Don't Believe the Hype

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

While sightseeing in Bangkok, a young American woman, Phyllis Leighton (Hansi Linder), is captured by thugs who ship her to Madame Kim Soo's secret island where abducted girls are drugged and forced into prostitution. The girl's mother contacts Captain Tom Rowland (Brad Harris), who is in Thailand at a police conference; he teams up with private detective Jo Walker (Tony Kendall) to try and find the missing woman.Three Golden Serpents is the sixth of the seven Kommissar X movies; coming at the end of the swinging sixties, it's a little trashier than the earlier films, dealing as it does with the sleazy subject of an Asian sex-ring, and even delivers some gratuitous female nudity (rather than the scantily clad beauties of the earlier entries in the series). But as entertaining as this sounds, the film is actually a fairly dull affair, with a plodding plot that goes nowhere slowly, and only one half-decent shootout to keep the viewer awake (the gun-fight ending with Walker attaching a missile launcher to the end of his pistol!).4/10.

After a young woman by the name of "Phyllis Leighton" (Hansi Linder) is knocked unconscious and kidnapped in Bangkok, a New York City police officer on vacation there named Captain Rowland (Brad Harris) is informed along with a private detective by the name Joe Walker (Tony Kendall) who then proceed to conduct an investigation. As it turns out, this kidnapping ring is quite sophisticated and seems to know every move both Captain Rowland and Joe Walker make before it happens. Because of this several attempts are made to kill both Captain Rowland and Joe Walker before their investigation can gather any information on the illegal organization. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was the 6th film in the "Kommissar X" series and in my opinion ranks as one of the weaker entrees. I say this because many of the scenes seemed a bit too rushed and this gave the film a rather low-budget appearance overall. Likewise, although there were a couple of pretty actresses, none of them were given any quality screen time to really benefit the movie either. In any case, while this certainly isn't a bad movie by any means, it does have it's flaws and limitations and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

This is the 5th "Kommissar X" film that I have managed to track down and watch so far; only 2 more to go! As usual, it benefits from the fun teaming of the suave Tony Kendall with the stoic Brad Harris, it has some good stunts and flavorful exotic locations (this time, Thailand). But it suffers from plodding pacing (the kidnapping story doesn't have the drive it should, and very little of the action actually takes place on the title island), as well as the lack of memorable secondary characters (with the possible exception of the brave but ill-fated Petra, a reformed guardian). The first film of the series ("Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill") remains the best. ** out of 4.

From what I've seen of the Kommissar X series, this one definitely takes the cake. The plot involves a kidnapping ring run by a wealthy Oriental "madam." American tourist women are kidnapped, drugged, and sent to a secret island, where they are kept strung out on morphine, while serving as prostitutes to rich tourists. Brad Harris and Tony Kendall team up to nip the operation in the bud, but constantly run into a barrage of thugs, gunmen, and Asian assassins. In my book, this is another reason why director Roberto Mauri is one of the more enticing directors of Italian cult cinema. He doesn't just appeal to the spooks, but to genuine film aficionados as well. His resume extends to many forgotten and obscure corners of the cinema. All in all, he is a wonderful director. This film is really great from a technical point-of-view, and features some very nice improvising by Harris and Kendall. Walter Brandi also appears in a fine role. Thumbs up for the Three Golden Serpents!