COMING ON BLU-RAY!

VD Marquee Classics

3 May at 00:07 ·

Coming to Blu-ray September 2018 for the FIRST TIME IN NORTH AMERICA from MVD CLASSICS...
JESS FRANCO'S "DIAMONDS OF KILIMANDJARO".
This disc will be region free.

$24.95 SRP

Robert Monell

This is actually the first HD release of this 1980s jungle adventure, with some cannibals thrown in (it's actually reviewed in the AURUM HORROR ENCYCLOPEDIA). Interestingly enough, the Spanish language version, at a reported 87 m, seems to be the director's cut, whereas Eurocine, the French co-producer, added an alternate opening, including a small plane crash which strands the future jungle queen and her father (Franco regular composer and actor, Daniel J. White) in the bush (obviously Southern Spain. 

 

The French version also features an abrupt, downbeat ending, while the Spanish ends things in a more Saturday afternoon adventure-serial fashion, which signals the touch of serial fan Franco himself. There are also some interesting locales, including a golden cave and a treasure, which have a less prominent place in the French version, credited Cole Polley (Claude Plaut?). Daniel Katz, a veteran of the director's later Spanish career, appears as the downed pilot in the French cut, but is totally absent in the Spanish version.

One hopes that both versions could be included on this HD release. We'll see...