SCHÜSSE AUS DEM GEIGENKASTEN - Peter Thomas - "The Violin Case Murders" (1965)

"Schüsse Aus Dem Geigenkasten" or "The Violin Case Murders" was the first in the series of Jerry Cotton films that started in 1965! For me, it's not the best of the bunch, because they were still figuring things out, but just like every other Jerry Cotton film, it's still a fun watch, no matter what!

The Jerry Cotton series were German films about American places and characters! Kind of like me writing stories about some guy in Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Comoros, or Vanuatu!!

Dungeon Super Hero Peter Thomas once again is the guy in charge of the music! Here's a small sample of what he came up with for this film! Besides being an amazing composer, Peter also developed and used on some of his soundtracks an instrument known as the "Thowiephon," an instrument not nearly as well known as it's cousin the Theremin, but just as cool!

"The Violin Case Murders" was also released as the catchy title "Operation Hurricane: Friday Noon," whatever the Hell that's supposed to mean!

Machine gun inside a violin case, hence "Violin Case Murders!" Pretty nifty, eh?

This is a sample of the end-product of an ancient device known as a typewriter! At one time it was as high tech as an 8 track tape player, and just a few steps forward from cave paintings!

The G Men, and the T men, and the Revenuers too, were lookin' for the place they were cookin' up the stew! Time to call Jerry Cotton out of training!

This, my friends, is a genuine Ford tail light!!

Hubba, Hubba, Happy Birthday to me!!

As in all Jerry Cotton films, green screen is used to the hilt! Sometimes hokey, and sometimes to perfection!

Just to show you how classy they are, the Violin Case gang works out of the local bowling alley! Now it's time for Jerry Cotton to try and infiltrate the gang!! This is an awesome shot of George Nader!!

Jerry takes on the persona of a drunk punk to get to the inside of the out crowd!

Next up on the hit list of people to rob is Grandpa Munster! He pisses off the robbers because he hoards all his jewels and doesn't even share the viewing of them with anyone!

Everything about this shot just absolutely screams 1965!!

This is another great shot of George Nader as Jerry Cotton!

Hey, if you're going to carry machine guns around in violin cases, it's a pretty good idea to at least have some sheet music with you as a cover!

It's going to take a lot more than a switchblade to get rid of Jerry Cotton! Remember this was only the first in the series, there were at least seven more to go!

DER TOD IM ROTEN JAGUAR - Peter Thomas - "Death In The Red Jaguar" (1968)

"Death In The Red Jaguar" was the second to the last of the Jerry Cotton films featuring George Nader, and is the hardest to find a copy of for some damn reason, but I found this one for me and you! So freakin' welcome to another Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon, guns a blazin' style!

The original title of this motion picture is "Der Tod Im Roten Jaguar, and this time, we find our hero Jerry Cotton in San Francisco, California! The music once again spews forth from the genius mind of Peter Thomas, who in my feeble mind is the missing link between Herb Alpert and George Martin! Here's just a little taste; the rest is left to your imagination!

Jerry Cotton is pissed, and this is the reason why........

........In the opening scenes, this bozo is shooting up everything in sight! He just ran into a theatre and has just turned around to see................

.............This whole room of surprised gals getting ready for the next act!

Jerry Cotton goes into action just in time to save all the lovely damsels in distress!

Here's something you don't see every day, a look inside of a vintage 1968 juke box playing real 45's!

As kitsch and campy as the Jerry Cotton films are, they can also be extremely brutal! To show how callous the murderer is, they have him kill an innocent child!

The daughter of the killer's landlord is quite a sight to behold, and after she answers the phone, she also does a little impromptu dance just for the helluva it!

I'm extremely open to any conversation that can attempt to explain what this pilgrim look is all about, because I don't get it!

These three shots just might explain what this film is all about!!!

In a real James Bond moment, Jerry Cotton's car drops a bunch of nails in the path of the car of one of his pursuers! I have also lost a lot of sleep trying to figure out if the T N A license plate is a coincidence or not!

Scenes shot inside of meat lockers are always going to convey some kind of gross weirdness for good reason, especially if you're a vegan!

