Fünf vor 12 in Caracas

With Love from Venezuela - adventure film from the Rapid Film factory with George Ardisson and Harald Leipnitz

Since 1962, Wolf C. Hartwig (1919-2017) and his Rapid-Film had become experts in the production of adventure films set in exotic locations. These GERMAN ADVENTURE FLICKS were shot like on an assembly line - mostly in Hong Kong, Beirut or Bangkok, here for a change in the oil paradise of South America. After this film, Hartwig devoted himself to more ambitious and cost-intensive projects: two years later, "Lady Hamilton - Between Shame and Love", the most expensive West German film to date, was to be released in cinemas.

In beautiful Venezuela, the attractive Giorgio Ardisson (1931-2014), the "Italian James Bond", was once again at the start. In the role of private snoop Jeff Milton, he is on the trail of a kidnapped millionaire's daughter (Christa Linder), who was taken on a beautiful Caribbean beach due to her investigative research. He is assisted in his investigation by the beautiful Florence (Pascale Audret, 1935-2000) and Inspector Alan Shepperton (Harald Leipnitz, 1926-2000, a native of Wuppertal). Together they track down a criminal organization that wants to sell drugs from Hong Kong to the USA via Caracas as a transshipment point. What the mysterious Dr. Soarez (Horst Frank, who was practically part of Rapid-Film's inventory) and the attractive Violet Watson (Luciana Angiolillo) could have something to do with it remains a mystery for a long time. The wiry Jeff Milton gets to have a few nice fights with the rich journalist's kidnappers (Patrick Bernhard, Sal Borgese). The action is definitely not neglected. At the very end, Venezuela's oil wealth comes into danger when the beautiful drilling rigs are actually about to be blown up...

For fans of the genre, this German-Italian-French film by Marcello Baldi (1923-2008) is worth seeing, but it is also quickly forgotten because it is staged too much according to formula.