THE KILLING BOTTLE

 

In the mid-1960s, American actor Nick Adams went to Japan and appeared in three films for Toho Studios. Two of those films, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD and INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER are well-known among movie geeks. The third, THE KILLING BOTTLE, is basically forgotten due to the fact that it has never been available to North American audiences. 

This is a movie I've wanted to watch for years, due to the fact that it also stars the lovely Kumi Mizuno, who also appeared in the other two Nick Adams Toho films. I recently discovered THE KILLING BOTTLE on the Internet Archive, and the widescreen print is of Blu-ray quality, and it has a Japanese voice track with English subtitles. 

THE KILLING BOTTLE is an entry in a series of films made by Toho detailing the adventures of members of the International Secret Police, a spy organization. One of the International Secret Police films, KEY OF KEYS, is known for being redubbed by Woody Allen into the comedy WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY? These films are lighthearted adventures rather than hard-edged thrillers--from my viewing of THE KILLING BOTTLE, I'd compare them to the Roger Moore 007 movies of the Seventies. 

The title THE KILLING BOTTLE refers to a new method of assassination, a large squeeze bottle that emits a foamy substance that expands thousands of times its size, and crushes and suffocates anyone it envelops. This substance has been invented by an organization called ZZZ, and their latest plot is to kill the Prime Minister of a Asian country called Buddhabal. Agents Kitami (Tatsuya Mihashi) and John Carter (Nick Adams) are assigned to stop the scheme, and they are helped--and hindered--by a mysterious beautiful young woman (Kumi Mizuno). 

THE KILLING BOTTLE is a colorful action-adventure which doesn't take itself too seriously. Kitami and John Carter have a friendly rivalry with each other, and the two men report to an "M"-like boss who of course becomes exasperated by them. There's a few nifty gadgets, but this movie isn't as technologically obsessed as the Bond films are. The action isn't too overly violent, and the overall tone isn't nearly as outlandish as the many Euro spy pictures made during this period. The climax takes place in a Disneyland-type amusement park.

If you are a Toho Kaiju movie fan, you'll see plenty of familiar faces here, such as Akihiko Hirata, Jun Tazaki, and Yoshio Tsuchiya. The producer of THE KILLING BOTTLE was Godzilla series creator Tomoyuki Tanaka, and the screenwriter was science-fiction/kaiju veteran Shinichi Sekizawa. 

Tatsuya Mihashi is a decent enough leading man, although he's no Sean Connery. Nick Adams gives his agent a bit of an attitude by constantly wearing weird sunglasses and having a toothpick in his mouth. What impressed me about Nick Adams and his Japanese sojourn is that he gave his all in the movies he appeared in for Toho, and he was never dismissive of the company or what he was doing. Adams appears to be enjoying himself in THE KILLING BOTTLE, and he even gets to engage in some martial arts. 

As for Kumi Mizuno, she gets to show off her range by being a cute comedic pest for most of the story, but, as expected, her character turns out to be much more. Surprisingly, Mizuno doesn't wind up having a romance with either of the leading men in the story (that was something Nick Adams reportedly wanted to have with her in real life.) A sultry actress billed as Anne Mari plays a femme fatale working for ZZZ, and she gets to perform a couple of musical numbers as a nightclub entertainer. 

I enjoyed THE KILLING BOTTLE, but as a Toho Kaiju fan, I'm part of the audience that would most appreciate it today. I'd love to see this movie get an official North American home video release, but I doubt that's ever going to happen--there's no giant monsters here, and the film is almost subdued when compared to the many other spy spoofs that came out during the same time. The best chance for those interested in seeing it would be to go on the Internet Archive before it gets pulled due to a rights issue.