User Reviews

Silly as this movie may be, it does evoke a certain aspect of 1960s culture, so if you're nostalgic for beehive hair-dos, go-go boots, narrow neckties, white lipstick, etc -- sit back and enjoy. The plot and acting here are beneath notice but the pace is snappy and it does have a few oddball moment of note. See Frankie Avalon acting tough and throwing a hand grenade! See Wilfred Hyde-White slumming it! See George Nader in chains being whipped by Shirley Eaton! This whipping scene, in fact, is the movie's highlight. Not only does a bare-chested Nader look pretty good for a man in his mid-40s, but note that his belt is unbuckled. Did the wicked Su-muru plan to pull down his pants after the whipping? Inquiring minds want to know!

In many ways, this is similar to (though actually preceding) FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS, also a 1967 film from the Harry Alan Towers exploitation stable and, despite being helmed by the director of DEVIL DOLL (1964), the end result is a long way away from that eerie cult classic. It is the first of two Towers made based on the Sax Rohmer novels revolving around the power-mad and man-hating Sumuru – concurrently to them, Towers was engaged in a series featuring Rohmer's more famous nefarious creation i.e. Fu Manchu. I said similar, not just in the locales and typical spy-stuff plot but mainly the would-be comical approach, not forgetting the ageing wise-cracking lead (in this case, George Nader, whom I recently watched in his prime in SINS OF JEZEBEL {1953}). Incidentally, one wonders why they even went to the trouble of recruiting him when his young sidekick (singing heart-throb Frankie Avalon) receives top billing...ousting even the rightful protagonist, Sumuru herself (played by ex-Bond girl Shirley Eaton)!

Contrary to the afore-mentioned DRAGONS, the copy I acquired left a lot to be desired: panned-and-scanned (apart from the proliferation of seemingly 'vacant' sets, with the characters at either end of the Widescreen frame being entirely cropped off, we are also supposed to observe a tortured prisoner, but all that is left of the victim for us to glimpse are his trapped hands!), soft-looking and washed-out! Maria Rohm (her name here preceded by the epithet "introducing" despite its being her fifth film!) is also on hand as the latest member of Sumuru's subordinates (who is undressed before the others for approval!). Oddly, but entirely predictably, she is given a difficult first job which, not only does she bungle, but ends up becoming a Frankie fan (pardon the ROCKY HORROR allusion): their relationship does elicit one good line, though, when he has to wait while Rohm undresses (again!) and he wonders out loud whether that was his cue to burst into song! One unbelievable plot contrivance concerns a couple of doubles that come into play: not only is Nader engaged to serve eccentric President Klaus Kinski (both he and Rohm would also appear in FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS) on the basis that he is a dead-ringer for his secretary but, when Rohm is sent to kill Kinski (and fails, but a Sumuru subject disguised as a soldier in his ranks steps in to carry out the task), the victim is an impostor too…with the real President emerging, alive and well (to say nothing of looking an awful lot like Mick Jagger!) from the next room and, immediately, begins to unwittingly unveil his lecherous nature before the bemused Nader.

Apart from the atypically dark-haired Eaton, who at least seems to be relishing her part, the film's brightest light is supplied by the perennially unflappable Wilfrid Hyde-White (who displays a fondness for acronyms throughout, always seems to turn up at fortuitous moments and is really the one to blame for the mess in which our heroes find themselves). As is to be expected, Sumuru's minions are chosen for their looks rather than their acting ability: needless to say, despite all the anti-male diatribes, these women – Sumuru included – are unable to resist the temptation of 'connecting' with them for very long; even more ruthlessly, the climax has the fortress being attacked and the women mown down without any consideration for their sex whatsoever (or even allowing them a chance to give up)! And, keeping up Nader's neglect, his romantic interest (a good-looking girl who had made her mark intermittently throughout the film) comes to the fore when, asked to eliminate him, she just throws herself at the hero (so that the action chores at this stage are left in the dubious hands of Frankie Avalon!).

