Jess Franco rides again, marshalling his "Count Dracula" stars Frederick Williams and the always alluring Soledad Miranda in this tepid espionage thriller, allegedly based on an Edger Wallace story.Williams here features as a b-grade Eurotrash James Bond, sent to the tropical state of Akasava on a mission to investigate the mysterious death of a professor. He is, thankfully for the viewer, teamed with Miranda's Scotland Yard investigator, and the pair are enmeshed in a confused plot revolving around the Philosopher's Stone: the legendary element that can transmute base metals to gold. This is here represented as a carry case whose contents glow eerily gold whenever opened (shades of "Pulp Fiction"?), and releases radiation inimical to human health.Thankfully, Miranda's character Jane goes undercover as an exotic dancer in a nightclub, so we have a welcome distraction from the alleged plot. Sadly, however, the smoulderingly gorgeous Soledad is hampered here by some distressingly listless choreography which renders what should have been some of the most intensely erotic scenes captured on celluloid to what looks like a bored woman shifting restlessly around on a stage. For this unforgivable waste of opportunity, if nothing else, Franco should have been shot.In all, a decent if slow-moving timewasting potboiler with a few wasted opportunities. Worth watching not only for the stunning Soledad Miranda, but also Franco regular Howard Vernon as a hit-man/butler. The scene of him leaping out of a window clutching the McGuffin briefcase, and teleporting from the garden via the magic of bad editing to a field with a waiting helicopter, ensured me that amid the Bondian hokum i was till in Francoland after all.

The assistant of Professor Forrestor(Ángel Menéndez)is murdered after retrieving a special mineral encased within the stone walling of a cave in Akasava. It is a jewel of a find because this radioactive mineral can turn metal into gold..a priceless item to have which obviously brings great wealth and power to the one who possesses it. Forrestor himself is infected by the radioactivity when he finds his assistant dead after someone entered his home where the man lay dying while he was out hunting a doctor nearby. In Akasava, Dr. Andrew Thorrsen(Horst Tappert)is quite a man of renown for his work with mysterious cases where men seem to have came down with some sort of disease that effects their sleep and skin. His wife, Ingrid(Ewa Strömberg)assists him. When Pro. Forrestor comes up missing, his nephew Rex(Fred Williams)comes to Akasava for answers towards his disappearance. This is where he meets secret agent Jane(the lovely Soledad Miranda who has a magnificent body)posing as an exotic dancer pretending to be the wife of Dr. Henry(Paul Muller)also an agent undercover. Sir Philip(Siegfried Schürenberg)is asked by a friend and colleague, Lord Kingsley(Walter Rilla), a man of great wealth and power, to find Professor Forrestor as a favor. Kingsley has kept the clinic in Akasava going while also keeping Professor Forrestor's research project funded. Perhaps, Kingsley has a greater interest in the grand scheme of things than realized. His wife, Lady Abigail(Blandine Ebinger)is only all too eager and willing to assist her husband in all manners of business when it comes to benefiting financially. He also has a "valet" who assists him, a very gruff, quietly menace named Humphrey(Howard Vernon). Meanwhile, Rex becomes acquainted with an undercover Secret service agent, Tino(director Jesus Franco himself)while slowly falling in lust with Jane. But, Rex is being shot at while those around him(..and Jane)are being killed off by someone hidden away behind cracked doors with only the tip of a pistol sticking it's nose out.Not a bad little mystery thriller with spy elements that has the feel of a giallo. It's LOW, LOW budget does mar Franco's serious attempts at creating a good spy film. The film strip definitely shows wear and certain edits show unevenness as one scene follows another. The cast is decent enough, with Miranda's naked flesh the film's brightest asset. The dubbing is lacking in quality, but no more so that the quality of the presented product itself which time has not been kind to. Perhaps, it just shows that Franco was willing to make this film on whatever film strip he could get his hands on and with however much money was afforded to him.

"Der Teufel kam aus Akasava" was released after the untimely demise of its star Soledad Miranda. First off: she has made better movies, especially "Vampyros Lesbos" and "She Killed In Ecstasy"! "Der Teufel kam aus Akasava" suffers from the confusing screenplay (said to be based on an Edgar Wallace short story). The MacGuffin for the fight between several parties is a kind of radioactive "energy stone" everyone wants to get hold of. Soledad plays a secret agent in the disguise of a nightclub dancer. Don't ask why she starts her investigation that way. Trusted, experienced actors from the Edgar Wallace series like Siegfried Schürenberg and Horst Tappert are a bit lost here, but (surely not only to me) Soledad Miranda is worth every penny one might spend on the DVD. She performs a dance in the nightclub which is a wonderful demonstration of her beauty, her screen presence and her elegance. Expect nothing more, expect nothing less.

If you´re an admirer of Jess Franco and the unforgettable Soledad Miranda, who died shortly after the production of this film, which has been produced back to back with Vampyros Lesbos and Sie tötete in Ekstase, in which she starred also, this one´s definitely a must-see. Everything in this movie is adorable (besides gorgeous Soledad, who is credited as Susann Korda): the plot (hilarious secret agent/conspiracy stuff), the actors (watch out for Horst Tappert), the production values (you might remember from Vampyros Lesbos) and, of course, the unbelievable groovy 70s soundtrack. It´s got everything you wish from a typical Jess Franco movie. And if you haven´t seen one yet, this is a good one to begin with.