LADIES MAN (1962)

LADIES MAN (aka Lemmy pour Les Dames/1962). Director: Bernard Borderie. 

Special FBI agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) is on vacation in France, hanging out with his buddy Dombie  (Robert Berri), when a wealthy woman named Claudia (Yvonne Monlaur) asks for his help. Their first meeting in a restaurant is interrupted by the arrival of two men of whom Claudia is obviously frightened, Mirko (Guy Delorme) and Hugo (Lionel Roc). Before Lemmy can consult with Claudia a second time, he finds her corpse at the bottom of a cliff. Nearby is a house inside which Lemmy finds three friends of Claudia's: Sophie, (Eliane D'Almeida), Francoise (Claudine Coster), and Marie-Christine (Francoise Brion). More than one attempt is made on Eddie's life as he tries to figure out which of the women might have had a hand in Claudia's death, as well as might be a part of a blackmail scheme. 

Lemmy Caution first appeared as a character in several novels written by British author Peter Cheyney. Beginning in 1955, the books were adapted into French films starring the very American Eddie Constantine, who had studied voice under Edith Piaf and found some success as a singer! Several Caution/Constantine films were made, the most famous of which is the weird Alphaville, which was not based on a Cheyney novel. Constantine wouldn't be the first or last American actor to achieve more success in Europe than he did in the States. 

Eddie Constantine

Regardless of what country it comes from, Ladies Man is typical private eye stuff. (In the books Caution eventually became a P.I. and, out of his jurisdiction, he basically acts like one in this movie.) We've got all of the usual American private eye tropes -- attempts on the hero's life, bodies turning up, lascivious females trying to get info out of the hero, and so on.  Constantine is by no means conventionally attractive -- he's like a somewhat better-looking Ernest Borgnine -- but he has a certain appeal. It's hard to judge his acting as this is the dubbed version of the film, but the actor dubbing Caution, be it Constantine or someone else, is excellent. The comedic stuff in the film, mostly centering on Lemmy's buddy Dombie, reminds one of similar antics in American PI shows. Pretty standard stuff, Ladies Man is moderately entertaining. Its rough-edged and satisfying conclusion reminds one of Mickey Spillane. An odd aspect of the film is that Caution is treated like a celebrity everywhere he goes, with people hungering for his autograph -- an FBI agent?! 

Verdict: If you want to see a Lemmy Caution movie it might as well as this one. **3/4. 

THE TERROR OF THE TONGS

THE TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961). Director: Anthony Bushell.

"Why is it these occidentals indulge in their vices the same way they run their lives, with noise and vulgarity?" 

Chung King (Christopher Lee) is the imperious leader of the Red Dragon Tong, which -- like a mafia -- controls and terrifies the citizens of Hong Kong near the turn of the century. Anyone who dares to speak out against or betray them winds up horribly murdered. The members of the Tong go too far, however, when they slay the daughter of a British captain named Jackson Sale (Geoffrey Toone). Aided by some who are secretly working against the tong, including the lovely former slave girl, Lee (Yvonne Monlaur) and a certain beggar (Marne Maitland), Sale decides that the tong's reign of terror must come to an end. Dr. Fu Choa (Charles Lloyd Pack) tries to give Sale a lethal injection, and Chung King arranges for his enforcer to use thin needles to painfully scrape Sale's bones down to the very marrow in one very interesting torture sequence. Lee -- who would later play Fu Manchu in a number of movies -- gives an excellent performance, and the rest of the cast is at the very least enthusiastic and watchable; Maitland is especially notable. The film is well-directed, extremely well-edited, well-photographed by Arthur Grant [The Abominable Snowman], and has an exciting score by James Bernard [Dracula Prince of Darkness].

Verdict: Done with the usual Hammer studios aplomb. ***.