THE MILLION EYES OF SU-MURU is one of the millions of Harry Alan Towers-produced movies made during the 1960s that were usually filmed in various exotic locations; Hong Kong was the choice for this one. Based on a Sax Rohmer story, this is a film which serves to emulate the popularity of the Christopher Lee-starring Fu Manchu movies which were being made at the same time, except with an all-female twist.

Sadly, it's a bit of a boring affair, a definite case of style over substance and a film which feels rather insipid and tame when watched with modern eyes. Shirley Eaton (GOLDFINGER) is the titular foe, who sends her all-woman army out to kill various world leaders in a bid for world domination. Only two men can stop her: the wooden George Nader (ROBOT MONSTER) and the equally wooden singer-turned-actor Frankie Avalon.

What follows is light, fluffy, and predictable, and this feels much like the Italian Bond rip-offs that flooded cinemas during the late '60s. There are lots of beautiful Euro starlets wandering around showing acres of flesh, a typically bizarre cameo role for Klaus Kinski, and Wilfrid Hyde-White propping up the scenery as he did in many a Towers-produced film. Fans of '60s kitsch might find something to enjoy here, but those who require more substance should look elsewhere. A Jess Franco-helmed sequel, THE GIRL FROM RIO, followed.

This (like Satan in High Heels, Myra Breckinridge, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls) is one of those unknown delights produced by the Fab, Mod, Decadent Decade of the Sixties. The child of twisted, tacky sleazemeister Harry Allan Towers (sort of the UK's answer to Russ Meyers--somebody really ought to do a book on Towers--his collaboration with Spanish schlock artist Jesus Franco alone is worth some sort of award for the pinnacle of filmic tackiness), this movie has very little to do with the original novels by Fu Manchu's father, Sax Rohmer. The novels are well worth seeking out--try any online auction site. The best of them is probably The Return of Sumuru and it's pretty easy to get hold of. The original novels were rife with racist attitudes left over from the bygone era of British imperialism, with some new Cold War hysteria and anti-feminist paranoia thrown in for good measure. Sumuru, who was really the heroine, spent most of the novels lolling around nude on mink rugs smoking endless cigarettes or stalking around in high heels sipping liqueur and pondering how ugliness was the root of all that was wrong with the modern world. Rohmer came from an era when homosexuality simply wasn't mentioned so some of the lesbian implications of Sumuru's paradise were glossed over with almost unbelievable naivete. Trust Harry Allan Towers not to let THAT moxie slip past his capable paws. He even includes Klaus Kinski as a gay man marked for death by Sumuru--perhaps because he couldn't be seduced by any of her agents (though I'm sure he would have LOVED to have helped her with her wardrobe, had she given him a chance).

As Sumuru, Shirley Eaton chews up the scenery with tremendous eclat, and gets fantastic dramatic mileage out of that cigarette holder. Check out her new autobiography for some behind the scenes anecdotes about the filming of the two movies (and the true story of how Towers shamelessly grabbed footage from the Rio film and inserted it in the Blood of Fu Manchu without Shirley's knowledge). Frankie Avalon, George Nader and Wilfred Hyde-White are all ridiculous as Sumuru's opponents, which is exactly as it should be. Of Sumuru's agents, my favorite would have to be Helga, as incarnated by the zaftig Maria Rohm (a regular of various Towers productions--I think she was his girlfriend).

It is truly tragic that this movie is ONLY available as an episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Something this sublimely awful deserves to be savored in pristine form. Picket YOUR video store today, and demand Sumuru movies now!

