Visa to Canton (1960)

By CinemaSerf

This whole thing just looks like a series of out-takes from a "Fu Manchu" movie - and not a very good one at that! Richard Basehart is the wily travel agent "Benton" who makes a decent living in Hong Kong after the war. When his local brother "Jimmy" (Burt Kwouk) disappears flying his commercial aircraft, he must head up-river to (rather easily) rescue him and is soon embroiled in an intrigue involving the Red Chinese. His protagonist is the unlikely "Ivono Kong" (Eric Pohlmann - who reminded me of "Con-Fu-Shon" from the 1958 version of "Tomb Thumb"). Deciding the answer lies in neighbouring Canton, he avails himself of an offer of a visa from "Kong" and makes the journey where he encounters the brightly made-up "Lola" (Lisa Gastoni) who is scheming to rescue some refugees from the communists. Can they escape? This is standard Hammer fodder that plays to stereotype from start to finish. The dialogue is banal, as is the acting and the scenario and indeed, even by daytime feature standards, this looks like the budget went on the star and positively nowhere else.