Three Golden Serpents

This is the 5th "Kommissar X" film that I have managed to track down and watch so far; only 2 more to go! As usual, it benefits from the fun teaming of the suave Tony Kendall with the stoic Brad Harris, it has some good stunts and flavorful exotic locations (this time, Thailand). But it suffers from plodding pacing (the kidnapping story doesn't have the drive it should, and very little of the action actually takes place on the title island), as well as the lack of memorable secondary characters (with the possible exception of the brave but ill-fated Petra, a reformed guardian). The first film of the series ("Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill") remains the best. ** out of 4.

After a young woman by the name of "Phyllis Leighton" (Hansi Linder) is knocked unconscious and kidnapped in Bangkok, a New York City police officer on vacation there named Captain Rowland (Brad Harris) is informed along with a private detective by the name Joe Walker (Tony Kendall) who then proceed to conduct an investigation. As it turns out, this kidnapping ring is quite sophisticated and seems to know every move both Captain Rowland and Joe Walker make before it happens. Because of this several attempts are made to kill both Captain Rowland and Joe Walker before their investigation can gather any information on the illegal organization. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was the 6th film in the "Kommissar X" series and in my opinion ranks as one of the weaker entrees. I say this because many of the scenes seemed a bit too rushed and this gave the film a rather low-budget appearance overall. Likewise, although there were a couple of pretty actresses, none of them were given any quality screen time to really benefit the movie either. In any case, while this certainly isn't a bad movie by any means, it does have it's flaws and limitations and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Sixth adventure in the Kommissar X film series with Brad Harris and Tony Kendall

This film, which was a German-Italian-Thai co-production, is also known under the titles "I tre serpenti d'oro" and "Three Golden Serpents" and was released in West German cinemas on April 18, 1969. As usual, the film was produced by Theo Maria Werner (1925-1989) and his Parnass Film, who were responsible for one of the most successful German adventure film series. The film was directed by Italian director Roberto Mauri, who also made the jungle adventure "Nackt unter Affen / Naked Among Monkeys" and the spaghetti western "Wanted: Sabata" with Brad Harris. Gianfranco Parolini, who has also made many films with Harris, was involved in the script.

At the beginning you watch a mother (Loni Heuser, just as pushy as in the Zarah Leander film "The Blue Moth") and her pretty daughter (Hansi Linder) go about the tourist hustle and bustle in Bangkok. Since the KOMMISSAR X films recently weakened somewhat at the box office ("Three Green Dogs" (1967) was seen by 1.8 million viewers, "Three Blue Panthers" (1968) was only seen by 1.0 million), it continues. The new director from Italy introduces cockfights and sweaty Thai boxers to ladies who love to travel and are pleasantly aroused by excitement. But then it gets even worse! The little daughter is kidnapped in broad daylight and ends up in a prostitution ring in which young ladies from rich countries also have to bare their breasts. This is of course a case made for Inspector X (Tony Kendall) and his friend Captain Rowland (Brad Harris), who immediately set about solving the spectacular events. Beautiful women (Monica Pardo as a stewardess and Rotraut de Neve as a prison guard) and merciless killers (Herbert Fux and Giuseppe Mattei) cross their path. The charitable Madame Kim Soo (Vilaiwan Vatanapanich) and the obscure Armand Landru (Walter Brandi) appear a little more mysterious. But the well-rehearsed daredevil duo can handle such challenges with ease. The two heroes also get to show off their muscular upper bodies extensively. The fact that they knock their opponents down one after the other is self-evident and not worth mentioning. At the very beginning of the film there is also a reunion with the attractive Hannelore Auer as KOMMISSAR X's friend. The later wife of the singer Heino was cut again from the previous film in order to save unnecessary costs.

You can tell that there should be a bit more riding on the emerging sex wave here than was usual at KX. But even the new director, who was a little more liberal, was only able to turn things around to a limited extent. After this film, KOMMISSAR X was over for two and a half years. Then they tried one last time with successful director and ACADEMY AWARD nominee Harald Reinl and producer Ilse Kubaschewski.

Despite some weaknesses in this film, all KX films with the great duo Brad Harris and Tony Kendall are simply cult.

While sightseeing in Bangkok, a young American woman, Phyllis Leighton (Hansi Linder), is captured by thugs who ship her to Madame Kim Soo's secret island where abducted girls are drugged and forced into prostitution. The girl's mother contacts Captain Tom Rowland (Brad Harris), who is in Thailand at a police conference; he teams up with private detective Jo Walker (Tony Kendall) to try and find the missing woman.

Three Golden Serpents is the sixth of the seven Kommissar X movies; coming at the end of the swinging sixties, it's a little trashier than the earlier films, dealing as it does with the sleazy subject of an Asian sex-ring, and even delivers some gratuitous female nudity (rather than the scantily clad beauties of the earlier entries in the series). But as entertaining as this sounds, the film is actually a fairly dull affair, with a plodding plot that goes nowhere slowly, and only one half-decent shootout to keep the viewer awake (the gun-fight ending with Walker attaching a missile launcher to the end of his pistol!).

4/10.

From what I've seen of the Kommissar X series, this one definitely takes the cake. The plot involves a kidnapping ring run by a wealthy Oriental "madam." American tourist women are kidnapped, drugged, and sent to a secret island, where they are kept strung out on morphine, while serving as prostitutes to rich tourists. Brad Harris and Tony Kendall team up to nip the operation in the bud, but constantly run into a barrage of thugs, gunmen, and Asian assassins. In my book, this is another reason why director Roberto Mauri is one of the more enticing directors of Italian cult cinema. He doesn't just appeal to the spooks, but to genuine film aficionados as well. His resume extends to many forgotten and obscure corners of the cinema. All in all, he is a wonderful director. This film is really great from a technical point-of-view, and features some very nice improvising by Harris and Kendall. Walter Brandi also appears in a fine role. Thumbs up for the Three Golden Serpents!