The Devil Came from Akasava

Before watching "The Devil Came From Akasava" (1971) last night, I'd seen two earlier pictures from director Jess Franco--"The Awful Dr. Orloff" (1961), a fun horror outing, and "Venus In Furs" (1968), an extremely surreal, ultimately unfathomable but nevertheless professionally made film--and this may be part of the reason why "Akasava" proved such a disappointment to me. This picture somehow doesn't seem professionally made at all, featuring as it does lazy directing (Franco is inordinately and tiresomely in love with his zoom lens), slipshod editing, and a plot that is often downright confusing. The story here concerns a mineral that is discovered in the fictitious African country of Akasava--one that can turn base metals into gold--and the various criminal parties that vie with the British Secret Service (in the person of the gorgeous Soledad Miranda) and Scotland Yard for possession. Despite the film's title, this is not a horror outing at all, but rather a poor man's secret agent caper that strangely features little action to speak of. The picture is guilty of the worst crime a movie can commit: It is boring. With the exception of some groovy psychedelic music, laced with trippy sitar (non sequitur as the music often is), and some lingering shots of Miranda (who, sadly, like other beautiful actresses such as Francoise Dorleac, Jayne Mansfield and Claudia Jennings, died in a car crash, right after "Akasava" was shot), this film does not offer much. Don't blame the fine folks at Image Entertainment, however. The DVD itself looks great, and offers some excellent subtitling for those of us who don't speak fluent German. But it would take a lot more than a nice-looking DVD to turn this base film into solid gold!

The prolific Spanish Exploitation deity Jess Franco made some of the most famous cult gems in his repertoire of almost 200 films with the gorgeous cult-goddess Soledad Miranda, who tragically died in a car accident at only 27 - an accident which robbed the world of cinema of one of its most stunning beauties. Sadly, the majority of their collaborations were released only after Miranda's death in August 1970. Being a big fan of both Jess Franco and his most beautiful muse, I am always looking forward to seeing one of their collaborations. Their most famous one is probably the brilliantly titled VAMPYROS LESBOS (1970) in which Miranda plays a Lesbian Vampire Countess, others include NACHTS WENN Dracula ERWACHT (COUNT Dracula, 1970) the cast of which also includes Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski and Herbert Lom, SIE TÖTETE IN EKSTASE (SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY, 1971) and EUGENIE DE SADE (1974). DER TEUFEL KAM AUS AKASAVA aka. THE DEVIL CAME FROM AKASAVA (1971) is probably the most shamelessly nonsensical of their collaborations and yet Soledad alone makes it an absolute must-see for any admirer of beauty.

THE DEVIL CAME FROM AKASAVA seems like a very-low budget, but stylish James Bond rip-off, only that it is a female Bond with exhibitionist tendencies, played by one of the most mesmerizing women ever seen on screen. The sublime Soledad plays a foxy British secret agent who poses as a stripper. She comes to a tropical island in order to solve a bunch of disappearances... without giving too much away I can promise that the 'mysterious' motivation for the disappearances is hilariously nonsensical. The entire film makes hardly any sense, and yet it is incredibly entertaining. Once asked about the reason for film-making, the admitted sleaze-lover Jess Franco stated "showing the female body naked". And many parts of the plot here seem to be an excuse for the stunning Soledad Miranda to take her clothes off (which is more than welcome). The nudity in this film is very tasteful nudity (as opposed to many of Franco's rather pornographic 80s outings); as almost all Franco flicks from the early 70s, this a very stylish and groovy flick with a cool jazzy soundtrack. The rest of the cast includes many familiar faces, such as regular Franco-flick eerie-man Howard Vernon, Paul Muller and Horst Tappert, who is primarily famous in German-speaking countries for his role of the TV-inspector Derrick.

Overall, THE DEVIL CAME FROM AKASAVA is certainly not Franco's masterpiece, but an incredibly entertaining flick that doesn't take itself seriously, and a must-see for the goddess Soledad Miranda alone.

