Review: The Devil’s Daffodil
An Anglo airline security officer (Joachim Fuchsberger) and a Chinese detective named Ling Chu (Christopher Lee) investigate a series of murders of young women that seem to be connected to a heroin smuggling ring involving hollowed-out plastic daffodils. Scotland Yard (represented by Walter Gotell) is also on the case, with the security officer and Ling Chu eventually combining their resources to track the killer down. Peter Illing plays a bar manager whom Ling Chu prises information from in torturous fashion, whilst Klaus Kinski plays to type as a disturbed man, and Albert Lieven is the crooked club owner. One of my white whales in trying to get my eyes on every movie Christopher Lee ever made, this 1961 West German-UK co-production from Hungarian director Akos Rathonyi ( “Don’t Blame the Stork” with Ian Hunter, Brenda de Banzie, and Thora Hird) is yet another Edgar Wallace mystery. The Germans seemed obsessed with the author, with the Brits not far behind. This is a solid film