All you have to do is watch the four-and-a-half-minute trailer to know The Unknown Man of Shandigor (L’inconnu De Shandigor, 1967) is a spy-thriller. Any movie enthusiast wants to see the Blu-ray version of this classic.
Directed by Swiss filmmaker Jean-Louis Roy, this long-unseen 60s Cold War super-spy features legendary French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and famed Chilean cult actor Daniel Emilfork.
Recently restored in 4K from the camera negative by the Cinémathèque Suisse, the visually stunning movie screened initially at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. The Blu-ray features new interviews with the director’s wife, Francoise Roy and first assistant director on the film Michel Schopfer, along with an ultra-rare 1967 Swiss TV “making of” documentary featuring the director with behind-the-scenes footage and new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Tony Stella.
I marveled at the surreal hall of mirrors, reminding me of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and British TV shows like “The Avengers” and “Doctor Who.”
The fine cast includes most who’s who of great 60s European character actors starting with the unforgettable Daniel Emilfork as crazed scientist Herbert Von Krantz, who has invented a device to “sterilize” all nuclear weapons.
A mad herd of rival spies is desperate to get their hands on the device, including legendary French singer Serge Gainsbourg as the sect leader of bald, turtleneck-wearing assassins and Jess Franco veteran Howard Vernon.
Gainsbourg’s deranged jazz-lounge song, “Bye Bye Mr. Spy”— performed by him on a funeral parlor organ, no less — is arguably the film’s high point. “An accomplished spy is at the same time psychologist, artist, funambulist, conjurer,” to quote one of the film’s characters, and the same said of Roy’s exotic camera obscura of black and white Cold War paranoia. The movie is in Swiss French with English subtitles, like the trailer.
Blu-Ray Bonus Features
• New 4K Restoration from the original 35mm picture and sound elements by Cinémathèque Suisse with additional digital restoration by Craig Rogers of Deaf Crocodile
• New Commentary by film journalist Samm Deighan (Diabolique magazine, Daughters of Darkness podcast)
• New Booklet essay by filmmaker, punk musician and poet, and genre expert Chris D. (The Flesh Eaters; author of Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film)
• New interview with Francoise Roy, wife of director Jean-Louis Roy, and Michel Schopfer, first assistant director on The Unknown Man of Shandigor (17 min., in Swiss French with English subtitles)
• Ultra- rare 1967 “making of” documentary from Swiss TV’s “Cinema VIF” show, featuring interviews with director Jean-Louis Roy, cast members Daniel Emilfork, Jacques Dufilho, and Marie-France Boyer, and behind-the-scenes footage (28 min., in Swiss French with English subtitles)
• Restored original trailer (4 min., in French with English subtitles)
• Blu-ray encoding and authoring by David Mackenzie/Fidelity in Motion
• New art by Tony Stella
