The Karate Killers

Artist: Other
Format: UK Quad (30"x 40")
Condition: Excellent
Year: 1967

Description

The sixth film in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” series, “The Karate Killers” sees spies Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin travelling the world to track down a secret formula that can turn sea water into gold. An "U.N.C.L.E." film with a typically far-fetched plot and plenty of humour. Joan Crawford also appeared in a cameo role.

 

Like with the previous “…U.N.C.L.E” films, “The Karate Killers” was created by merging two episodes from the TV series together: The double-episode “The Five Daughters Affair”. Few changes were made in the transition, aside from the addition of a few more violent and ‘sexy’ scenes that television would not permit. An interesting side-note: of the episodes that became films, “The Five Daughters Affair” remains the only one that was actually shown on British television.

 

The Quad poster for “The Karate Killers” is another worthwhile addition to the “…U.N.C.L.E” poster collection. The attention-grabbing employment of a see-through title coupled with the flying body in the centre, make the poster quite striking. Solo and Kuryakin are featured in typically cool and ‘dangerous’ poses whilst the somewhat (purposefully?) jarring colour scheme also draws the eye.

 

In true ‘flower power’ mode, the film’s US 1-sheet carries an even stranger mix of colours, see below courtesy of emovieposter.com. Together with the bizarre imagery, it is highly surreal and almost reminiscent of a Bond title sequence. This approach was also used on other 1-sheets for the “…U.N.C.L.E” films. See the design for “The Spy in the Green Hat” below courtesy of emovieposter.com, as an example of the similar colour scheme and layout.