Of all the great shots I could have chosen from this film, I don't know why exactly, but I really dig this one! Pretty cool, right?

If you're some kind of big shot executive, and you have that painting on the wall of your office, there's a very good chance you might be some kind of fucking psycho nutjob!

Just in case you forgot this film was set in San Francisco!

In 1968, I'm surprised they didn't go down to the Haight/Ashbury district for some real colour!

So, let's do a survey! What area was kinkier in 1968, Soho, Greenwich Village, Haight/Ashbury or your home town? I'll be looking forward to your comments!

Jerry Cotton's red Jaguar drives across the Golden Gate bridge, and off into the sunset!
And that, leaves us with only one more Jerry Cotton movie to do! It's a sad, but glorious moment!

DYNAMIT IN GRÜNER SEIDE - Peter Thomas "Death And Diamonds" (1968)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is straight out of 1967 Deutschland and is called "Dynamit In Grüner Seide" oder auf Englisch,  "Death And Diamonds!"

First off, a big shout out to my old buddy from Berlin, Lord Litter, who was the first person to turn me on to the Jerry Cotton series of films! In the 1960's there were eight Jerry Cotton Films made, and each and every one of them are worth seeking out, and you can thank Sinister Cinema for making them still available today!

"Death And Diamonds" starts off with the heist of some poison gas! Love that smiling skull!! It's like "Danger!!! Go out and have some fun kids!!!"

Dungeon Super Hero George Nader is FBI agent Jerry Cotton! Jerry  is one cool mofo and it's up to him to find out what the Hell is going on!

First stop is the Green Silk Bar in Los Angeles, California, or is it Berlin?

What an awesome scene, there's more go-go girls than there are patrons in the bar! Man, this is a dream come true!

Great trick to pull when you know somebody is spying on you, pop a bag into the secret spy microphone and blow their eardrums out! Works every time!! Jerry Cotton knows all the tricks!

Is anybody out there old enough to remember when slot car racing was all the rage? There was a time when every small burg in the civilized world had a slot car track race course! I used to have a kickass slot car that was painted purple and chartreuse!!! The colors alone totally smoked the competition!

Some smart ass decides to challenge Jerry's masculinity!!

Just to prove that the movie was made in L.A., they took a shot of the Los Angeles Street sign!

One thing about Jerry Cotton films that sets them apart from most of the other spy movies made in the 60's is that the killer music was composed by the genius Peter Thomas! Peter also scored quite a few films in the Edgar Wallace series, and was also of course responsible for the über-cool music in "Raumpatrouille" aka the German "Space Patrol!"

Breaking all of the rules, the first thing they ever taught me in film class was don't wave at the camera!! Jerry Cotton is the only cat cool enough to make it work!!

In "Death And Diamonds" Jerry is posing as a British guy who is a specialist at getting past alarm systems!

After Jerry rigs the alarm, the gang shoots the gas into this room and knocks out all these men inspecting the diamonds and then remotely vacuum them up using this tricky device! If they stay in this condition for too long they will die, and that's when Jerry freaks out, and tries to disrupt the whole operation!

To try and get rid of him, they stick Jerry's ass in an incinerator!!

I'm allowed at least one of these per film, I just like this shot!!

Enter femme fatale Marlies Dräger as the vixen Mabel! Marlies only has 9 acting credits to her name but is still considered one of the glamour girls of the 60's! Follow this link if you want to see a picture of Marlies topless! Marlies was also in the Edgar Wallace classic that we will feature here one day, "The Man With The Glass Eye!"

Tied up there in the background is the other female lead in the story, Sylvia Solar as Lana! Sylvia was hot like the sun, and was in a bunch of weird movies like "Danger! Death Ray," "Mexican Slayride," "The Wicked Caressses OF Satan," and "Cannibal Terror!"

After Marlies Dräger, here's my favourite part of the movie, this Cadillac with the bad guys in it is coming right at Jerry, and he runs at it, jumps through the windshield feet first, and punches out the driver all at the same time! What a guy!!

Jerry is in hot pursuit right up to The End! There is only one way to describe a movie like "Death And Diamonds!" Incredible!!!