The blonde from Beijing
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The blonde from Beijing |
| Original title | La blonde de Pékin |
| Country of production |
France Germany Italy |
| original language |
French Italian English German |
| Publishing year | 1967 |
| length | 78 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nicolas Gessner |
| script | Nicolas Gessner Marc Behm Jacques Vilfrid |
| production |
Hanns Eckelkamp Raymond Danon |
| music | François de Roubaix |
| camera | Claude Lecomte |
| cut | Jean-Michel Gautier |
| occupation | |
| |
The Blonde from Beijing is a Franco-German-Italian agent film directed by Nicolas Gessner with Mireille Darc in the title role. The film is based on the novel Have Yourself a Deal by James Hadley Chase .
action
Erika Olsen has staged a spy story just to cover up the theft of a famous and valuable 112-carat pearl called "Blue Grape" by the Chinese rocket researcher Fang Ho Kung. She was once the mistress of this important man in China, who had a tattoo on her bottom as a kind of property brand. When the blonde from Beijing is found unconscious on a Paris street bench, she pretends to suffer from memory loss. The tattoo is quickly linked to Fanh Ho Kung by American intelligence, making the blonde from Beijing of great interest to the CIA. CIA chief Douglas asks the actor Marc Garland, known to him, for patriotic assistance. He should go into full body contact with the young lady and listen to her, in the hope that she might soon regain her memory. The secret services from China and the Soviet Union also begin to develop an interest in the attractive stranger and send their people to Paris. While Garland is supposed to play Erika Olsen's husband, the Chinese are planning nothing less than the murder of the blonde.
Erika is currently being treated in the American hospital near Paris when the Russians, under the leadership of a certain Malik, abduct her in the presence of Garland, who has also arrived. Garland pursues the kidnap car with CIA man Captain Hardy at the wheel. Also there: the scratchy nurse Peggy. They storm the house that Malik put Erika into and get her out again. In a CIA villa in Lugano , Garland, Erika and the others come to rest for a while. But the Russians don't give up, and Malik approaches Miss Davis, the secretary of the CIA chief, and learns about Douglas' villa in Lugano, where Erika is being taken and hidden by Hardy and Garland. While Garland cautiously questions Erika, who can hardly remember anything, the Russians have arrived. Her sniper shoots a blonde in the garden, believing that it is Erika Olsen. But he killed the wrong person, because it is nurse Peggy, who has put on an Erika-like wig, believing that Garland, whom she loves, is into blondes.
For Douglas, the assassination of Peggy is quite right, because now he believes that he has gotten rid of the Chinese and Russians. Meanwhile, Erika has put on Peggy's nurse's outfit and again put on a brunette wig so that no one can mistake her for Erika Olsen. Garland makes it clear to her that he considers her a simple jewel robber and offers Erika to help her sell the 112-carat clunker if he receives a third of the proceeds. When Erika's father suddenly shows up, a crook like his daughter, everything becomes clear to Garland. Erika is not Erika, but actually Christine Olsen, the thieving sister of the real Erika, who is still in China. The American is amazed when I realize that the fake Erika is a cooked-out bitch who has been fooling him the whole time. Christine explains that her sister Erika had stolen the gemstone and that Christine, who had the same tattoo of her sisters on her bottom, took an anesthetic so that she would be found as "Erika" suffering from amnesia. Christine thus attracted everyone's attention, and the real Erika remained safe as a thief on site. Thus, everyone involved believed that the background of the disdainful jewel theft was a highly political one.
Christine and Garland go to Hong Kong, where, according to Christine, her sister, the real Erika, is still supposed to wait with the diamond. The Chinese secret service is already keeping a close eye on the newcomers. Mr. Douglas has also come. There is a big surprise on site. Erika, hidden on a boat, claims to her sister that she never stole the valuable clunk because it was allegedly impossible to get at it. To complete the accident, Malik suddenly appears with a machine gun at the ready. He still believes that there is a political background behind the alleged jewelery theft and the simulated amnesia in Paris. After the Chinese and Russians shoot each other, Garland can get away from the general turmoil. By chance he discovers the “blue pearl”, which was obviously stolen by Erika, on the boat and takes it. He and Malik are fished out of the water by Mr. Douglas. The Red Chinese, who meanwhile got their hands on Christine, are offering her in exchange for the blue sapphire. This happens on the border between Hong Kong and the People's Republic. Garland is pissed off, but Christine says not to be angry. Then she takes out secret records from the hand of Fang Ho Kung, which are ten times more valuable than the clunker. "We'll sell them to the Americans first and then to the Russians!"
Production notes
The Blonde from Beijing was shot in the autumn of 1966 in Lugano and Hong Kong (external shoots) and was premiered in Italy on August 25, 1967. The German premiere took place on October 6, 1967. In France, the third co-producing country, the film was released at the beginning of 1968.
Ralph Baum took over the production management, the film structures were created by Georges Petitot. Michel Lang was one of six assistant directors.
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Erika Olsen / Christine Olsen | Mireille Darc | Chariklia Baxevanos |
| Marc Garland | Claudio Brook | Michael Chevalier |
| CIA chief Douglas | Edward G. Robinson | Konrad Wagner |
| Malik | Hellmut Lange | Rolf Schult |
| Captain Hardy | Carl Studer | Edgar Ott |
Reviews
The Lexicon of International Films saw the film as an "attempt at an agent film satire", but found it "not convincing because of a lack of inner unity and inadequate representation."
US critic Leonard Maltin called the film an "obscure melodrama" and found that Edward G. Robinson was bored in the role of CIA chief.
Web links
- The blonde from Beijing in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The blonde from Beijing at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Blonde from Beijing. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 1, 2018 .
- ^ Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1000