Anti-male syndicate of beautiful female assassins, led by the no-nonsense, whip-wielding Sumuru (Shirley Eaton) at their base of operations near Hong Kong, plots international domination by ridding the world of its male leaders; two wisecracking American agents (Frankie Avalon and George Nader) use their masculine charms to save mankind. UK production, distributed Stateside by American-International Pictures, is a fairly tepid adventure yarn with 'humorous' asides. There are some interesting ideas (any woman who betrays Sumuru by falling in love with a man is automatically targeted for extermination), but not enough imagination or excitement. Eaton strikes a formidable figure as all-powerful Sumuru, and her army is certainly attractive, but film is a mishmash of clichés handicapped further by the casting of puerile Avalon and Nader, both lead weights. Eaton played Sumuru again in 1969's "The Girl From Rio". *1/2 from ****

This movie raises several important questions such as: What is going on? Why am I watching this? How do movies like this get made? The underlying theme is gender conflict and the overall feeling seems modeled after contemporary classics like Casino Royal.

Sounds interesting? Well, hear me out before you commit yourself. Most of the cast and the script seem lifted from an adjoining surfing movie set and displaced to various exotic locations to be filmed in random acts later strung together in search of a plot. Avalon makes a few random cameos and then becomes the main character in the last third of the film. And he's the class of the acting talent. Even as a comedy, this film fails - relying on chauvinism and tired stereotypes where satirical opportunities could have been exploited.

The basic concept of this film might have made it interesting had the script been written before the shooting began and had the female characters been permitted to have personalities.

The film was shot in Italy, China, and various other places, and has an "international" cast. At one point, I was starting to wonder whether the production team bothered with translators.

I just finished watching it in its MST3K treatment from the first season of MST3K, and I can not answer these questions any better than I could in the beginning. The movie seems to be about a secret society of women lead by Sumuru, who are gaining control of all of the major economies, military forces and political powers (through men of course). It is never made clear how and why this is happening.

Most of the action centers around the main male character - Nader - who has an amazing repertoire of bad one-liners and irritating pickup lines. This character is so poorly developed in the script and so horribly under-acted that I never particularly cared what happened to him, nor did I even attempt to understand why he offered no apparent resistance to Sumuru's demands. Add the improbability of Avalon teaming up with the Chinese secret service to rescue Nader from the clutches (and lips) of Sumuru's amazon army, and you've got the makings of ... well... I'll spare you the witticisms... ... a really bad film.

I was intrigued by the early appearance of the amazing Klaus Kinski, but his role though satisfactorily bizarre is barely a cameo. Considering the vast limitations of the material, the acting and cinematography are OK. This is one of the best season 1 MST3K episodes, as Joel and the bots are absolutely hilarious in their treatment of this film.

No I did not rate this higher than the IMDb norm of 2/10.The only thing going for it was an expensive location in Hong Kong and the chance to see a fleeting glimpse of one of my 1960s pinup film actresses, Krista Nell, who unfortunately gets bumped off on the vengeful orders of Su-Maru (Shirley Eaton of "Goldfinger" fame) in the first reel.The full length film is now available (as at 22/3/14) on youtube.com.Comically there are parts dubbed in German in what was then a British Crown Colony!

In the 1960s there were many James Bond spoofs which were in fashion in film circles with Connery lookalikes playing secret agents who had hoards of beautiful female actresses lusting after him.Despite many shots and high body count in the big shootout at the end not one actor showed any sort of wound.Filmed very much tongue-in-cheek with throw away Bond like lines.

I could barely stand to watch this movie. Frankie Avalon is irritating as the comic relief sidekick, and George Nader is the creepy, smug, smarmy 'hero.' I found myself hoping they would get killed a quarter way into the movie. The villainesses in this movie are false eyelashed, tightly outfitted (practical for spy maneuvers), and brainless in that sixties spy movie way. If they were trying to make a farce, they failed because it is not funny. If they were trying to make a 'straight' spy movie, they failed because it is horrendously lacking. I cannot recommend one thing about this movie.

I originally saw this movie as part of the original KTMA season of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I felt that they had trouble even mocking this movie.

I will spare any reader the lecture on Freud – if, indeed, I could even provide you with one. We have all heard, casually or otherwise, the psychoanalytic ideas pertaining to men; women and fear before – fear of one's mother or the opposite gender or whatever else is on offer, but of course all conveniently sub-consciously: we know what we think but have no idea that we think it. Somewhere at the heart of "The Million Eyes of Sumuru" there is a reason to fear women; to fear their beauty and their company – to be sceptical as to their motives and to be mindful as to their ideas.

