Diamonds of Kilimandjaro

Diamonds of Kilimandjaro (1983)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A plane crashes in the jungles of Africa and a little girl survives. Fifteen years later her mother (Lina Romay) sends a search party out looking for her but they've also got their eyes on some priceless jewels. I enjoy these jungle adventure films but this one here dies off after a decent start. There are a few good moments but not enough to really keep the film moving as well as it should. I've heard that Franco didn't shoot all of the material here but it certainly looks like his work.

This film is a cheap rip off of King Solomon's Mines and "She." Those books have been done so much better in other films. But this one manages to grab all the tropes from those classics and trot them out in a cheaper version.

Do you want a native tribe protecting jewels Check Do you want a white woman as the tribe's goddess? Check Dp you want a native shaman dancing for the tribe Check Do you want stock footage of a jungle? Check Do you want women running around in skimpy loin cloths? Check.

And when it comes to continuity.... Well, I am sure the director would echo the classic line: "Continuity? Continuity? We don't need no stinking continuity".

So, for example, quick cut to a rhino chasing a jeep. Wait, we didn't get into the jeep yet. Film that. Now add the same cut of the rhino. Don't worry about the first one - no one will notice.

There is just so little to like about this movie.

Ummm. A Jess Franco-movie from the early 80's. So what would you expect? Right: actors incapable of acting, incredibly dumb dialogue and a whole lot of joyful nudity (and downright disgusting sex scenes with totally unattractive guys and girls). Which I regard as absolutely worthwhile and entertaining - but that's just my personal opinion. The story? Story?? oh, well, it's kind of a remake of TARZAN, plus some adventure- and cannibal-stuff. But basically it's about seeing Katja Bienert nude, and it works when it comes down to that. Just realize: she was about 15 or 16 when this film was made, and she was really not very shy. Anyway: go get this one if you're able to find it, but be prepared to feel the urge to throw it in the garbage can once you've seen it. P.S.: This film has been re-issued in 1999 by the german label X-RATED CULT MOVIES, but with a different title: MONDO CANNIBALE 4. Obviously for marketing-reasons. Cause you'd better not expect to watch one of the infamous Euro-Cannibal-flics when you put this in. Franco has done better than this. Katja Bienert has, too. But the jungle has never looked more corny. So ... you get the idea. I like it.

Good old Jess Franco! The always-reliable choice of director in case you're looking for undemanding sleaze, shameless exploitation and 200% gratuitousness. Jess once again really surpassed himself with this utterly trashy piece of jungle "adventure". Let's face it, this film is basically just an excuse to have the ravishingly hot (and underage…) actress Katja Bienert parade around topless. It's actually a rather disturbing thought that an innocent 16-year-old girl had to walk around a film set naked in front of a whole crew and particularly before the gazing eyes of pervert Franco! And it wasn't even the first time, since the duo previously already made "Linda" together. Anyways, just in case you wondered: YES, "Diamonds of the Kilimanjaro" does have a plot, albeit a very imbecilic one. During the opening sequences a plane, carrying aboard a wealthy Scottish guy and a girl child, crash amidst an African tribe of vegetarian cannibals. I say vegetarian because they never at one point in the film so much even attempt to consume human flesh. The obnoxious Scot declares himself the Great White Leader and the girl grows up to become the beautiful and scarcely dressed White Goddess. Several years later an expedition reaches the middle of the jungle to get the girl back to civilization and – even more importantly - to steal some of the tribe's legendary diamonds. This could have been a compelling and action-packed adventure movie, but Jess Franco obviously couldn't be bothered. Why shoot jungle chase sequences or bloody cannibalistic rites when you can just as easily aim your camera at a hot young chick sitting naked in a tree? Most of the jungle settings simply appear to be filmed in someone's garden and there's a massive amount of clumsily edited National Geographic wildlife footage in order to fill up the gaps in continuity. The back of the DVD describes "Diamonds of the Kilimanjaro" as an ingenious, feminist and adult orientated version of Tarzan. Yeah right, they just put that sentence there because Katja Bienert's character swings from one tree to another using a a couple of times.

African adventure in Jesús Franco style with very short budget, ordinary stars , being a colorful but inferior production. This exciting film contains thrills , an idiot romance, disconcerting characters , adventure and action scenes of infighting between violent tribes that generate little entertainment . A lighthearted romp about jungle adventures , concerning an expedition looking for a person who has presumably missing somewhere in African jungles . As a little girl is adopted by a tribe of Africans along with her godfather after their plane crashes in the deep jungle. But some of her relatives are scheming to murder her to get the valuable inheritance . Long time after , a bunch of adventurers head to a primitive tribe in Africa to find a treasure of diamonds and a white girl who was lost years ago and was made the tribe's goddess .

This Spanish/France co-production results to be a simple , plain and embarrising fun . Silly movie , containing inadequate action , thrills , worn-out cinematography , lush landscapes , brief nudism , anticlimatic score ; all meld together under Jess Frank 's failed direction . It is an unttractive and predictable adventure spectacle , ordinarily directed by the Spanish botcher filmmaker Jesus Franco . The plot is nothing more than a female version of the often-shot Tarzan story, but it lacks the curious mixture of glossiness and raw excitement that most Tarzan films have to offer. Instead, we're left with unconvincing sets and plenty of stock footage to pad out the predictable tale . As the production values are really cheap , you don't get to see Tarzana herself riding real elephants or fighting real jungle animals, just inappropriate insert stock footage. Here stands out the attractiveness of a very young Katja Bienert who spends the time of her screen appearance wearing nothing but a little junglekini thong bottom. She's badly accompanied by varios familar faces from Franco films , such as : Antonio Myans , Olivier Mathot , Mari Carmen Nieto , Daniel White : Franco's composer and of course Lina Romay. This El tesoro de la diosa blanca(1983) or Diamonds of Kilimandjaro (United States title) or The Treasure of the White Goddess results to be a late example of numerous topless jungle girl movies emanating from Europe in the late 1960s , 1970s, and 1980s this is par for the genre. It follows in the wake of the Sixties and Seventies sub-genre about semi-naked Tarzanas , when abounded this sort of films , such as : into Golden Goddess of Rio Beni (1964) by Eugenio Martin with Gillian Gills , Tarzana, the Wild Woman (1969) by Guido Malatesta with Femi Benussi or Daughter of the Jungle (1982) by Umberto Lenzi with Sabrina Siani.

Produced by Daniel Lesoeur , Marius Lesoeur from Eurociné and Manacoa Productions , Jesús Franco's owner , the latter directs this off-the-wall jungle/adventure in his usual bungling style . The motion picture was lousily written, edited, produced and directed by Jesús, Jess, Franco. Jess was a Stajanovist, restless writer, producer, director who realized over 200 pictures. His career spans over 50 years with a few successes and lots of flops, making all kind of genres : thrillers, adventures, action and with penchant for Terror and erotic genre . Jesus used to sigb under pseudonym, among the aliases he used apart from Jess Frank or Franco Manera, were the following ones : Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune, James P. Johnson, David Though, among others. Franco used to use ordinary trademarks, such as : zooms , nudism, foreground on objects , filmmaking in DIY style and managing to work extraordinarily quick in very low budget, as well as frequently releasing various titles at the same time. He was a prolific filmmaker, directing a lot of lousy movies. However, making some acceptable films , such as : We are 18 years old, The awful Dr Orloff, The Bloody Judge , Count Dracula, 99 women, The Blood of Fumanchu, Faceless and a few others. And many of them were heavily cut and with double versions. Rating Viaje a Bangkok : 3/10 . Inferior and below adventures action movie. Only for Jess Frank completists.