If you´re an admirer of Jess Franco and the unforgettable Soledad Miranda, who died shortly after the production of this film, which has been produced back to back with Vampyros Lesbos and Sie tötete in Ekstase, in which she starred also, this one´s definitely a must-see. Everything in this movie is adorable (besides gorgeous Soledad, who is credited as Susann Korda): the plot (hilarious secret agent/conspiracy stuff), the actors (watch out for Horst Tappert), the production values (you might remember from Vampyros Lesbos) and, of course, the unbelievable groovy 70s soundtrack. It´s got everything you wish from a typical Jess Franco movie. And if you haven´t seen one yet, this is a good one to begin with.

I've seen close to twenty Jess Franco movies now and my all time favourites are 'Eugenie De Sade' and 'Vampyros Lesbos', both of which starred the stunningly beautiful Soledad Miranda. Miranda acted in both movies using the pseudonym Susann Korda and died tragically in 1970 before 'Vampyros Lesbos' was released. 'The Devil Came From Akasava' is another Franco movie from this period, and while it isn't as good as the aforementioned it's still highly recommended viewing if you're a Franco fan. It's based on an Edgar Wallace thriller and the plot concerns a missing scientist, Professor Forrester (Angel Menendez) who has allegedly discovered The Philosopher's Stone, that is, a mysterious radioactive mineral which can turn objects into gold. Miranda plays Jane Morgan, a British Secret Service agent who is sent to Akasava posing as an exotic dancer. When she tries to uncover the whereabouts of Forrester and his discovery she finds herself embroiled in a confusing situation where nobody is what they appear to be. The plot isn't what makes this movie so bewitching. It's very Bond lite, and similar territory to Franco's earlier 'Sadisterotica'. What makes 'The Devil Came From Akasava' a pleasure to watch is Soledad Miranda's beauty. Her face and presence are hypnotic and when combined with the ultra groovy score (chock full of fuzz guitar, electric sitar, harpsichord,etc.), man, that's all you need to know! Miranda steals every scene she's in, but the supporting cast includes Ewa Stromberg, who co-starred in 'Vampyros Lesbos', Fred Williams, Horst Tappert, Franco regulars Paul Muller and Howard Vernon, and Franco himself as Tino Celli. I can't say that this is Franco's best movie, but it's as entertaining as all hell, and a pretty good introduction to his amazing output (180+ movies!).

This is a kind of a silly spy spoof like the ones that were big in Europe at the time. Jess Franco did any number of them ("Kiss Me Monster", "The Girl from Rio"). It also might by be loose adaptation of an Edgar Wallace mystery, which were really big in Germany where the film was produced (although more likely it's based on a work of his much less talented son, Bryan Edgar Wallace). The story involves a bunch of characters all chasing after this mineral a murdered professor has discovered that can apparently do everything from waking up patients in narcoleptic comas to turning worthless metals into gold. The mineral is really a "McGuffin" though, in fact, the whole plot is pretty much a McGuffin. The real fun to be had is watching all these bizarre characters crossing and double-crossing each other.

Franco regulars Paul Muller and Howard Vernon are on hand, the latter playing a pretty unconvincing hired assassin. Ewa "Vampyros Lesbos" Stromberg also has a small role, but she keeps her clothes on this time. My favorites though are the lead villains--a husband who is apparently confined to a wheelchair and his prim, matronly wife who wields a mean sword cane! The real reason to watch this movie though can be summed up in two words: Soledad Miranda. Soledad Miranda had what the French (and a a lot non-French pseudointellectual types)called "je ne sais qoi" (basically "I don't know what"). She was very beautiful, standing out even among the many beautiful actresses Franco worked with. She was also talented having made many movies before she started working with Franco. She was always willing to take her clothes off and display her beautiful body, but she was classier and much less unabashedly exhibitionistic than her successor Lina Romay (who probably should have been more "abashed" about doing hardcore porn or letting Franco practically explore her colon with his zoom lens). Maybe it was because she died tragically young. She was always a sexy but ethereal actress whose erotic presence haunted even silly, nonsense movies like this.

As his fans know, Franco himself as director had a certain "je ne sais qoi" with some of his films. (With others though it was more like "je ne sais why the hell I am watching this crap!"). He's especially zoom-happy in this movie, but it actually works pretty well with the frenetic, pop-art style plot. It's not a great movie by a long shot, but the movies Franco did with Soledad Miranda are all pretty special, even the slightest ones like this.