A West German-Italian spy knockoff in the wake of James Bond, 1965's "Red Dragon" (a Woolner Brothers release in America) imports British star Stewart Granger as an FBI agent from San Francisco who journeys to Hong Kong to infiltrate an international smuggling ring, aided by the ravishing Rosanna Schiaffino as Carol, who replaces a recently murdered agent working with coded messages by teletype. The by-the-numbers plot starts out slow and offers few surprises but patient viewers will manage after the first half hour. The 51-year-old Granger seems just a bit too old to be convincing as the two-fisted hero, but the Italian beauty Rosanna proves she would have made an excellent Bond girl had she been given the opportunity. Shot on location in Hong Kong by a mostly German crew, including actors Horst Frank (as the chief assassin) and Suzanne Roquette, who would also appear together in another Hong Kong-lensed German feature in 1967, "The Vengeance of Fu Manchu," starring Christopher Lee. "Red Dragon" would air only once on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Feb 7 1970, followed by second feature 1960's "Atom Age Vampire." Rosanna Schiaffino also appeared in 1966's "The Witch," opposite another British star, Richard Johnson, as well as Edgar G. Ulmer's last film, "The Cavern." Other foreign spies that were shown on Chiller Theater include "Shadow of Evil" (1964, Kerwin Matthews), "OSS 117 Mission for a Killer" (1965, Frederick Stafford), "OSS 117 Double Agent" (1968, John Gavin), "M. M. M. 83" (1965, Fred Beir), "Spy in Your Eye" (1965, Dana Andrews), and "Lightning Bolt" (1965, Anthony Eisley).
Review of Das Geheimnis der drei Dschunken
