White Raven - Diamond of Death
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | White Raven - Diamond of Death |
| Original title | The White Raven |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 89 (shortened 85) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 (shortened 16) |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Jakub Rucinski , Andrew Stevens |
| script | Michael Blodgett |
| production |
Ashok Amritraj , Andrew Stevens |
| music |
Norman Orenstein , David Wurst , Eric Wurst |
| camera | Michael Slovis |
| cut | Brett Hedlund |
| occupation | |
| |
White Raven - Diamond of Death (Original title: The White Raven ) is an American action thriller from 1998 . Directed by Jakub Rucinski and Andrew Stevens , the script was written by Michael Blodgett based on his own novel.
action
The Jewish woman Hannah Rothschild was imprisoned and tortured in the Treblinka concentration camp during the Second World War . To save her young life, she bribed the camp commandant Erwin Koch with the diamond known as the White Raven . White Raven is considered to be the second largest diamond in the world. After the liberation of the concentration camp, White Raven is nowhere to be found.
In Chicago living Reporter Tully Windsor, a Pulitzer Prize winner is, 50 years later, commissioned by his publisher Tom Heath to travel to Poland, where the imprisoned war criminal Markus Straud is dying. In his last hours he wants to reveal a secret and therefore only talk to the well-known Tully Windsor. However, due to private problems, he has no interest in taking on this assignment. By chance he meets the young and attractive Julia Konneman, who wants to encourage him to agree to his boss. The very next day, still full of rejection, he is followed by a horde of reporters who have learned about his upcoming trip and who absolutely want to find out something about it. In order to avoid this nuisance he now accepts the order and flies to Europe. He is under surveillance on the plane by a CIA agent who Hannah Rothschild has put on him because she desperately wants her diamond back.
As soon as he arrived in Warsaw, Tully Windsor was contacted by Albert Dockmonish, who was his contact in Poland and was supposed to take care of his personal protection. He soon notices the agent shadowing Windsor. When he tries to confront him and there is a scuffle, the agent is shot by Russian hit men.
The next day, shortly before his conversation with Straud, Windsor himself is the target of an assassin. Fortunately, thanks to Dockmonish's quick action, he was able to escape this attack unharmed. Windsor learns from Straud that he was Koch's supervisor years ago and that he obviously knows where the diamond is hidden. Straud hands the journalist a series of numbers that should encode the location where White Raven was deposited. As a result, Windsor is not only persecuted by contract killers under the direction of a General Dodd, but also by neo-Nazi Inspector Zielinski, who wants the diamond to finance his organization. After his bodyguard Dockmonish is shot, he has to fend for himself in Warsaw - always with his pursuers behind his neck, whom he can escape again and again with a lot of luck and physical effort. Since he cannot go back to his hotel, he looks for shelter with Zofia Wagner, whom he recently met in a bar. She helps him to contact the American embassy and to get into the guarded building. The ambassador promises Windsor to take him out of the country in a helicopter the next day.
Unexpectedly, he meets Julia Konneman at the embassy, who now admits to work for an organization called "Paris 1" and is just as interested in the White Raven as his other pursuers. Accompanied by her, he flies to Paris and is introduced to her mother: Hannah Rothschild. She makes it very clear to Windsor that she has the diamond back and wants to help him find it. But Windsor strictly rejects the offer and flies back to Chicago with Julia, where General Dodd and his people are already waiting for him. Windsor can escape them, however.
After Windsor succeeds in deciphering the riddle of the combination of numbers and finding the White Raven , he falls into the clutches of Inspector Zielinski, who eliminates his rival Dodd, but in the end is overwhelmed by Windsor.
In a press conference, Tom Heath said that the story of the White Raven will soon be published in his newspaper. Rumors that he was found to be wrong.
Windsor returns the diamond to its actual owner, Hannah Rothschild, without the public's knowledge.
Reviews
Brian Webster wrote in the Apollo Movie Guide that he was sure everyone involved had good intentions - but you don't need a brain surgeon to find out that it just isn't working (“ I'm sure everyone who worked on this made for pay television film had good intentions, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to know it just doesn't work ”). A brain damage could be an explanation for the casting of the main role with Ron Silver, who seems neither athletic nor sexy (" brain damage is the explanation for choosing the decidedly un-athletic, un-sexy and un-magnetic Silver as the male lead ") . The plot contains implausible twists and turns and coincidences.
TV Spielfilm magazine praised the “ good cast ” and criticized the “ confused story ”.
Web links
- White Raven - Diamond of Death in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- White Raven - Diamond Death at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ movie review from Brian Webster ( Memento of 30 June 2007 at the Internet Archive ) at apolloguide.com
- ^ TV feature film, accessed December 5, 2007