Cliff Wilder(Robert Stack), a photographer working in Macau, runs into
a man Mancini who gives him the mysterious Peking Medallion, before he
is murdered. Cliff meets Mancini's widow Lily(Elke Sommer), and she
seems to have an unusually keen interest in the Medallion, as does
Tina(Nancy Kwan), the leader of the local Chinese crime syndicate,
Pinto(Werner Peters), the corrupt Macau Chief of Police, and
Joey(Christian Marquand), an American gambler. It turns out the
Medallion is the key to finding a hoard of ancient Chinese treasure,
worth untold millions. Soon all the characters are scrambling for the
Medallion, in a combination of shifting alliances, deadly
double-crosses and triple-crosses, in a desperate attempt to garner
the precious treasure for themselves. A fast moving Cold War action
thriller, shot on location in Macau and Hong Kong, The Corrupt
Ones has lots of fight scenes and a plot that vaguely anticipates
the story of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Nancy Kwan has an unusual
role as the Chinese "bad girl" in this film, who is equally willing to
use seduction or threats to get the Medallion. Even though this film
was not released until 1967, the film was possibly shot much earlier,
perhaps as early as 1961.
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