DANGER!! DEATH RAY

Delfi Mauro and Gordon Scott

DANGER!! DEATH RAY (aka Il raggio infernale/1967). Director: Gianfranco Baldanello.

When Professor Carmichael (Tullio Altamura) is kidnapped along with his death ray -- more powerful than a laser beam -- American agent Bart Fargo (Gordon Scott) is sent into action. En route to Barcelona, Fargo first encounters a pretty plane passenger (Silvia Solar), who turns up again in dramatic circumstances, and then meets the painter, Lucille (Delfi Mauro). In addition to flirting with the ladies, Fargo has to fight off several assassins, including one, Al (Massimo Righi), who becomes Bart's helpmate when his companions turn on him. The hired guns in this are especially inept, particularly in one comical sequence when an assassin tries to push Bart out a window and goes flying into space himself! The high-tech effects include an obviously toy helicopter and submarine, and the "death ray" certainly doesn't do much until a few seconds at the end. (Any notions that the movie presents attacks on cities or buildings by giant death rays because of the title are quickly forgotten.) One clever bit has jackhammers being turned into machine guns. Gordon Scott, best known for playing Tarzan in such films as Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, makes a perfectly acceptable super-spy, the ladies are adept enough, and Alberto Dalbes is effective as Carver, the slimy villain of the piece. The movie's score is terrible.

Verdict: Sub-standard Eurospy trash in widescreen Eastmancolor. **.