Jun 18, 2007

G-Man Jerry Cotton Recalled To Active Duty

Following the success of France's OSS 117 revival, another classic Eurospy hero is getting reactivated. "G-Man Jerry Cotton," who appeared in a string of German Bond knock-offs in the Sixties, will return to German screens next year. Variety is unclear on the matter, but it seems likely that, like 0ss 117: Cairo Nest of Spies, this will be a parody revival and not a serious franchise reboot. Rat Pack Filmproduktion is producing, and they gave a similar treatment to Edgar Wallace Krimi mysteries last year in The Wixxer. Wixxer was shot in black and white, and--I believe--set in the Fifties or early Sixties. But it was a send-up of the endless German Krimi movies (basically their version of the Italian giallo) based on Wallace's pulp novels made from the late Fifties to the mid-Seventies, and mostly starring Joachim Fuchberger. Presumably the new Jerry Cotton movie will follow the same pattern, although apparently serious Jerry Cotton adventures are still published in Germany, so perhaps not.

The original Jerry Cotton cycle began as a Krimi series itself, and then morphed into a spy series as the Bond movies took off. American beefcake actor George Nader (banished to Europe when a tabloid threatened to out him in America) starred as Cotton. I haven't seen any of them yet, though I did find Nader rather off-putting as a secret agent in the atrocious Million Eyes of Sumuru. DVD collections are available in Germany, but without English subtitles.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
fyi, the dutch version (two dvd-boxes, all 8 movies) have also the english language versions of the movies (expect for one movie which german only). Yep, the dvds have 2 movies in one disc, german and english language versions, slightly different edits, I suppose.
Ari-Pekka, from Finland

Tanner said...

Thanks for the information! That's great to hear! I didn't know they were available anywhere in English. Is there a Dutch Amazon, or equivalent online store that you know of? I guess I have a new quest...

Anonymous said...

I do not really know any Dutch online store I can recommend. I bought mine either from Dutch (www.ebay.nl) or German (www.ebay.de) eBay. The content of the boxes are:

JERRY COTTON DELUXE EDITION BOX SET VOLUME 1 (1967-1969)
Originele Nederlandse Editie (4xDVD) contains the following DVD's:
- Todesschüsse am Broadway / The Brooklyn Murder Club
- Der Tod im Roten Jaguar / Death In The Red Jaguar (german language only)
- Der Mörderclub von Brooklyn / Deadly Shots On Broadway (1966)
- Dynamit in grüner Seide / Dynamite In Green Silk (1967)
# Language: English, German
# Subtitles: Nederlands (on/off)

JERRY COTTON DELUXE EDITION BOX SET VOLUME 2 (1965-1966)
Originele Nederlandse Editie (4xDVD) contains the following DVD's:
- Schüsse aus dem Geigenkasten / Shots From The Violin Case
- Die Rechnung eiskalt serviert / A Cold-Blooded Affair
- Mordnacht in Manhattan / Night Of Murder In Manhattan
- Um Null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu / The Trap Snaps Shut At Midnight
# Language: English, German
# Subtitles: Nederlands (on/off)

DEATH IN A RED JAGUAR is in German Only. The 7 other DVDs have separate German and English Language Versions on the same DVD. Title sequences and other misc. scenes have subtle differences in these versions. Theses sets are limited to 1000, supposedly.

German boxed set contains only 6 dvds/movies:
Disc 1: Schüsse aus dem Geigenkasten (ca. 84 Min.)
Disc 2: Mordnacht in Manhattan (ca. 83 Min.)
Disc 3: Um null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu (ca. 84 Min.)
Disc 4: Die Rechung - eiskalt serviert (ca. 88 Min.)
Disc 5: Der Mörderclub von Brooklyn (ca. 90 Min.)
Disc 6: Dynamit in grüner Seide (ca. 85 Min.)
Just the german language versions, no english audio or subtitles. As far as I know.