Oscar-nominated director Jack Arnold (It Came from Outer Space, The Creature from the Black Lagoon) brought his illustrious career to a close with this 1976 adaption of co-writer Michael Stanley's novel starring The Fugitive's David Janssen, the Swiss Alps (no CGI here), and an international cast populated by some very familiar faces.
As an opening title explains, “Anyone with a great deal of money to hide knows that Switzerland is the safest sanctuary.” Bank manager Hurtil (Dial M for Murder's Ray Milland) hires Janssen's David Christopher, a former Justice Department official-turned-Zürich security consultant, to root out the culprit when five customers receive letters threatening to reveal their banking information unless they pay a hefty ransom. The bank itself is on the hook for 10 million francs in uncut diamonds.
The victims include Chicago mobster Hayes (Enter the Dragon's John Saxon), Texas businessman Dwight (Raw Deal's John Ireland), Dutch financier Korsak (The Entity's Curt Lowens), and flirtatious redhead Denise Abbott (Cross of Iron's Senta Berger), who becomes David's love interest after a meet-cute involving their love of -- and difficulty in parking -- their Ferrari Daytona Spyders. The unnamed fifth victim loses his life in the prologue when he refuses to pay up, a sign of things to come since Christopher and Hayes, who have tussled before and will tussle again, soon attract thugs and cops out for blood.
The starry cast also includes German actors Anton Diffring (The Beast Must Die) as the bank's vice president, Elke Sommer (The Pink Panther) as his mistress, and American actor/songwriter David Hess (The Last House on the Left) as a gangster.
The plot doesn't unfurl as coherently as possible, but it doesn't really matter. In 21st-century parlance, The Swiss Conspiracy runs on vibes. Janssen plays David as the calm at the center of the storm, Saxon looks as if he's about to spontaneously combust every time he enters a room, Ireland has fun with the twang, and Berger uses every tool at her disposal to seduce both man and audience, from her reckless driving to her flashy outfits to her unique choice of seduction music: a German version of the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" (Klaus Doldinger's score ranges from jazz-funk to electro-lounge to playful bursts of oompah-pah.)
In addition to a fully restored 4K version of the main feature, this special edition includes a featurette ("Jack Arnold: The Lost Years"), a visual essay from Will Dodson and Ryan Verrill, an enthusiastic commentary track from Robert Kelly and Daniel Budnik, original and restored versions of the trailer, and an informative essay from Cinema Retro editor Lee Pfeiffer.
Arnold, who worked primarily in TV in the 1960s and '70s (Gilligan's Island, The Mod Squad, and more), wouldn't direct another motion picture due to declining health, while 44-year-old Janssen would pass away only four years later after a lifetime of hard living. As the title of the visual essay would have it, Jack Arnold was truly a "Three-Dimensional Filmmaker," from his award-winning documentary days to his celebrated sci-fi and creature features to this glamorous and surprising whodunnit.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
The Swiss Conspiracy belongs on action, crime, thriller, and murder mystery shelves in public libraries.
What kind of film series could use this film?
A series on the work of director Jack Arnold could make productive use of The Swiss Conspiracy. It would also fit with series on international thrillers of the 1970s, which brought American and European actors to some exceedingly attractive locations.
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Film Masters is a consortium of historians and enthusiasts who seek to celebrate the preservation and restoration of films. We are archivists, committed to storing film elements for future generations and reviving films that have been sitting dormant for decades. By scanning in 2K and 4K, we give these lesser-known films the red-carpet treatment they deserve. Leveraging modern means of distribution to release forgotten films back into the world, we also produce original bonus materials, including feature-length documentaries, which aid audiences in contextualizing and celebrating these works of art as they were meant to be. Visit us online at: www.FilmMasters.com