It was 1970 and Ferde Grofe had secured a multi picture deal for CBS owned and operated stations in the US. He would produce several low budget TV movies in the Philippines, a movie-making territory he was well familiar with. It would star his longtime collaborator George Montgomery, a fading star from the 1950's, australian actress Victoria Shaw whose biggest movie was perhaps WestWorld, and popular actor Marshall Thompson. Assisting the production as production manager, film editor and acting in the role of the chief villain was Peter Macgregor Scott - fresh off the plane from London, England - later to become a world class movie producer in his own right.
The movie was to be shot on 16mm with a widened gate courtesy of discarding the sound track. Unfortunately, the film still has a low quality appearance, with a music score that had all the hallmarks of being telephoned in my his regular composers, Douglas Lackey and Gene Kauer. It was ambitious with multiple filming locations but suffered from budgeting constraints (in one scene in a temple, the dying priest is played by Grofe's cinematographer!).
But it did have a decent enough story and a good performance by the late Andre Marquis. It unfortunately caused the demise of Grofe's multi-picture deal with CBS. Macgregor Scott would go onto movie history with The Jerk, Under Siege etc., Grofe's next project would be the cult movie THE DAY OF THE WOLVES.
