Mob involvement in Batista's Cuba before Castro closed down all the casinos was a major plot element in 'Godfather II', and it's interesting to see a gritty contemporary take on the subject, enhanced by location filming in Miami when all those Lincoln-Mercuries that are still a feature of downtown Havana were brand new. Columbia were evidently satisfied with the results, since they send director Fred Sears on a return trip to Miami two years later to make 'Miami Expose' (1956).
Luther Adler plays another of his sybaritic crime bosses, complete with a tall, blonde henchman (John Baer) who thirty years later would have been played by Dolph Lundgren. Adler's Queen Bee second in command Adele Jergens and a young Beverly Garland both make vivid impressions during the relatively little screen time they get, although it's a tall order to accept that the two are sisters.
SPOILER COMING: Once again surveillance technology in an old movie is far in advance of anything available in the 21st Century. The TV pictures provided by the spy camera planted in Adler's office produce sound and images of a clarity way ahead of anything you see in modern documentaries or news programmes (which almost always require subtitles as what is said is usually inaudible). The spy footage would probably also have been in colour had the film been.
Luther Adler plays another of his sybaritic crime bosses, complete with a tall, blonde henchman (John Baer) who thirty years later would have been played by Dolph Lundgren. Adler's Queen Bee second in command Adele Jergens and a young Beverly Garland both make vivid impressions during the relatively little screen time they get, although it's a tall order to accept that the two are sisters.
SPOILER COMING: Once again surveillance technology in an old movie is far in advance of anything available in the 21st Century. The TV pictures provided by the spy camera planted in Adler's office produce sound and images of a clarity way ahead of anything you see in modern documentaries or news programmes (which almost always require subtitles as what is said is usually inaudible). The spy footage would probably also have been in colour had the film been.