - Minelli and Kinski who wasn't
killed in Chicago - set up shop in London and begin blackmailing the elite
- your money or your life. Being the elite they of course go with their lives.
In a very strange role Arent shows up as a butler for all the rich men who
are blackmailed and then killed. He uses it as a marketing ploy. But he really
does nothing much in the film. The
main Scotland Yard man (Adrian Hoven) is joined by Lee from America. The
two gangs begin killing one another - but none of it feels serious. In a
sub-plot the secretary to one of the murdered rich men inherits his money
and is romanced by both Scotland Yard and the nephew (Pinkas Braun) of the
dead man. She is played by a slender brunette, Marisa Mell, who has some
minor cult status. I always think of her as a blonde because of Danger: Diabolik
(1968) but she led one of those European jet set life styles and appeared
in a number of films. One of her amours was Pier Luigi Torri who at one point
was one of the most wanted escapees from prison in Europe and led law enforcement
on a merry chase for 18 months.