The decade of the 1960's was a time of extraordinary change, no less on the issue of women in the Western hemisphere – abortions; easier access to a divorce; better opportunities on various career ladders are but three items which revolutionised a female's "place" in society. "The Million Eyes of Sumuru", certainly a piece of its time, is the strange amalgamation of these two articles crashing head first into one another: women are powerful and independent – they have a newfound sense of freedom and power; they are capable of things they were deprived of previously. They are to be at once both feared and found attractive. The fact that those responsible for the film considered it befitting to depict aspects of these psychoanalytic/post-feminist notions as some kind of horror piece is interesting.

Alternatively, the film is merely a somewhat strange and relatively incompetent 80 minute long thriller which is ultimately both too uninteresting and too confused of its own individual identity to be something really worth recommending.

Shirley Eaton is the eponymous Sumuru; a woman whose origins are not provided nor whose overall vision is ever fully explained. She is the stock movie antagonist – somebody who wants world domination and she plans said conquest from the confines of an island just off the coast of Hong Kong. She presides there with a small army of women aged between 18 and 35: they are beautiful, but deadly - in the opening scene, Sumuru kills 19 men with one bomb explosion on the mainland. Arriving home, the women are coldly watching on as a comrade uses her thighs to choke a man to death. The whole operation reeks of a cross between the Czech-based "Other World Kingdom" and the infamous "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant".

This combination of terror and heightened sexuality is the thrust behind Sumuru's plan: to send each of these gorgeous girls out to seduce and marry the richest men in the world. Sumuru assumes that, once they meet grizzly ends, most of the money will be left to their new muses – money which will all come back to Sumuru who'll thus be able to fund her campaign to take over the world.

On another strand, Nick West (Nader) and Tommy Carter (Avalon) are CIA agents holidaying in Italy. Carter, the younger man, likes his girls whereas West appears more prudent – early nights and an oral affirmation that he does not force himself upon anyone seems to characterise him. They become entangled in Sumuru's plan when a murder in their vicinity that she ordered was already connected to somebody they knew, and after a bit of prodding and poking, both men are in the Far-East. West is later forced into working for Sumuru as they seek to kill a local tycoon, while Carter spends most of the film trying to find and save him.

In spite of the globe-trotting; the high-concept idea; the efficiency in how the enemy is conveyed to us and the plot of world domination, it is remarkable as to how the film does not really lift off. We are distracted too often by other things: Why is Central European Klaus Kinski cast as somebody from Hong Kong? Why doesn't the lead react as he should when he is provided a tour of the villain's lair? Why do characters act with remarkable inconsistently throughout as per their established outlooks on life?

The film is not without a sprinkling of substance – it allows both Sumuru and West to seem to come to question their outlooks on life and the world. Eaton's character punishes one of her girls early on with a death sentence for the "crime" of falling in love, but then appears to come to quite like our lead agent – providing him in the process ample opportunity (too much to be consistent with her views, hence why we sense it to be so central) to return that fondness. West, comparatively, who begins the film with a cautious attitude towards women, seems to fall under a spell of promiscuity the longer he stays on the enemy's island. By the end, he seems to have fallen for his gaoler and realised the pleasures one can derive from sexually submitting to a woman. This, however, makes the film sound more substantial than it actually is.

It is difficult to entirely work out what point the film was trying to make. Many have laughed the whole thing off as camp nonsense – an idiotic piece of its time and era. It seems to me it had something to say about the way men and women co-exist; that sex, love and power are too interlinked with one another as elements to ignore one or all of them. The sexualisation of our culture in the years since it was made, not to mention the more prominent role women have had in where we live, have had an incredible impact on our civilisation - "The Million Eyes of Sumuru" seems to have been made by people aware we were heading into a brave-ish new world, where girls; sex; power; mass-influence and Technicolor would be more prominent, but it is a very difficult piece to be entirely enthused by.

