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Sumuru
Sumuru is a female supervillain created by Sax Rohmer, author of the Fu Manchu series of novels. She first appeared in a 1945-1946 BBC radio serial, which was rewritten as a novel in 1950. Four more novels were published between 1951 and 1956. Two movies were then made in the 1960s and one more in 2003. Character biography and analysis Like her criminal mastermind forerunner Dr. Fu Manchu, the beautiful Sumuru leads a secret organization aimed at taking control of the world. Sumuru's society, the Order of Our Lady, recruits beautiful women to seduce and exploit men in order to establish a matriarchal world order. Radio After the end of World War II, Rohmer was approached by the BBC to do a radio serial. As the BBC did not wish to offend the Republic of China (Britain's ally in the war), Rohmer used the same basic plots with a female mastermind named Sumuru. The series ''Shadow of Sumuru'' was broadcast from 1945-1946 on the BBC Light Programme in eight half-hour shows with Anna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Million Eyes Of Sumuru
''The Million Eyes of Sumuru'' is a 1967 British spy film produced by Harry Alan Towers, directed by Lindsay Shonteff and filmed at the Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong. It stars Frankie Avalon and George Nader, with Shirley Eaton as the title character Sumuru (). It was based on a series of novels by Sax Rohmer about a megalomaniacal femme fatale. The film was released in the U.S. by American International Pictures on 17 May 1967. In the U.K., it was released through Warner-Pathé on 3 December, titled simply ''Sumuru''. Terry Bourke was production manager. Plot Sumuru is a beautiful and evil woman who plans world domination by having her sexy all-female army eliminate male leaders and replace them with her female agents. The Chief of Security for President Boong of Sinonesia is killed. Two Americans in Hong Kong, Nick West and his friend Tommy Carter, are persuaded by the head of British intelligence, Colonel Baisbrook, to investigate. They discover the organisation headed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumuru (2003 Film)
''Sumuru'', or ''Sax Rohmer's Sumuru'', is a 2003 pulp science fiction film directed by Darrell Roodt and starring Alexandra Kamp and Michael Shanks. It is an update of the character Sumuru created by pulp novelist Sax Rohmer. It was the first adaptation of Sumuru in a sci-fi setting (the prior two adaptions were ''The Million Eyes of Sumuru'' (1967) and '' The Girl from Rio'' (1969)). Story ''Earth's outermost colony was forgotten for 900 years -- until now. Cut off from the rest of the universe, men have become beasts of labor -- and women rule.'' Arriving on the planet Antares, Adam Wade and Jake Carpenter come with a mission and a secret. Humanity has suffered from a deadly virus that has left the women barren, and the two are to seek out the last fertile members of the human race and relocate them. When the small spaceship crashes, the two find the planet run by women ruled by Queen Sumuru, and the men slaving in primitive mines, used occasionally for procreation purpose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Girl From Rio (1969 Film)
''The Girl from Rio'' (german: Die sieben Männer der Sumuru, translation=The Seven Men of Sumuru) is a 1969 spy-fi film directed by Jess Franco and starring Shirley Eaton, Richard Wyler, George Sanders and Maria Rohm. Written and produced by Harry Alan Towers, the film follows a tribe of Amazonian women, as, led by their queen, they attack wealthy men as part of a long-term plan to take over the world. A co-production between West Germany, Spain and the United States, the film is a sequel to ''The Million Eyes of Sumuru'' (1967), and is based on Sax Rohmer's Sumuru character. Nevertheless, Sumuru's character is referred to as either "Sumitra" or "Sununda". Plot Secret agent Jeff Sutton arrives in Rio with $10 million and finds himself embroiled in a war between Sir Masius, a British mobster, and the megalomaniacal Sumuru. From her secret city, "Femina", Sumuru assembles an army of women with which she will conquer the world. Masius, hoping to find Femina and steal Sumuru's ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Eaton
Shirley Jean Eaton (born 12 January 1937) is an English actress, author and singer. Eaton appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and gained her highest profile for her iconic appearance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'' (1964), which gained her bombshell status. Eaton also had roles in the early ''Carry On'' films. Preferring to devote herself to bringing up a family, she retired from acting in 1969. Eaton came out of retirement in 1999 to release her autobiography titled ''Golden Girl'', which was a bestseller, and has released three more books throughout the 2000s. Early life Eaton was born on 12 January 1937 in Edgware General Hospital, Middlesex, and brought up in the suburb of Kingsbury. She attended Roe Green Primary School on Princes Avenue, and although living close to both Kingsbury County Grammar School and Tylers Croft Secondary Modern School, won a place at the Aida Foster Theatre School, a specialist d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sax Rohmer
Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in David Pringle, ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers''. London: St. James Press, 1998; (pp. 482–484). Life and work Born in Birmingham to working class Irish parents William Ward (c. 1850–1932), a clerk, and Margaret Mary (née Furey; c. 1850–1901), Arthur Ward initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time. He worked as a poet, songwriter and comedy sketch writer for music hall performers before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing fiction. Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Alan Towers
