MISSION TO CARACAS

Roland Carey as agent Gil Becker

MISSION TO CARACAS/Mission speciale a Caracas/1965. Director: Raoul Andre. 

In Caracas Special agent Gil Becker (Roland Carey using the name "Rod Carter") is after a self-described evil Frenchman named Vasson (Saro Urzi). Vasson works with Madame de Lainville (Louise Carletti), the directress of an institution for underprivileged young girls, but she has no intention of being underprivileged herself. 

Agent Becker with femme fatale

Vasson exchanges a formula for a deadly neurotoxin, PK 23, for a bunch of diamonds from a consortium, which he passes off to Madame. On a cruise ship some of Madame's female associates try their damnedest to get the briefcase containing the diamonds away from the directress, with the result that she is thrown overboard and, later, six or seven of the gals engage in a protracted "cat fight." Meanwhile there are assorted spies who don't want the diamonds, but rather the briefcase, which contains special secret documents irradiated in such a way that the writing will eventually vanish. Dodging assorted spies and weapons, including a camera that doubles as a weapon, Becker does his best to outwit everyone. 

Paul Demange and Carey

Mission to Caracas is a pretty bad eurospy film. Believe me, it wasn't easy coming up with a coherent synopsis of the plot as there are so many characters working at cross purposes you need a scorecard. French-Swiss actor Carey makes a perfectly acceptable super-spy, but he appeared mostly in "peplum" movies; this was his only appearance as Gil Becker. Even dubbed, Urzi makes an impression as the slimy but charming Vasson. The movie is all but ruined by a horrible jazzy headache-inducing score that never matches up with the action on screen, and many of the action sequences are clumsily staged. A Spanish-Italian-French co-production.

Verdict: Try and follow it if you dare! *1/2. 

THE DOLL OF SATAN

Erna Schurer and Roland Carey

THE DOLL OF SATAN (aka La bambola di Satana/1969). Written and directed by Ferruccio Casapinta. 

Elizabeth (Erna Schurer) comes with her fiance, a writer named Jack (Roland Carey), to her wealthy late uncle's castle for the reading of his will. A mysterious hooded figure in black strangles the laywer Shinton (Domenico Ravenna) and hides his body. A neighbor, Paul (Ettore Ribotta), makes an offer for the castle while the governess, Carole (Lucia Bomez), acts all spooky and tells the others that her dead employer's crazy secretary, who survived an accident, is hidden away in the castle. What could go wrong?

Well, just about everything could go wrong with The Doll of Satan, which despite its pointless title and three bloodless murders is more of a mystery-suspense film than a horror giallo. Aside from a couple of decent fight scenes, especially at the climax, Doll is badly directed and edited and sort of clumps from scene to scene with no style, atmosphere, or energy. There is a no-name international cast that is probably perfectly adept if unlikely to win the Italian equivalent of an Oscar. Poorly photographed as well. This really could have used a few juicy murder scenes. Writer-director Casapinta never made another movie.

Verdict: Somehow holds the attention without ever amounting to much. **1/4.