Thirteen Days to Die

Thirteen Days to Die (Der Fluch Des Schwarzen Rubin) (1965)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Manfred R. Kohler

Starring: Thomas Alder, Peter Carsten, Serge Nubret, Metta Roongrat

From: Rapid Film/SNC/Metheus Film

Tubi really does has everything.

I never know if people I follow on Letterboxd want to be mentioned by name; this person I'm referencing now reviews mainly obscurities from around the world. They are the one who via their reviews informed me of the German Krimi films, the Winnetou movies and other genre efforts from that part of the world. Their glowing review of Thirteen piqued my interest; furthermore, that’s also how I know that this has a Eurospy flavor, although it was based on an old German pulp novel character named Rolf Torring-i.e. Ralph Tracy in the English dub.

The film is otherwise impossible to track down in English so I was delighted that Tubi recently, they added the film in widescreen, even if some frames are missing occasionally and a line of dialogue in the conclusion is randomly muted. Tracy and his two even more buff buddies are in Thailand, assisting a Prince with locating a stolen royal necklace. Of course, the scenario is much more complicated than it first appears, at times becoming a convoluted plot that was expected for the genre. The necklace holds secrets, one of the villains is an evil geologist-a phrase you’ll never hear me utter again-and a treasure hunt occurs.

One of the most appealing aspects: the exotic Thai setting. Whether it’s Bangkok, rural areas, the jungle or abandoned ruins, the flavor of the country during the 60’s was expressed. Some cultural traditions and Thai martial arts were even presented. To echo the thoughts of that mutual, not only was a Black actor cast as one of Tracy’s pals (more on him at the end), a Thai actress was the lead girl rather than a European w/ artificially darkened skin. Metta Roongrat-besides having a great name-did a nice job as the lead girl. Horst Frank of The Cat O' Nine Tails fame was quality as the aforementioned evil geologist.

Thirteen Days to Die was a fun picture in a setting I loved featuring sleazy henchmen, good action beats, a tiger, spy devices, poison, a rubber crocodile, and even a pet chimpanzee. Thomas Alder-as Tracy-was an actor I wasn’t familiar with but Peter Carsten (of Dark of the Sun fame) was a jacked white friend of Ralph Tracy while Serge Nubret was the jacked Black friend. Nubret is best known as a bodybuilder who was in Pumping Iron as he competed in Mr. Olympia that year. Even a decade earlier, he was ripped.

In recent years, I’ve rarely used Tubi despite the amazing selection it has, including movies like this that are otherwise difficult to track down. The platform will be used more often by me; besides it having other Eurospy movies that were recently added, who knows if one day some awful people decide to change or even shut down such an esoteric service.