Jess Franco made Death Whistles the Blues the year after Rififi in the City. Severin recently released them as part of a DVD double feature, and they make for an ideal pairing. Both films are noir-influenced crime pictures that are padded out with calypso and jazz songs (plus a little blues this time out) as well as cabaret song and dance numbers. They also contain (nearly) silent safecracking scenes and feature (Spoiler) a woman acting in an avenging angel capacity. In fact, both movies include a nightclub called The Stardust, which makes me think Franco was trying to do a shared universe deal way before Marvel made it fashionable.
Castro (Conrado San Martin) and Smith (Manuel Alexandre) are tricked into running guns in their fruit truck by the slimy Vogel (Georges Rollin). While they rot in jail for ten years, Vogel marries Castro’s wife (Perla Cristal) and sets himself up in a mansion in a small Jamaican village. Shortly after Smith is released from prison, he is brutally murdered. Castro then saunters into town looking for revenge.
While the movie looks great (maybe not as sharp and snazzy as Rififi in the City, but it’s certainly atmospheric), the pacing is often sluggish (especially in the second half). Although the cabaret numbers are more or less integral to the plot, they are sorely missing the panache found in Rififi in the City. (It is fun seeing Franco cameo as a saxophone player though.) The revenge plot lacks sizzle and the twists and turns in the third act ring a little hollow. It also doesn’t help that Rollin makes for a middling villain. He looks the part all right, but he just doesn’t exude enough menace to make for a worthy adversary in something like this. Fortunately, Danik Patisson makes a memorable impression as a sultry cabaret singer. Too bad she isn’t given nearly enough to do.
Uncle Jess’s signatures are kept to a minimum this time out. He gives us the requisite number of song and dance sequences and makes a cameo. That’s about it though.
AKA: Agent 077: Operation Jamaica. AKA: 077: Operation Sexy. AKA: Operation Sexy.
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