I was looking up this movie and noticed that it has yet to be released on a single format on video. I was always wondering how people managed to see such a rare film. Then again, how did the cast of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" stumble upon this? Was the film just preserved somewhere? I don't think this was an awful film. I actually enjoyed the fighting at the end. Of course, it's still a bad movie. It's mostly because it's just plain boring. It wasn't until near the end that I understood why a lot of people considered this a James Bond wannabe.

The main character actually did get a few amusing lines in. It's just nothing too memorable. The atmosphere isn't good, but not the worst. There's some pretty gaudy details here that don't help. It didn't really have anything that stupid about it. I guess it wasn't a good movie to look at for the most part. There aren't any actors or actresses that I recognize. At least we got to see a few explosions in this. Of course, that's just near the end and it isn't worth the whole movie. I thought there was a little effort put into it. **

Sax Rohmer's adventure novels often had a rambling quality to them, but this adaptation wanders so far afield at times that trying to keep track of who is manipulating whom and for what reason is likely to leave you with a headache. Canadian-born director Lindsay Shonteff was best known as the creator of The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World (1965), which launched him into a career mostly spent helming spy spoofs. This a great-looking example of the form, exotically set and played dead straight by its cast as they toss off action movie quips that would make Ahnold blush. To call the resulting comedy throw away would be almost too kind, but the movie's mix of cringy lines and bat bleep craziness has undisputable power as entertainment and deserves to be seen at least once by collectors of so weird it's fun cinema. It holds up surprisingly well to repeated viewing, mostly since after one screening the viewer no longer feels a necessity to make rational sense of it all and gives up to just enjoy the whole crazy ride. Honestly, you could give this thing the What's Up Tiger Lily treatment - overdubbing random dialogue for a nonsense plot - with no wackier result than this movie achieved on its own.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru is another movie produced by exploitation maven Harry Alan Towers. Like quite a few of his others it has a unique combination of low budget with exotic location shooting. In this case the action takes place in Hong Kong. The title character is Sumuru (essentially a female Fu Manchu) who plans on ruling the world by using her army of gorgeous women who go out individually and kill all of the world's leading men after getting up close and personal with them by way of their considerable female charms. These 'unfortunate' male saps are then dispatched by a device that turns them into stone. Anyway, via this grand plan Sumuru will take over the world somehow.

This is one of the films that surfed the wave of success created by the James Bond movies which were massive in the 60's. To that end it has a very agreeable combination of exotic locations and hot premier division women. The very fact that the plot-line to this one actively focuses on a woman with an army of babes meant that this one got plus points from me more or less straight away. The 60's glamour essentially is what makes this one work for me. From the thrills and spills side of the fence it's pretty half-hearted, this is a film after all which could be summed up with the word 'breezy', so it's best not to go into this one expecting any pulse pounding action.

The star of the piece is Shirley Eaton in the role of Sumuru. She would go on to forever be known as the lady painted gold in the earlier Bond classic Goldfinger (1964) but it's nice to see her get a starring role here (she also repeated the role in the follow up movie The Girl from Rio (1969), which is another poorly rated film which I happen to like a lot more than most others it seems). This one also benefits from the appearance of two other cult film stars in the beautiful Maria Rohm as a female agent (who is 'turned' by the main 'hero' who was not much more than a sex-pest I thought) and we also have Klaus Kinski appear as one of the high ranking men who is targeted by Sumuru, he even gets to sport a very silly wig in the process. On the whole, this is a movie which seems to have something of a bad reputation which I personally think is somewhat unfair. It has beautiful women, exotic locations and breezy action. That might not be enough for some but it was enough for me.

This film was a bit cheesy and a bit strange, but it was also sort of enjoyable. Not sure what was going on at some points, but this one is easier to follow than Girl From Rio which has the same female villain, though they changed her name in that one. That one was all over the place, this one you sort of get what is going on and then at some points the film gets confusing.

The story, the evil Sumuru wants to rule the world. Unfortunately, she leads an army of women who are very attracted to men to the point of easily falling in love with the hero of the piece a very bland man, indeed. His buddy, who may or may not be an agent and played by Frankie Avalon. Turns out to be the real hero in the movie as he actually does stuff rather than just get kidnapped and flirt his way out of every situation...

The film was fun to me, though it did play out more like a comedy rather than an action spy film. This film is based on a story by Sax Rohmer who also did Fu Manchu, so Sax apparently writing about different bad guys, though this one portrayed here just never seems very close to taking over the world. Heck, she could not even keep her girls in line as they kept betraying her!

All in all it was good, I thought Avalon and Eaton were pretty good. Klaus Kinski was just weird and Nadar was just too bland. You do get to see a lot of cute girls, my fave being the one they got to try to seduce Klaus' character and I enjoyed seeing her escape during the chase! Still, not a great movie, but I enjoyed it and thought it was mildly amusing for what it was.

Just as Prehistoric Women is the ultimate vehicle for Martine Beswick and the favorite film of her cult following, so is this the ultimate for Shirley Eaton - and many of us who are Eaton cultists are also Beswick devotees, as one was a brunette and the other a blonde, but all difference ends there - slinky, sophisticated English lovelies who in the 1960s each had a second female lead in a bond film (Beswick in Thunderball, Eaton in Goldfinger) and each went on to play deliciously decadent bad girls, particularly in their best remembered films. Here's the pity - while Prehistoric Women can easily be picked up on video or DVD, Su Maru remains difficult (to say the least) to find. Even among those semi-secretive distributors of great-bad B movies on the Net. Anyway, the old Sax Rohmer story is updated and given a 60s feel, with George Nader as a flimsy James Bond wannabe and Frankie Avalon (?!), fresh from the Beach movies, as his sidekick. (By the way, about 20 years ago, Avalon swore to me that Eaton was the most beautiful single woman he'd ever seen in his life, and that as incredible as she is on film, cinema doesn't do her justice - looking at her in person, at least back then, made you want to pass out. I believe him!) She's the leader of an all (gorgeous) girl conspiracy to take over the world, and at one point hangs George Nader in a jail cell and whips him. (Leather whip, of course - this may be where 'mainstream kink' all began). Each of her associates is a knockout, all wearing black satin and leather costumes, and they seduce then kill men. This is a decidedly anti-feminist vision, made perhaps in response to the then-recent publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, which kicked off the modern woman's movement. Lots of near nudity, as this was made just before the ratings system fell apart and full frontal would be allowed about two years later. A tease, but lots of fun, very campy, and played with tongue firmly in cheek.

Wasnt a great film, but was unusual to watch. Could have had more action. Too much music. Battle sequences well done. Overall, Watchable, i thought it was fairly good entertainment.

Shirley Eaton, who earned some screen immortality as the babe covered in gold in "Goldfinger", plays the title Sax Rohmer character in this patently ridiculous, very tongue-in-cheek international-intrigue action flick. Teen idol Frankie Avalon and George Nader of "Robot Monster" infamy play some sort of special agents who must foil the efforts of our villainess, a feminist looking to replace world leaders with her ladies. She has the whole shebang: an island stronghold, secret passageways, an armoury, etc.

Featuring tons of gunfire but very little blood, "The Million Eyes of Sumuru" is a hoot and a half. You realize very quickly that it's not meant to be taken seriously, with its goofy performances and acres of really dumb dialogue. For this viewer, it never really induced belly laughs, but it put a smile on his face a number of times. Certainly it's hard to go wrong with a bevy of sexy female baddies. The sensual Maria Rohm got an "introducing" credit here, playing the role of Helga, a girl who's not too far gone, and is able to rejoin the forces of good. Nader and Avalon are amusing, with Nader making for a horrible dime store version of James Bond - but a very upbeat one. Special guest stars Wilfrid Hyde-White and Klaus Kinski are most welcome; the former almost always has a smile on his face, and Kinski is priceless as a leader named "Boong". But the performer to really see this movie for is Eaton, who does like she's relishing this moment in the spotlight.

