Directed by Alvin Rakoff who gave Sean Connery his big break.
The film was written by Jack Andrews and was based on a story by, Jeffrey Dell. The Cinematography was by Wilkie Cooper. Music was by Don Banks and Jeff Davis with additional music from themes by Charles Jarrell and Philip Martell.
Hot Money Girl also known as The Treasure of San Teresa and Rhapsodie in Blei stars Eddie Constantine as Larry Bradley/Brennan, Dawn Addams as Heidi von Hartmann, Marius Goring as Rudi Siebert, Christopher Lee as Jaeger, Nadine Tallier as Zizi, Walter Gotell as Hamburg inspector, Willi Witte as von Hartmann, Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson as Piano player at Billie's, Gaylord Cavallaro as Mike Jones, Hubert Mittendorf as Schneider, Derek Sydney as Barman, Penelope Horner as Bar girl, Georgina Cookson as the whorhouse madam Billie.
Going on a bit of a Eddie Constantine binge of late, and watched Hot Money Girl last night. Wasn't as usual expecting much from an actor who never got much if any recognition here in the US. This is a good international caper Noir.
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| Eddie Constantine as Larry Bradley/Brennan |
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| Dawn Addams as Heidi von Hartmann |
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| Marius Goring as Rudi Siebert |
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| Nadine Tallier as Zizi |
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| Christopher Lee as Jaeger |
The film begins with a flashback to 1944. The plot to assassinate Hitler has just gone kaput. An American OSS agent Larry Bradley who was operating out of General von Hartmann offices, has to make an escape to Czechoslovakia.
1944
The SS has just driven up to the castle to confront von Hartmann as one of the conspirators. The general tells Larry to go but gives him a package with instructions to take it to a convent outside of Prague, and give it to the mother superior.
Heidi, the general's daughter, who has fallen for Larry and vice versa, shows Larry the servants back way out of the edifice. They run out through the estate grounds, Heidi asks him to write, Larry tells her he'll be back for her. End of flashback.
1959
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| "come on and let's go, there's lots of stuff to see." |
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| getting ready to do the town |
1959 the present about fifteen years have passed. Larry is a seaman currently on a Hamburg Amerika Line North Sea tramp steamer, going to wherever a load of cargo takes it. It's arriving back in Hamburg Germany. Larry's at the rail looks at the port but his mind is on the past. A younger mate runs up to Larry and tells him to "come on and let's go, there's lots of stuff to see." He breaks Larry out of his melancholia. Larry smiles and tells him "don't tell me show me."
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| The watcher |
As they depart the ship and head into the port, a man who has been watching the ship follows them. They do a bar crawl.
Hamburg bar crawl
At a dive bar whorehouse, the man who was following them pays off some whores to start a fight with Larry. It grows into a major bar brawl. Larry wakes up in the barbed wire hotel.
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| a hooker who is a looker |
In the morning his bail is paid by the man who started the brawl. It turns out to be General von Hartmann's aide de camp Rudi Siebert, who is now an accomplished lawyer. Driving away from the police station, Larry asks about the general. Rudi tells him that he was ordered to commit suicide. Rudi asks about Heidi and Rudi tells him that she is dead too.
Rudi brings Larry to his high rise office and makes him a proposal. He wants Larry to help him to recover the package von Hartman entrusted to Larry for $5,000. Larry tells him no, and says that they are behind the Iron Curtain in a convent in Czechoslovakia. Besides that, the note that went with the package instructed the mother superior to only give the jewels to Heidi. If she's dead it's a lost cause.
Rudi levels with Larry and tells him the package contained the von Hartman family jewels worth a fortune. He also tells Larry that Heidi isn't dead, and that she is working as a hooker out of Madam Billie's whorehouse the number one house of ill repute in Hamburg.
Billie's Whorehouse
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| Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson |
While Larry is looking through the houses photo album. Heidi walks into Billie's.
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| Whorehouse photo album with Zizi |
Larry and Heidi have a bittersweet reunion. Heide tells Larry that he looks familiar. She at first doesn't recognize Larry then when he tells her who he is she gets angry, she thinks that Larry stole her family jewels. Larry tells her honestly that he took them to where her father requested. He also tells her that he did write and she never answered back.
Eventually Larry, Heidi, and Rudi form a partnership and a plan. During the preliminary stages of the planning Heidi's hooker flatmate Zizi overhears some of the details, and suspiciously makes a phone call.
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| The preliminary recruitment plan and Heidi agrees to join |
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| Devious Zizi |
Rudi arranges for them to enter Czechoslovakia in three different ways, meet up to go to the convent, and recover the jewels. Heidie is going by train with a group of commie sympathizers, Larry is going through the border as a truck driver, and Rudi is flying into Prague.
Larry figures out that it was Rudi who intercepted all of his letters to Heidi after the war. He confronts Rudi who admits he did it to make sure Larry would come back to help Heidi. Larry tells Rudi that he never trusted him. Rudi tells Larry that he didn't trust Larry either.
Larry intercepts Heidi at her train station. He tells her that the package with the box of jewels is in a little convent outside of Pilsen. He tells Heidi that he doesn't trust Rudi and that the jewels belong to her and he wants her to have them.
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| Heidi going to a commie conference by train |
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| Larry meets Heidi at the station and tells her where he took her jewels |
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| Larry switches identity with a truck driver of an auto transport |
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| Rudi flys |
Things go Noirsville when they find out that the convent in Czechoslovakia has been converted to a police barracks, the mother superior has been dead nine years, and Jager a fake Hamburg police detective makes his appearance.
Noirsville
What a nice surprise. This is a good polished film with great production values and locations. All of the performers are spot on. Its a Noir sort of in the caper that goes wrong category with some international intrigue thrown in. The cinematography is excellent. 8/10
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