Albino

The successful phase of the GERMAN ADVENTURE FLICKS (DER SCHATZ IM SILBERSEE (The Treasure of Silver Lake9 / HEISSER HAFEN Hong Kong / JAGD AUF BLAUE DIAMANTEN) was actually long over in 1976. Nevertheless, actor (UND EWIG SINGEN DIE WÄLDER / AND FOREVER SING THE FORESTS) and director (DAS MÄDCHEN UND DER STAATSANWALT / THE GIRL AND THE PROSECUTOR) Jürgen GOSLAR brought a sensational adventure film to West German cinemas.

The action takes place in present-day Zimbabwe (formerly: Rhodesia). Terick (James FAULKNER, known from GAME OF THRONES) is looking forward to the end of his police service in the British colony. In the future he wants to spend more time with his beautiful fiancée Sally (Sybil DANNING). Then a fateful attack occurs. Incited by an albino local (Horst FRANK, probably the most bizarre role in the CINECITTA divo's career), rebels against British colonial rule attack the farm of Johannes (ACADEMY AWARD Nominee (1961 for SONS AND LOVERS) Trevor HOWARD) and kill Terick's fiancée in the process. Blinded by thoughts of revenge, he and Katchemu (Sam WILLIAMS) track down the albino, whom everyone calls "Whispering Death". This sinister act of revenge goes against the grain for Terick's former boss (Christopher LEE) and the specially assigned Captain Turnbull (Erik SCHUMANN, known from HIMMEL OHNE STERNE).

From today's perspective, this excursion into the colonial past is questionable for several reasons. The exceptional German actor Horst FRANK plays his role brilliantly, but seems out of place and presumptuous as an albino local. The violence shown in the film is staged in a very inflammatory and racist way. Nevertheless, this film stands out in West German film production of the 1970s. A filmmaker like Jürgen GOSLAR dared to produce a genre film that very strictly fulfills audience expectations in terms of action-packed stories. The great German director Dominik GRAF also acknowledges this in his enlightening documentary OFFENE WUNDE DEUTSCHER FILM about the last remnants of the West German film industry of the 1970s.

Jürgen GOSLAR's film clearly takes some getting used to, but shows that West German cinema could also have moved in the direction of audience-friendly genre entertainment.

In a smaller role is the young actor Sascha HEHN (NACKT UND HEISS AUF MYKONOS), who after various appearances in West German sex films with DAS TRAUMSCHIFF (from 1981) and DIE SCHWARZWALDKLINIK (from 1985) was to become one of the biggest West German television stars in the 1980s.