Hong Kong: porto franco per una bara

Released in the U.S. as "A Coffin From Hong Kong", this was one of a whole series of relatively low budget German noir/espionage/thriller type films made in the early to mid sixties. Although the scripting of these films is often trite to the point silliness, they are generally well acted, and usually set (though not filmed) someplace other than Germany, usually London or the U.S.

Rather frequently shown on late night TV in the 60's this film is better produced than most of the type. It even appears that some of the filming may actually have been done in Hong Kong. If not, the set designers did a great job. A private detective finds the limp body of Greta Chi(a Chinese/Danish actress of the 60s) in his office, shot with his own gun. Shortly afterward, an attempt is made on his own life, which causes him to travel to Hong Kong in order to duck the police and unravel a complicated mystery involving drug smuggling and secret societies.

This film is a hard one to judge. As usual, the scripting is lousy and the villains have a comic book dimension. Yet some of the more violent scenes have a clinical coldness that is rather shocking and effective. There are also some nice "historical" oddities such as push button rotary phones and a few interesting cars. Definitely worth it for fans of the genre but rather boring for others.