Ultrascope adventure film with Brad Harris and Paul Hubschmid
This film is one of the many adventure films that were made in the 1960s by the Viennese Rapid-Film of producer Wolf C. Hartwig. Crime plots and adventures against exotic backdrops are among the ingredients of these color films, which are mostly produced in Ultrascope format. This film, also known as "La sfida viene da Bangkok" or "Mission to Hell", was filmed in Bangkok and was released in West German cinemas on June 19, 1964. It was directed by the Italian Gianfranco Parolini, who had already made a few sandal films with lead actor Brad Harris; the music was by Martin Böttcher, who became famous with the music for the Winnetou films.
The most important roles include Brad Harris, Horst Frank, Dorothee Parker, Philippe Lemaire, Michele Mahaut and Gianni Rizzo, who were essentially regulars in Rapid productions. This time, the main actors are audience favorites Paul Hubschmid ("DIE ZÜRCHER VERLOBUNG / The Zurich Engagement" (1957)) and Marianne Hold, who met her future husband Frederick Stafford during the filming, who would later play the leading role in "Topaz" (1968) by Alfred Hitchcock.
What's it about? It all begins with a journalist (Reinhard Glemnitz) being murdered in a spectacular way, which is staged with the help of a film opening worthy of James Bond, in which the young Elisabeth Volkmann (a later star of the 70s series "Klimbim") can cut a breathtakingly good figure as a secretary. Paul Hubschmid travels to Bangkok as a journalist to get on the trail of a mysterious diamond smuggling ring, which he hopes will also give him information about the murder of his colleague. He gets to know a young and beautiful doctor (Marianne Hold), but also some mysterious men (Brad Harris, Horst Frank, Philippe Lemaire) who have something to do with these diamonds. A rich heiress (Dorothee Parker, as the producer's partner at the time, she was in almost every Rapid production) and her butler (Chris Howland) also appear as comic characters. The situation soon comes to a head after all sorts of complications and everyone finds themselves on the site of a diamond mine, which is run with an iron hand by a certain John Yakiris (Gianni Rizzo).
Gianni Rizzo, who later starred alongside Brad Harris in "Zwei Schlitzohren in der gelben Hölle / This Time I Will Make You Rich / Questa volta ti faccio ricco" (1974) and "Zwei total verrückte Typen /Who Breaks...Pays / Antonio e Placido" (1975), plays the nasty mine owner so masterfully, as if he wanted to play the role of the next Bond -Bring villain into conversation. It's a shame that didn't work! All other actors deliver their usual roles. Marianne Hold and Paul Hubschmid play the lovers, Horst Frank remains inscrutable, Dorothee Parker and Chris Howland provide the laughs in between. And Brad Harris? The muscle-bound giant is of course once again responsible for the numerous action scenes, which he masters brilliantly as usual.
All in all, "Die Diamantenhölle am Mekong" is a typical German-language adventure film from the 1960s. Fantastic images of exotic locations, turbulent fights, regular laughs and an international cast - that was the recipe for success of Rapid-Film, directed by Wolf C. Hartwig. That still works today in this film, which is well worth seeing.
