Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Albino" or "Night of the Askari" (and there are a handful other German and English-titles for this one) is a 90-minute live action film from 1976, so it has its 40th anniversary this year. The lead actor here is Christopher Lee, known from James Bond or the Lord of the Rings movies, and he is probably also the main (only?) reason why this film is still somewhat known today. According to IMDb, this is in German-language, but of course there are also dubbed versions out there in English and other languages. It runs for 90 minutes, which felt way too long already to me as it dragged on many occasions and Lee was not good enough either to really make it work in terms of the forgettable screenplay. The films tries to score a lot through his atmosphere and style, but it turns out more desperate than successful. The reason why this is in German is probably director Jürgen Goslar, turns 90 next year. It is one of his most known works and he also adapted the Daniel Carney novel for the screen here. Movie buffs will find more semi-big names (next to Lee) in the cast here. I will admit that the plot listed here on IMDb about a police officer taking revenge for a personal tragedy did sound interesting to me, but none of this expectations was fulfilled during the watch. I give this one a thumbs-down and recommend it only to the very biggest Christopher Lee fans. Everybody else should skip the watch.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS***The film "Night of the Askari" or it's US title "The Albino" plays along the lines of the 1956 western classic "The Searchers" With John Wayne and Natalie Wood. The movie has this albino African terrorist Whispering Death played by Horst Frank looking with his tons of makeup on like an over bloated Steve McQueen. It's Whispering Death who's got the local natives going on a rampage in rural Rhodesia circa 1964 against the white settler and government. The military official in the area Mr. Bill, Christopher Lee, has his hands full when the albino, or whispering Death, raids the home of white Rhodesian army officer Terick Handel, James Faulkner, brutally raping and murdering his wife Sally played by the not quite yet filled out, you can see that by the one nude scene she has in the movie, in the chest area the beautiful Sybil Danning.With his boss Mr. Bill ordering Terick to bring 'Whispering Death" in alive if at all possible he's instead determining to make him pay with his life for murdering and raping his wife Sally. Together with his loyal African native guide Katchemu, Sam Williams, Terick goes out in the Rhodesan hills and countryside looking to kill "Whispering Death" and his band of terrorists. Not to bring them in, if at all possible, alive like Mr. Bill ordered him to. This in fact puts both Terick and Katchemu in the cross hairs of the white Rhodesian soldiers who are ordered to stop them, with deadly force if possible, before they instigate a major native uprising by killing Whispering Death, who's looked upon as a God by the local native tribes, against their white government and military officials as well as the white settlers in the area!****SPOILERS**** With all his men killed and capture Whispering Death is now on his own with a vengeful Terick hot on his tail. The ending of the movie isn't pretty with Whispering Death now wounded and exhausted from running is finally put away by Terick only to have him getting himself surrounded by Mr. Bill's white Rhodesian troops. Terick ends up being given the send off that he so rightfully earned by not following Mr. Bill's strict orders to do everything possible to bring Whispering Death back alive! Also Terick didn't quite help his own cause by him pointing his rifle at the troops, instead of raising his hands and giving himself up, that just about sealed his fate!

guanche A well acted depiction of life in White Rhodesia from the European point of view, and a rather disturbing story of an irreconcilable conflict between a good man's justifiable need for revenge and the necessity of upholding the law. Parents, and those sensitive to violence, should be cautioned that this is an extremely gruesome film with explicit scenes of rape, murder, torture, and mutilation.The film credibly portrays the lives of European settlers determined to remain in their adopted land despite the increasing danger of rebellion. Most of them honestly believe that it is possible to live in peace with the Africans as long as they are willing to accept their "civilizing" guidance. The rebels are presented as bloodthirsty thugs who terrorize other Africans and have no real program of true revolution other than savage hatred of the White Man. Most of the Africans are more or less loyal to the Whites and are usually shown to be strong, honorable, and trustworthy, although often in a patronizing manner.Christopher Lee is quite good as a police chief determined to prevent vigilante justice when a group of terrorists led by an albino (pronounced "albeeno" in the film) witch doctor (Horst Frank) rape and murder the fiancée of a man recently retired from the police force. He (James Faulkner); along with a couple of equally vengeful African servants of the victim's elderly father (Trevor Howard); takes off into the bush to find and kill those responsible. These are not evil men out to indiscriminately slaughter Africans but people who feel that there can be no rest for their souls until they spill the blood of The Albino and his crew. Lee sympathizes with their feelings but is firm in his determination to maintain law and order and bring the killers to justice legally. This, of course, also means hunting down the revenge party, causing the settler's militia to mutiny and withdraw from the operation.The pursuit of both the killers and the posse is grim and realistic, causing the viewer to actually perceive the stresses and fatigue of the participants. Although somewhat cheaply done, subtly racist, and overly clipped and trite in spots, the film is of great interest from both the historical and moral perspective. I saw it many years ago, but, unfortunately, it; like a surprising number of other quality films; hasn't been made commercially available on either VHS or DVD.

Scythian Warrior Albino, although made in 1976, works as an action film set in the present day. This movie is basically about conflict between those who enforce the law and those who break it to terrorize others. This conflict is the key, and it explores the temptation of law enforcers to break the law to get the terrorists. This theme is perhaps more relevant now than prior to September 11, 2001.Sybil Danning fans get to see her in only a few scenes. This is NOT a sexy movie. Her character (Sally) has a key role in the plot development. Her riding a horse to the climactic confrontation for her character reminds me of classic "maiden in peril" Westerns, and thus ends up being of quite appropriate.