Shadow of Evil

1964 [FRENCH]

Action / Adventure / Thriller

3
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 463 463

based on novel or book espionage spying thailand secret agent virus

Plot summary

A secret agent sets out to stop an evil scientist who is about to unleash on the world a virulent biological strain he has developed during experiments on rats.

Director

André Hunebelle Photo
André Hunebelle

Top cast

Kerwin Mathews Photo
Kerwin Mathews as Hubert Barton alias OSS 117 / Tony Burt
Robert Hossein Photo
Robert Hossein as Dr. Guna Sinn
Pier Angeli Photo
Pier Angeli as Lila Sinn
Yasumoto Soichi Photo
Yasumoto Soichi as Le tuer
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.06 GB
1280*544
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 58 min
Seeds 5
1.97 GB
1920*816
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 58 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by kevinolzak 5 / 10

Kerwin Mathews bows out in his second outing as OSS 117

1964's French-Italian "Shadow of Evil" (Banco a Bangkok pour OSS 117 or Panic in Bangkok for OSS 117) was the second OSS (Office of Strategic Services) title for director Andre Hunebelle (first in color, following "OSS 117 is Unleashed") in the long running series of films that kicked off in 1957 (five years before "Dr. No"). Hollywood leading man Kerwin Mathews returns for the second and last time in the title role of Hubert Barton, the subject of 88 published stories by French author Jean Bruce dating back to 1949, four years before Bond's 1953 debut in Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale." Barton is dispatched to Thailand to replace an assassinated operative on the trail of an organization called 'The People Elect,' elitists out to use a new plague virus in place of vaccines to orchestrate a vast takeover of the entire world, killing huge numbers of animals as well as 'inferior people.' The obsessed villain is established early on as Hindu seer Doctor Sinn (Robert Hossein), whose lovely sister Lila (Pier Angeli) is quick to switch sides when Barton is endangered. Structurally, it truly plays out like a Bond film with OSS 117 briefed by a supervisor before his assignment, then filming on location to ensure authenticity, but even on his second go round in the part one wishes for greater charisma out of Kerwin Mathews, already a Hammer veteran with Christopher Lee's "The Pirates of Blood River" and Jimmy Sangster's "Maniac" on his resume (one more reunion with Pier Angeli for her final movie role, 1971's hideously cheap "Octaman"). Alas, these henchmen prove a bit too easy to defeat, from an intruder who leaps to his death rather than be interrogated, to a scientist falling victim to his own truth serum, revealing all to Barton at roughly the halfway mark; it's still diverting enough and certainly benefits from a rat infested climax, Robert Hossein returning as a different villain in 1968's "OSS 117 Double Agent."
Reviewed by larryanderson 5 / 10

The Story only develops in the last 30 MINUTES.

Kerwin Mathews arrives in Thailand and gets involved with Dr. Sinn by bedding his sister (Pier Angeli). They drive around in a 1955 Chev. with nothing happening for about an hour. The boat chase takes forever and ends with the pair right back where they started from. Mathews "Hides" Pier in a friends houseboat on a river. How safe is that? Once Our agent finds the secret hideout of Dr. Sinn, we are told of the secret world domination plot, to spread a killer virus that will destroy most of the world's population. All these FACTS are only told in the last few minutes. This section is Euro-Spy stuff while the rest of the movie is just fill-in. This "destroy the world with a man-made epidemic" idea has been used before. This is not a true secret agent movie but tries hard. Larry Anderson
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