Yellow Devil (1964)

Very Cool!!!

The Worst Film Ever

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

"Der Schut" or "The Shoot" or "The Yellow One" is a movie in the German language from 1964, so this one is already over half a century old. It is a collaboration between several European countries, such as West Germany, which is mostly because the original work this is based on is by Karl May and to show you how old this film is. It's been longer since the film came out and today than between Karl May's death in 1912 and the day this movie came out. Director is Robert Siodmak, one of Germany's most successful back in the day and Austrian writer Ernst Marischka is also not an unknown name at all. So yeah, now you basically know already what to expect in this 2-hour movie. Winnetou is not in it, which is a good thing as Brice is a pretty limited actor, but everything else is the same as usual. We don't find out the identity of the antagonist for a long time, even if it can easily be guessed. Major boo also to the spoiler here on IMDb about this. Lex Barker plays basically the epitome of a character who is not a superhero, but as close as it gets in terms of his skills and wit and coolness etc. It is cringeworthy and that comes from somebody who does like Barker a bit. His sidekick is once again played by Ralf Wolter, who actually turned 90 last year. He is in it for the comedy and while it is the same like all the other times, it is still mildly funny occasionally. Borsche and Howland also bring the same brand of comedy as always and they are caught by the bad guys as always. Battaglia is a much better actor, but he is also really forgettable in here because of how he was written.Looking at the commercial success of these films, I guess all this is exactly what people wanted back then as they keep racking up Golden Screens left and right, but apart from the visual side perhaps these Karl May movies have not aged well at all. They are all pretty much interchangeable and saying you have seen them all when you have seen 2 or 3 max is not an incorrect statement. But at least I am glad we could do without the heroic cameo by Winnetou in here, in which he saves the day, then disappears as quickly as he entered the picture. What else is there to say. I found the film incredibly relevant and it is the epitome of a relatively forgettable western and the success does not say anything good about (West) German audiences's taste in film back in the day. It was Edgar Wallace or Karl May at that time and both is sub-par in my opinion. Only the occasional solid film about the years of WWII saves the day, even if there is a lot forgettable stuff too. So yeah, as for this one here, I don't recommend the watch, but then again you probably have seen other May stuff if you consider checking out this overlong film here and can decide for yourself. Finally let me say that I have never read a single word from a Karl May novel, so no idea if the books are as weak as the films.

The Schut (Rik Battaglia) seems to be a king of the bandits; he controls the land in the disguise of the rich Merchant Nirwan. The corrupt police force does not take any action against him. The Schut holds an English aristocrat and a French merchant for a ransom, then he also abducts the beautiful Tschita (Marie Versini). Kara Ben Nemsi (Lex Barker) tries to find the Schut's hiding-place in the mountains and free the prisoners. But the Schut has many rogues and assassins under his command who make this search long and dangerous.Hollywood director Robert Siodmak, famous for the Burt Lancaster classics "The Crimson Pirate" and "The Killers", directed this picture on location in Yugoslavia. Despite his experience, some fights are not convincing (e.g. Kara holding the weight of both Aladschy brothers on a rope!) and the low budget is occasionally revealed, but nevertheless "Der Schut" is the best movie from the oriental branch of the May series in the 1960s. Solid action and a good sense of humor carried by Dieter Borsche (as Lord Lindsay) and Chris Howland (butler Archie) as well as Ralf Wolter (in the role of Kara's sidekick Halef) fit well together, recommendable!