Secret of the Red Orchid (1962)

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is yet another "Krimi" pairing Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski; the hero this time around is, like them, a Jess Franco regular i.e. Adrian Hoven, and the leading lady future "Euro-Cult" starlet Marisa Mell. The film, however, is not only inferior to THE DEVIL'S DAFFODIL (1961) – which preceded this viewing – but only marginally a genre entry…as, rather, than a sadistic masked killer (the German "Krimis" were obvious precursors to the Italian "Gialli") we get rival gangs of Chicago hoodlums who improbably relocate to London to first extort and then dispatch various wealthy elders when they invariably turn to Scotland Yard for protection! Why this is done is never quite clear, especially since they never get to collect; incidentally, we start off with one mobster eliminating his opponents – but the only survivor, Kinski, soon sets up his own unit of gun-happy thugs whilst retaining an ostensibly respectable front as a tobacconist. One of the victims bequeaths his fortune to his secretary (Mell) rather than his sole ne'er-do-well relative (who has a propensity for orchids, the only link to the title – that is to say, extremely cursory – provided by the narrative!); still, he proves to be not what he seems – with his final trapping of the heroine inside a bank vault one of the very few scenes pertaining to the form's recognizable style (another highlight has a car going off the rails after a large mirror set up along the road gave the illusion to the bewildered driver of an imminent head-on collision).Lee does not have much of substance to do as an F.B.I.(!) agent, but he at least gets to display his quick two-gun draw in a shoot-out with one of the baddies. Somewhat more prevalent, regrettably, is a comic-relief butler who happens to have served each of the murdered parties immediately prior to their untimely demise…and, ultimately, even offers his would-be expert services to both one of the perpetrators – who promptly winds up dead himself – and the Police!

Terrible Dubbing Alert!! This DVD of MYSTERY OF THE ORHCID is terrible, as it only has the very poorly dubbed English version. The original German dialog is not an option and this is a shame, as I would have loved to hear Christopher Lee speaking German. Plus, the dubbing was done so badly I just hated the film. Oddly, while Lee and Klaus Kinski speak English, neither does their own dubbing and voices that sound nothing like theirs are used instead. Often, the silliest voices are used--sounding very fake and stupid. However, take note--my review is ONLY for this dubbed version. The original film might be a lot better and worth seeing--especially since some dubbings actually change around the plot and even produce a very different movie from the original.The film is a gangster flick--just the sort of thing you wouldn't expect to see with Christopher Lee--especially since he plays an American FBI man. It begins with one gang of mobsters wiping out another. Then, the mobster who was responsible is shown being deported. Soon after, various rich folks start receiving extortion letters--they either must pay or die! Oddly, in a mistranslation, they call it 'blackmail'--a slightly different crime.Frankly, this is an incredibly dull film from start to finish--despite its extortion plot. With lousy dubbing, bad music and lousy writing, I can't see much reason to waste your time with this one.

Yet another film in the long running cycle of Edgar/Bryan Wallace films that flowed out of Germany in the 1960's and early 1970's. This time the story concerns a blackmailer who threatens very rich men with death if they don't pay up. The bodies of those that don't pay are dumped in front of Scotland Yard. As with many of these films its a bit confusing at first with several plot threads wandering through the story (Chicago gangsters, FBI agent, the blackmail scheme) before coming together at the end. Unfortunately this really isn't a story where its worth seeing how it all comes together. The plot is more than a bit unfocused, even by this series standards,There are too many characters and too much comedy so that the film fails to be compelling. My unhappiness with the film could be the result of the English dub which has even Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski dubbed by other actors who's vocal performances don't even approximate how Lee or Kinski would have done it themselves. The result is that you never really buy whats going on screen. Certainly this would be perfect if you stumbled on it at 2am on late night TV, but I would be hard pressed to suggest actually renting or buying this on DVD and putting it on willingly.

Another film in the series based on novels by Edgar & Bryan Wallace.It seems that 2 rival Chicago gangs have come to London.They are extorting money from wealthy men.Pay up or die.Christopher Lee plays a FBI agent sent to London to investigate the gangs.A supposedly dead gang leader is rumored to be alive and running his business.I knew this movie was in trouble within the first 4 minutes. The great voice of Christopher Lee was horribly dubbed.The dubbing will set your teeth on edge.The movie is dull and you can have the answers figured out within the first 30 minutes.This gets a 2 only because Lee is in it.This orchid is wilted.