Killing Bottle, The (1967)

aka’s: Kokusai Himitsu Keisatsu: Zettai Zetsumei/Flasa Koja Ubija/
International Secret Police: Driven To The Wall/
国際秘密警察 絶体絶命

Two agents of the International Secret Police (Tatsuya Mihashi and Nick Adams) must prevent a crime organization from assassinating the President of Buddabai (Jun Tazaki) and his general (Yoshio Tsuchiya). Also stars Makoto Satô. Also with Kumi Mizuno. Widescreen format. (In Japanese language, with English subtitles).

This film came from a widescreen Japanese import print in excellent picture quality.

This is the 3rd and last film actor Nick Adams made in Japan, just prior to his death a year later. This incredibly rare film, for reasons unknown, was never released in the United States, and was considered lost for over 50 years.

TRIVIA: The scene in which Adams’ character is caught in a bear trap was filmed on the final day of shooting. A real bear trap was used for the scene, with Adams’ leg protected by a metal guard. However, when they began filming, Adams actually became stuck in the trap, which was chained down, and had to be given an axe to chop himself free, to escape being engulfed by the foam used to portray the Killing Bottle.

This film was a planned partnership between an American and Japanese studio. Nick Adams was quoted as saying, “It promotes good relations-particularly with this American. I get 25 percent of the action.” He went on to describe his character in the film as “a Humphrey Bogart-type detective, who foils a plot to assassinate the Emperor of Japan.” Months later, on August 17, a quote from Adams appeared in Barney Glazer’s Star Gazer column in the South Pasadena Review writing, “Okay, Barney, fans have been waiting for the guy in ‘The Killing Bottle’. I’m going to burn up the screen.”

In an interview published in the Ohio’s Akron Beacon Journal on January 8, 1967, Adams briefly commented, “‘The Killing Bottle’ is a spy thing. I hope lots of people see it, so maybe I can get my career moving again.” Of course we now know how that turned out!