VIAJE A BANGKOK, ATAUD INCLUIDO (1985) Blu-ray

This 1985 Manacoa production is not a strict Edgar Wallace adaptation. It initially registers as a very loose remake of Franco's 1966 Eurospy, CARTES BOCCA ARRIBA/CARTES SUR TABLE/ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS, released on Blu-ray in 2019, in French with English subtitles and an English language track option. It begins by restaging the opening of that 1966 film in which a diplomat is assassinated at a cocktail party, then focusing on an investigation targeting a mind-control cult which uses drugs and rituals instead of a technological systems to turn victims into vision disabled robotic assassins. The black and white 1966 film somewhat suffers because the skin of the robots does not change color when shut down, as mentioned in the dialogue. It is very heavy on slapstick humor. VIAJE bears some similarites to the 1924 Edgar Wallace story THE DARK EYES OF LONDON and the films which were adapted from it, including Alfred Vohrer's 1962 THE DEAD EYES OF LONDON and the UK lensed Bela Lugosi murder mystery, THE HUMAN MONSTER (1939). Like Franco's other Wallace film adaptations it could be termed as a mystery thriller based on some characters and plot elements from the original novels and stories of the writer. Since they are first and foremost "Jess Franco" films they are stuffed with the director's personal language, which also could be termed Franco Lingua.

The original Wallace story involves criminal activities going on in a London home for the blind. There is a cult led by a blind charismatic head honcho in VIAJE, who uses mind control to use blind operatives to murder victims. The crimes are investigated by British sleuth Colonel Daniel J. Blimp (Franco icon Howard Vernon) and British Secret Service operative Philiip Sanders (Jose Llamas). Released in 1985, it was Franco's final Wallace adaptation.

Being a low budget Jess Franco film, produced partially by the director's MANACOA FILMS, this is about as aesthetically far from the German Wallace adaptations one can get. A very perceptive bonus feature on the SEVERIN FILMS Blu-ray is an interview with Spanish Franco scholar Alex Mendibil, who notes the earlier Wallace titles and discusses the production of this film as a typically rushed shoot largely staged at a hotel in Altea, a suburb of Alicante, Spain. Franco's intrepid cinematographer Juan Soler Cozar was sent to Bangkok to shoot some footage of local streets, tourist exteriors and architecture. Some exteriors were shot in the Canary Islands, featuring local actor Albino Graziani. The fact that it all hangs together in an entertaining genre satire mode, with numerous Franco "in-jokes" included, is a tribute to the director's editorial skills. The centerpiece of the film is a witty, endearing performance by Franco icon Howard Vernon, as Colonel Daniel J. Blimp. Of course, there's the Michael Powell-Pressburger British film titled THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, which is one of those Jess Franco "in-jokes" along with various characters named Peter Welbeck, Jonathan Keats, Charles Dickens and Wallace secret agent Philip Sanders, the latter a character from the Wallace novel SANDERS COME FROM THE RIVER. That novel was previously adapted by Franco with the 1982 SANGRE EN MIS ZAPATOS, another Wallace adventure largely shot in various Spanish hotel interiors. I guess that SANGRE (featuring Vernon as a Bond style villain), VIAJE and BANGKOK, CITA CON LA MUERTE (1985), could be termed a hotel trilogy. What would Jess Franco have done without hotels? Even the 1966 CARTES SUR TABLE has numerous scenes also staged in Alicante hotels. As Mendibil notes, they fufilled most of his major production needs, housed cast and crew and also cross reference Alfred Hitchcock's spy adventures, who also often used hotel rooms (and trains) as convenient launch pads.

Vernon provides many amusing asides, wearing his Panama white suit and endlessly reaching for his tobacco pouch, which somehow contains a mini tape recorder and can be used as an IED (Improvsied Explosive Device). As in Wallace's original THE DARK EYES OF LONDON there is a villain, Professor Tao (Franco actor-collaborator Trino Trives) who is blind and uses cult members as operatives. The opening attack on the Ambassador is partially represented as a reflection in the sunglasses of the killer. The final showdown includes a group of cult robots, all wearing shades as they launch an attack on VIPS, which Sanders manages to sabotage by grabbing a convenient submachine gun. It should be noted that the motives of the villain are closer to the aging hippie globalist model than the typical world domination plans of a Bond villain. Tao is planning a New World Order enforced by his Apocalpyse cult. The scenes in Tao's temple are staged in the style of Orson Welles shot on-the-run films. Tao's hideout is represented by several oriental statues symetrically placed at the entrance as Tao writhes beyond obscured by smoke and mirrors. Creating something eye catching out of next to nothing again illustrates that Franco adopted Welles' default to dime store mise-en-scene as a working method. Jess had learned his lessons well on the set of Welles' CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.

Reflections and mirrors are a continuous element in Jess Franco films. They are always found in hotel rooms and Franco always employs them as guest portals in another dimension beyond the cramped shooting space. The cult leader, Dr. Tao, was named Dr. Orloff when played by Lugosi in THE HUMAN MONSTER, a further connection with the Franco filmogaphy considering that the villain of Franco's first horror film, GRITOS EN LA NOCHE (1961), was named Orloff and like the Orloff of THE HUMAN MONSTER has a monstrous henchman (Morpho) who turns on the villain at the climax.

The most interesting aspect to consider when watching VIAJE A BANGKOK, ATAUD INCLUDIO is that the film looks more generously resourced than it actually was. It's flush with tropical interludes, color gel striptease performances and some nifty action moments, such as when Colonel Blimp goes on the attack utiliing his Australian walking stick. It gets the most out of its stretched resources as it briskly proceeds on its way. One remaining mystery at this point is the exact identity of the composer of the score, credited as Denis Farnon, which OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO lists as a Jess Franco beard. (C) Robert Monell, 2026