Coast of Skeletons (1965) starring Dale Robertson, Richard Todd, Heinz Drache, Marianne Koch directed by Robert Lynn Movie Review

Coast of Skeletons (1965)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Richard Todd in Coast of Skeletons (1965)

Blood Diamonds & Gold

Following independence Inspector Harry Sanders (Richard Todd) finds himself out of a job and back to the streets of London. But his return home doesn't last long as he soon has a job with an insurance company and is heading back to Africa to accompany Texan A.J. Magnus (Dale Robertson) who is planning on mining for diamonds on the African coast. But Harry quickly realises something is going on when he is almost killed and then the son of Magnus's former partner is killed trying to tell Harry what he knows about Magnus's last ship which sunk. But whilst Sanders become suspicious of Magnus and what happened to his last ship the new ships captain Johnny von Karston (Heinz Drache) knows where a ship full of gold was sunk during the war and is desperate to retrieve it in order to keep his wife interested in him.

So the further adventures of Harry Sanders who a couple of years earlier we met in "Death Drums Along the River" a movie which I found unforgivably dull considering it was an adventure movie. As such I didn't expect much from the follow up "Coast of Skeletons", although to call it a sequel seems wrong as some returning actors such as Marianne Koch do so but as different characters. But in truth "Coast of Skeletons" whilst still by no means exciting enough does benefit from slightly better camera work and a print which looks in better condition.

As to what goes on in "Coast of Skeletons" well it is simply messy; we have a dangerous Texan, a former U-boat commander with ulterior plans, we have his younger wife who he fears will leave him, we also have the commanders sister played by Marianne Koch whose sole purpose seems to be a romantic interest for Sanders and of course the Sanders character himself. It's not that it is just messy it is contrived and serves up a very convenient ending which manages to bring a conclusion to the movie from a very messy situation.

In truth I wish I could be more enthusiastic but there is little to impress you in "Coast of Skeletons" and the acting just adds to the long list of not really rights. With the exception of Richard Todd who tries to turn on the charm the rest of the cast end up delivering dull and uninteresting characters which in some cases end up very wooden.

What this all boils down to is that "Coast of Skeletons" is in fairness an improvement on "Death Drums Along the River" but only by a whisker and in truth is as dull and uninteresting as the first movie with mainly the look being the movies one improvement.


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