Lucky, the Inscrutable

Lucky, the Inscrutable is a 1967 spy film directed by Jesús Franco and starring Ray Danton.

Cast

Production

During the 1960s, the Spanish film industry was regularly making co-production with Italy. For Lucky, the Inscrutable, the film was primarily funded by Italy. Franco biographer Stephen Thrower stated that between 1964, and 1967 film studios from Rome would release a cavalcade of James Bond parodies. Lucky, the Inscrutable was among them.
It was also Italian actress Rosalba Neri's first Franco film.
The film was shot on location in Rome and Spain, with studio filming done in Rome between October and November 1966.

Release

Lucky, the Inscrutable was released in Italy on 23 June 1967 with a 92 minute running time as Agente Speciale L.K. . It was later released in West Germany on 1 September 1967 as Lucky M. fiillt alle Sarge at 88 minutes. It was later shown in Seville in Spain on 18 December 1967 as Lucky el intrépido with a 91 minute running time.

Reception

Spanish newspaper ABC Andalucia wrote that the humorous and serious scenes lacked proper coordination, but that "In the absence of more singular technical and artistic values, perhaps the best aspects of the film are the splendid photography and the catchy background music by Bruno Nicolai"

Legacy

The film was the first collaboration between Jesús Franco and film composer Bruno Nicolai. They would collaborate on several of Franco's films in the future, such as Count Dracula, Nightmares Come at Night, and A Virgin [Among the Living Dead] among several others.
This film was Franco's first Spanish-Italian-German co-production, and was also his first film for German producer Artur Brauner Franco would continue work with Brauner and German company CCC Filmkunst, creating six films a two year-period.