Valery Inkijinoff Movies

A suave, sophisticated journalist gets hold of a magic ring of invisibility and obtains a secret formula. As a result he finds himself pursued by Chinese agents in this spoof of James Bond thrillers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Arthur Lempereur (Jean-Paul Belmondo of Breathless) is a globe-hopping millionaire, engaged to Alice (Valérie Lagrange), a beautiful young woman. As the film opens, Arthur has cut the break line on his fine automobile and proceeds to drive it off a cliff. This, we learn, is his ninth suicide attempt in the past week. Arthur is bored with his easy life. Even learning from his accountant, Biscotton (Darry Cowl), that he's ruined doesn't perk him up. On a cruise to Hong Kong, his friend Mr. Goh (Valéry Inkijinoff) comes up with a solution to Arthur's woes: "Adversity carries the chance for happiness," he explains to the despondent young man. Goh convinces Arthur to take out a two-million-dollar life insurance policy, with Goh and Alice as the beneficiaries. The policy will expire in one month. Goh then tells Arthur that his life is in danger. He may be killed at any moment. Arthur soon realizes that he's being followed. He's not so eager to be murdered. Arthur and his valet, Leon (Jean Rochefort of The Hairdresser's Husband), frantically search for Goh to ask him to call off the hit. At one point, Arthur ducks into a nightclub to dodge his pursuers, and instantly falls for Alexandrine (Ursula Andress), the stripper on-stage. Alexandrine is fascinated by the ways men try to manipulate women and assumes that Arthur's story about hired killers is a bizarre ruse. All the more determined to survive the month, the bumbling Arthur engages in a fierce battle for his life. Up to His Ears is both a loose adaptation of a Jules Verne story (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) and a hyped-up return to the form of director Philippe de Broca's previous action comedy, That Man from Rio, which also starred Belmondo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

This unrealistic, routine drama is the second half of a story that began with Der Tiger von Eschnapur. This sequel was later cut slightly, combined with the first story then released in English as Journey to the Lost City. Both halves were written by Thea von Harbou and the 1959 films are both directed by Fritz Lang, von Harbou's former husband. In this continuation, Seetha (Debra Paget) and the architect Harald (Paul Hubschmid) have fallen in love. The biggest stumbling block to their romance is Chandra, the Maharaja of Eshnapur (Walther Reyer). He wants Seetha for himself. Because of that, the lovers fled from Eshnapur and are now being hunted by the Maharaja's henchmen. That leads to inevitable killings, cruelties, and inhuman conduct until the Maharaja himself is the only one left who can right the situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Russian Czar's special courier, Jurgens, is entrusted with an important message destined for the Czar's troops and he sets off across the Tartars' land with Page in this 19th century setting. ~ All Movie Guide

Shanghai Drama was originally released in France in 1938 under the title Le Drame de Shanghai. Director G. W. Pabst, best known for the erotic classics Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, seems artistically subdued in this standard tale of pre-WW2 intrigue. The villains are the Japanese, who inveigle a group of exiled White Russians to aid in the subjugation of China. Trapped in the web of deceit is nightclub chanteuse Kay (Christine Mardayne), whose efforts to break away from a sinister Black Dragon-like society are doomed to failure. The film's only ray of hope is manifested in the character of Kay's daughter Vera (Suzanne Dempers), who is afforded the opportunity to start life anew with journalist Franchon (Raymond Rouleau). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this espionage drama, a Secret Service agent must discover who has been smuggling British arms into China. The prime suspect is a prosperous Chinese merchant-philanthropist and the agent thinks the merchant is working with the notorious Chinese guerrilla warlord General Ling. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The Battle is the English-language version of the French La Bataille; both versions starred Charles Boyer in one of his oddest screen roles. Adapted from a novel by Claude Farrere, the film casts Boyer as Marquis Yorisaka, a patriot Japanese nobleman in charge of a vast naval fleet. He strikes up a friendship with British navy officer Fergan (John Loder), in hopes of harvesting new information concerning maritime maneuvers. Yorisaka even goes so far as to push his own wife Marquise (Merle Oberon) into a romantic liaison with Fergan, even though this cruel deed will bring him disgrace as a Japanese gentleman. Even after emerging victorious from a naval battle, Yorisaka grimly realizes he's betrayed his own people through his disgraceful treatment of Marquise, leaving him with no other option but an honorable suicide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally Potomak Chingis-khan (The Heir to Genghis Khan), Russian filmmaker Vsevolod Pudovkin's Storm Over Asia is set in Central Asia in 1920. Valeri Inkijinov plays a young Mongolian trapper ostracized from his village after he is cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a European trader. Becoming a Soviet partisan, the trapper is thrust into prominence when it is learned that he is descended from Genghis Khan. The occupying English army (identified as the White Russian army in foreign prints of the film, downplaying the West's effort to secure a stronghold in Russia in the years following the revolution) puts the trapper in charge of a puppet Mongolian government. By film's end, however, the "puppet" has cut the strings in a spectacular fashion. "Spectacular" is indeed the appropriate word for this sweeping political drama, which though not a huge success with domestic audiences upon its first release, is now regarded as one of Pudovkin's finest efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide