Directed by Jess Franco
Starring Shirley Eaton, Richard Wyler, George Sanders, Maria Rohm
A few years ago, Blue Underground released a series of Blu-Ray double features of some Harry Alan Towers pictures — from Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu to some Edgar Wallace things to a couple Bond ripoffs and beyond. One of these sets gave us the two Sumuru films starring Shirley Eaton and directed by Jess Franco — The Million Eyes Of Sumuru (1967) and The Girl From Rio (1969).
Like a lot of stuff from Harry Alan Towers, these were based on a character from Sax Rohmer. But they are very much a product of their time and place — oozing with the James Bond and Bava’s Danger: Diabolik vibe. I’m not a Franco fan, but I have a soft spot for these two films. The Blu-Ray twin bill looked fantastic — pretty much a given with Blue Underground. My bet is that the 4K of The Girl From Rio will be incredible.