Der Schut

The Schut (Rik Battaglia) seems to be a king of the bandits; he controls the land in the disguise of the rich Merchant Nirwan. The corrupt police force does not take any action against him. The Schut holds an English aristocrat and a French merchant for a ransom, then he also abducts the beautiful Tschita (Marie Versini). Kara Ben Nemsi (Lex Barker) tries to find the Schut's hiding-place in the mountains and free the prisoners. But the Schut has many rogues and assassins under his command who make this search long and dangerous.

Hollywood director Robert Siodmak, famous for the Burt Lancaster classics "The Crimson Pirate" and "The Killers", directed this picture on location in Yugoslavia. Despite his experience, some fights are not convincing (e.g. Kara holding the weight of both Aladschy brothers on a rope!) and the low budget is occasionally revealed, but nevertheless "Der Schut" is the best movie from the oriental branch of the May series in the 1960s. Solid action and a good sense of humor carried by Dieter Borsche (as Lord Lindsay) and Chris Howland (butler Archie) as well as Ralf Wolter (in the role of Kara's sidekick Halef) fit well together, recommendable!