Tio Jess plays the saxophone in the Jazzband during this movie. Shot in beautiful black & white. In the opening-scene one of the characters says they're waiting for Lina, could it be that Tio Jess had the foresight of meeting his muse Lina Romay in the 70s? If you love Tio Jess or if you are a completist, this one is highly recommended.

This is an average-budget as well as acceptable film realized in ordinary style dealing with a vendetta story and denunciation ; it contains thrills , a criminal intrigue and lots of murders . It's a passable thriller movie directed by prolific filmmaker Jess Frank and also produced by his own production company, Manacoa Films along with Eurocine of Marius Lesoeur and Naga Films . Here Franco manages to give us an adequate ambient , an evocative production design by Antonio Cortes , being rightly narrated , including a plot about fake identity and vengeance enough to keep you intrigued throughout the flick . In this his sixth film and first about his special sub-genre : an intrigue or espionage set in exotic places , and particularly in tropical ones , though many of them filmed in his natal Malaga or Canary Islands . This is a decent Noir intrigue set in Jamaica , being professionally written , produced and directed by Jesus Franco . Based on a story by Luis De Diego and screenplay by the same Jesus Franco or Uncle Jess ; being a complex but weak script concerning an informer who executes a revelation about gunrunning , then he takes a secret identity , while some policemen bent on uncovering the dark activities of this role and ultimately the subsequent revenge carried out by unexpected characters at a twisted finale . The picture was made by the time in which Franco directed nice movies such as The sadistic Baron Klaus , Rififi En La Ciudad , Miss Muerte or Diabolic Doctor Z , Necronomicon and Gritos en la Noche , developing a consolidated professionalism , as his career got more and more impoverished in the following years, but his endless creativity enabled him to tackle films in all genres, from "B" horror to erotic films . The picture was well starred by good Spanish actors , such as Conrado San Martin as our hero , Perla Cristal and Maria Silva , who subsequently worked for Jesus Franco in "The Secret of Dr. Orloff" . The Spanish support cast is frankly fine as Adriano Domínguez , Marta Reves , Gérard Tichy , Ricardo Valle , Agustin Gonzalez , Ángel Menéndez , Fortunio Bonanova who worked in Hollywood and the great Manuel Alexandre , among others . Highlights of the movie a the jazz soundtrack sessions , the spectacularly colorful carnival party , and the well paced fights between starring Conrado San Martin along with Jamaican people against Gerard Tichy and hoodlums filled with lights and dark in intimate Orson Welles ink . In fact , Jesus Franco loved Orson Welles and imitated to him in several pictures .

Atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Juan Marime filmed on Southern Spanish locations as Marbella , Malaga . Well photographed film , full of lights and shades in Orson Welles style , in fact , Franco was direction-assistant in ¨Chimes at midnight¨ and edited ¨El Quijote¨ by Welles . Good musical score by Anton Garcia Abril , Franco's usual musician , including Jazzy sessions and musical numbers . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jesus Franco , a Stajanovist filmmaker who realized 203 movies . However , here he doesn't use his trademarks , as he pulls off a traditional narration , without zooms , neither lousy pace . As the picture belongs to Franco's first period in which he made passable flicks . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly . He often used to introduce second , third or fourth versions , including Hardcore or Softcore inserts or sexual stocks many of them played by his muse Lina Romay . In many of the more than 200 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" and the second picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" , it's followed by various sequels such as El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his recent death .

Preparing for a "Auteurs in '64" week of viewing, the first name whose credits from the year I checked for was Jess Franco. Taking the first volume of Stephen Thrower's definitive Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jess Franco, I was intrigued to find out online of a non-Horror Franco had put out that year,which led to me starting to whistle.

View on the film:

View on the film:

Roaring in on a possible Thieves' Highway (1949-also reviewed) opening tribute of a loaded (in more ways than one) fruit truck being left empty with a dead driver, to the deep hum of a trombone at a Jazz party, song writer/co-writer (with Luis de Diego)/ directing auteur uncle Jess Franco (who cameos as the opening trombone player!) & his past occasional cinematographer Juan Marine, display an impeccable eye for Film Noir.

Starting production a month after The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) had come out but taking 2 years to get released, Uncle Jess switches genres with striking ambition, swooping into a rich Film Noir atmosphere hanging on a extended crane shot ascending a poolside springboard,which reaches a tense dialogue-free set-piece of Pereira breaking into Radeck's home.

Attempting to turn Spain into New Orleans (nice try Jess!) Uncle Jess takes a brave choice for the era in having all races casually hanging out and playing at the same Jazz clubs, (backed by a sizzling Jazz score from Anton Garcia Abril) and in Joe and Rosita, a long-term mixed race couple (played by a very good Joe Brown and Maria Silva.) Jess brings his unique trademarks out by rolling up the sleeves in the fight scenes and (fittingly) the Jazz clubs scene, hitting each note and punch-up with lovable button-bashing, trombone-sliding zoom-ins, which pull back to crystallised shadows surrounding Femme Fatale Lina, and closing in on Radeck's ghostly fears.

Inspired by Etienne Perier's 1960 adaptation of the Boileau/ Narcejac novel Murder at 45RPM, the screenplay by Jess and Diego crackles with Film Noir dread spinning on Radeck's paranoia that Pereira (the first appearance of this major re-curing Franco character)has returned from being killed by Radeck (a devilish cad Georges Rollin) a decade ago, and is less than thrilled that his wife/widow Lina (a hypnotic,deadly alluring Perla Cristal) has now gotten married to Radeck,who whistles the blues of death.