"Darling, do me a favor and drop dead", Ivor Salter tells the annoyingly cheerful Jayne Mansfield at one point in this European thriller filmed in Yugoslavia after they begin arguing after their partner in crime Cameron Mitchell is killed, having hidden the loot in the intention of fleecing everyone who felt that they were entitled to a share. The ensemble of this film is directed extremely badly to be so over the top and collectively dreadful that it's hard to believe that they were taking this seriously when making it. Had I not known the truth about the side eye picture from Sophia Loren towards Mansfield (taken years earlier), I'd swear it was at the premiere of this film with Loren thinking indeed what a bowl of alpo this film was.
At times, it seems that the film is trying to parody the types of films that Loren and other European films were making in Europe because it does have that feel to it. In the films that stands, it does have some fantastic location footage, but the dialogue is so god-awful dreadful that it's like a big joke on the European film industry. "Yanis, you can't leave me!" one of the women screams at the dead man with a knife in his heart laying in front of her. Salter is destroying feathered beds as organ music plays in the background, deserts flying everywhere as his blood-stained face shines on the camera.
That's veteran actress Isa Miranda on the organ, looking absolutely demented as the owner of the villa where this gang of loonies hang out. She looks like a crazy monster from a Mario Bava horror film throughout. I'd love to politely Define complement Mansfield on her looks, but she looks absolutely horrible, loaded with over accentuated eye makeup and something on the side of her nose that is very distracting. Then there's Dodie Heath as the frigid hanger-on, reminding me of Estelle Parsons as Blanche in "Bonnie and Clyde", screaming "I'm alive, and I want to be loved by someone alive!" and Werner Peters as the Tor Johnson look-a-like manservant whose acting is indescribeably bad. This is one that has to be seen to be believed, and even then, it seems ridiculously unreal. One of the worst films of the 60's, let alone 1964, let alone of all time.
At times, it seems that the film is trying to parody the types of films that Loren and other European films were making in Europe because it does have that feel to it. In the films that stands, it does have some fantastic location footage, but the dialogue is so god-awful dreadful that it's like a big joke on the European film industry. "Yanis, you can't leave me!" one of the women screams at the dead man with a knife in his heart laying in front of her. Salter is destroying feathered beds as organ music plays in the background, deserts flying everywhere as his blood-stained face shines on the camera.
That's veteran actress Isa Miranda on the organ, looking absolutely demented as the owner of the villa where this gang of loonies hang out. She looks like a crazy monster from a Mario Bava horror film throughout. I'd love to politely Define complement Mansfield on her looks, but she looks absolutely horrible, loaded with over accentuated eye makeup and something on the side of her nose that is very distracting. Then there's Dodie Heath as the frigid hanger-on, reminding me of Estelle Parsons as Blanche in "Bonnie and Clyde", screaming "I'm alive, and I want to be loved by someone alive!" and Werner Peters as the Tor Johnson look-a-like manservant whose acting is indescribeably bad. This is one that has to be seen to be believed, and even then, it seems ridiculously unreal. One of the worst films of the 60's, let alone 1964, let alone of all time.