Harry Alan Towers (19 October 1920 – 31 July 2009) was a British radio and independent film producer and screenwriter. He wrote numerous screenplays for the films he produced, often under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. He produced over 80 feature films and continued to write and produce well into his eighties. Towers was married to the actress Maria Rohm, who appeared in many of his films. Background The son of a theatrical agent, Towers was born in Wandsworth, and became a child actor after attending the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. He then became a prolific radio writer while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II becoming head of the RAF radio unit on the British Forces Broadcasting Service attaining the rank of Pilot Officer. In 1946, he and his mother Margaret Miller Towers started a company called Towers of London that sold various syndicated radio shows around the world, including ''The Lives of Harry Lime'' and ''The Black Museum'' with Orso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandra Kamp
Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld (born 29 December 1966) is a German model and actress. Biography She was born in Karlsruhe to Peter Kamp and his wife and grew up in Baden-Baden. She visited drama schools in New York, Los Angeles and Paris before she started her career as an actress in 1994. She has had many star and supporting roles in German movies and TV series and some in Hollywood B-movies. In 1998, she acted together with Claudia Cardinale in ''Riches, belles, etc.'', in 2001 with Leslie Nielsen in '' 2001: A Space Travesty'' and in 2003 she played the star role in '' Sumuru'' together with Michael Shanks in an English-South African co-production. In 2007 she appeared as a covergirl on the German issue of the Playboy. Alexandra is the spokeswoman for the children's hospital "Kinderhospiz St. Nikolaus" in the Bavarian Alps, which gives a care home to terminally ill children and their parents. She frequently gives charity readings. Filmography *''Alle lieben Julia'' (1994, TV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jesús Franco
Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation film, exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directed, produced, acted in, and scored approximately 173 feature films, working both in his native Spain and (during the rule of Francisco Franco) in France, West Germany, Switzerland and Portugal. Additionally, during the 1960s, he made several films in Rio de Janeiro and Istanbul. Biography Of Cuban and Mexican parentage, Franco was born in Madrid, Spain, Madrid and studied at the city's Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias Cinematográficas and the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques in Paris. He began his career in 1954 (aged 24) as an assistant director in the Spanish film industry, performing many tasks including composing music for some films as well as co-writing a number of the screenplays. He assisted directors such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Beatty
Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, the son of Charles Thompson Beatty and Blanch Sarah Rutherford. He attended Delta Collegiate School and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto.Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 35–38. He began his acting career in Britain in 1939. Career Stage Beatty joined the Players' Guild of Hamilton after graduation from the University of Toronto. He went to London, England, in 1936 and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. It was with the RADA that he made his English stage debut. In 1939 he appeared in the West End theatre, West End in N.C. Hunter's comedy ''Grouse in June''. Film Beatty's film credits include: ''San Demetrio London'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lindsay Shonteff
Lindsay Craig Shonteff (5 November 1935 – 11 March 2006) was a Canadian born film director, film producer and screenwriter who achieved fame for low-budget films produced in the United Kingdom. Biography Lindsay Shonteff was born in Toronto, Ontario and made his directing, producing, editing and screenwriting debut in 1959 with a Canadian made Western ''The Hired Gun''/''The Last Gunfighter'' that he edited in his own home. After the film's release, Shonteff went to England following his friend and fellow Canadian Sidney J. Furie. Shonteff's debut in Britain was '' Devil Doll'' (1964); Furie was originally scheduled to direct, but was offered a more prestigious film and recommended Shonteff. Richard Gordon said Furie advised Shonteff throughout the making of the film. Shonteff had to cut the horror tale of a ventriloquist's dummy for an X rating from the British Board of Film Censors. This film led to interest from Columbia Pictures for a contract but Shonteff argued over th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darrell Roodt
Darrell James Roodt (born in Johannesburg, 28 April 1962) is a South African film director, screenwriter and producer. He is probably most well known for his 1992 film '' Sarafina!'' which starred actress Whoopi Goldberg. Also regarded as South Africa's most prolific film director, Roodt has worked with the late Patrick Swayze in ''Father Hood'', James Earl Jones in ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' and Ice Cube in '' Dangerous Ground''. Early life Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Darrell James Roodt grew up during the height of apartheid-era South Africa. His early films like ''Place of Weeping'' strongly condemned apartheid. Roodt was astounded that no one was addressing the conditions of apartheid through the medium of film, thus ''Place of Weeping'' is considered to be the first overtly anti-apartheid film made by a South African. Roodt is quoted as saying ''"I didn’t do it from a leftist, agit-prop point of view, rather, I tried to explore characters caught up in quagmir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Light Programme
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the long wave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939 – by the National Programme. The service was intended as a domestic replacement for the wartime General Forces Programme which had gained many civilian listeners in Britain as well as members of the British Armed Forces. History The long wave signal on 200 kHz/1500 metres was transmitted from Droitwich in the English Midlands (as it still is today for BBC Radio 4, although adjusted slightly to 198 kHz/1515 metres from 1 February 1988) and gave fairly good coverage of most of the United Kingdom, although a number of low-power medium wave transmitters (using 1214 kHz/247 metres) were added later to fill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |