This unusual and overly serious B-picture is one of many resurrected by the late Mike Vraney through his label Something Weird Video. I've watched nearly all the features in his catalog, and this is among those overlooked by the fans but worthwhile.
It was directed by Walter Hugo Khouri, who later went on to become one of the most interesting soft porn auteurs in the world. I would love to see his entire oeuvre, but have managed to catch a few classics -notably LOVE STRANGE LOVE, his Cannes Film Festival entry EROS and the amazing international co-production FOREVER (starring Ben Gazzara and the top Continental sex stars of the early '90s).
Here he is overly serious in telling a tale which is obviously influenced by the grand-daddy of South of the Border adventures, Clouzot's WAGES OF FEAR. Protagonists are trapped in a sort of company town, not the kind Tennesse Ernie Ford used to sing about but rather a place almost like CASABLANCA on the Amazon - myriad folks stuck there with no escape. The industry is diamond mining, and the film & story should have been set in South Africa, but Brazil is perhaps even more atmospheric.
Our hapless hero saves the damsel in distress, whose father died trying to steal a huge diamond worth $20,000 (big bucks six decades ago) from under the noses of a motley group of villains who rule the territory. I enjoyed Khouri's depiction of a microcosmic society seemingly cut off from the rest of humanity, but most of his characters are clichés and the merely OK English dubbing (some of the cast articulates in English, which is helpful) drag the movie down.
Despite its title, there is no sex in this adventure, but Walter made up for it when he found his true calling in the '60s.
It was directed by Walter Hugo Khouri, who later went on to become one of the most interesting soft porn auteurs in the world. I would love to see his entire oeuvre, but have managed to catch a few classics -notably LOVE STRANGE LOVE, his Cannes Film Festival entry EROS and the amazing international co-production FOREVER (starring Ben Gazzara and the top Continental sex stars of the early '90s).
Here he is overly serious in telling a tale which is obviously influenced by the grand-daddy of South of the Border adventures, Clouzot's WAGES OF FEAR. Protagonists are trapped in a sort of company town, not the kind Tennesse Ernie Ford used to sing about but rather a place almost like CASABLANCA on the Amazon - myriad folks stuck there with no escape. The industry is diamond mining, and the film & story should have been set in South Africa, but Brazil is perhaps even more atmospheric.
Our hapless hero saves the damsel in distress, whose father died trying to steal a huge diamond worth $20,000 (big bucks six decades ago) from under the noses of a motley group of villains who rule the territory. I enjoyed Khouri's depiction of a microcosmic society seemingly cut off from the rest of humanity, but most of his characters are clichés and the merely OK English dubbing (some of the cast articulates in English, which is helpful) drag the movie down.
Despite its title, there is no sex in this adventure, but Walter made up for it when he found his true calling in the '60s.