The exotic settings are of course a plus (this is set in some fictional Asian locale, but was filmed in and around Hong Kong), and the picture is gorgeously photographed in 2.35:1 by John von Kotze.

One thing must be said before this review concludes: this script, as silly as it is, includes some surprisingly "meta" moments for 1967.

Eaton reprised her role in "The Girl from Rio", which was directed by Euro-cult favourite Jess Franco.

Six out of 10.

It is really strange that most people seem to think this movie is unintentionally funny, but the truth is it surely was made as a parody of the 60's spy movies. George Nader is frequently bumping into something and has a lot of funny lines to say. He is obviously the stupid counterpart of his other role at this time, FBI agent "Jerry Cotton".

A big problem in enjoying this beautiful fun is however, that most available versions present this (shot in 2,35:1-Scope) film in shitty fullscreen transfers, so you can see only half of the real image and missing much important picture information on both sides, so you sometimes can hardly tell what's going on.

I'm sure, the day this finally will be released in a decent OAR-transfer the film will win a lot of admirers!

This flick was always on a "double-bill" because nobody in it (including one of the leads, Frankie Avalon - who starred in Beach Movies before this) was REALLY A-list quality talent, except for the beautiful Ms. Shirley Eaton (Painted-gold girl in GOLDFINGER). The plot is wack-city on a bad dexedrine trip with ancient greed or something. The sacriligious testament to Z-movie cultures exemplifies NOTHING! This flick isn't even EVIL or robotic, it's just a zenith of confusion ("plot"-wise), let alone there's some beautiful babes spouting Amazon-like platitudes about illusions of purity.

Needless to say, this sounds like a turkey (and technically it is), but it's an exploitation film without any known characteristic (sex, violence, bikers, horror..etc.) and manages to make you believe that these characters are actually believing what they're saying. George Nader was never great shakes as an actor, but had a lengthy career without having "known" talent or good hair. Shirley Eaton, one of the brightest, most beautiful and enchanting Brits of the 50's and 60's never gets to show something. But you have to check this one out. I give it a high (7) for this kind of thing rating, ..only because everyone involved SEEMS convinced it's a REAL PLOT! Anyway, give it a shot (if you can find it). Quite enjoyable in a sleepy, demented way.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The evil and sadistic Sumuru (Shirley Eaton) builds a group of women who plan on killing all of the men that they can. Agent Nick West (George Nader) and his sidekick (Frankie Avalon) are thrown into the game to try and track her down.

THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU is based on the Sax Rohmer character and story but I must admit that I really didn't care for it. To be honest, I really don't care for any of the movies like this. It seems like after the success of James Bond we got all sorts of lower tier characters and spy stories that were usually pretty to look at but they contained very little else. Movies like this one of even the Dr. Goldfoot movies just never cut it for me.

The biggest problem here, and with many of the films, is the fact that there's a lot of boring story that you have to sit through. Another major problem is that this film seems to have been aimed at children because there's certainly no drama or tension in any of the action. There's certainly not too much going on and I have to wonder if even the kids would be entertained by this thing. I'm sure teenagers might have been interested in the beautiful ladies but that's about it.

Eaton is good in her role but sadly she just isn't given too much to do. Nader certainly doesn't add anything with his lifeless performance and it seems Avalon was only here to try and bring in whatever remaining fans he had at the time. Klaus Kinski appears towards the middle of the movie and gives it a boost but he's not enough to save the picture.

I like Klaus Kinski, very much, but not in this, he has a role (actually double small role) absolutely stupid. The whole film is stupid. Frankie Avalon, George Nader and Shirley Eaton can't act, they never did. Wilfrid Hyde-White is probably the most annoying person in movies ever. The whole story is a big nonsense, everything is stupid, nothing attractive or enjoyable in this movie.