Two rival criminal gangs, one led by Wolf, a blind trumpet player (character actor Hans Verner), battle to control the heroin trade and watch as many strip acts as possible (well, except for the trumpet player) in French skin flick auteur José Bénazéraf's 1963 crime drama Le concerto de la peur ("The Concerto of Fear"). The film was snapped up by Olympic International's Bob Cresse, who hacked out much of the already loose scenario to make way for more striptease footage filmed stateside by his partner Lee Frost (The Black Gestapo). Budget-minded Olympic also added a narration track to obviate the need to dub the French language film into English. With Jean-Pierre Kalfon from Claude Lelouch's Night Women (also bastardized by Cresse) as Wolf's rival Margieff, Michel Lemoine (Jess Franco's Succubus), Yvonne Monlaur (The Brides of Dracula) as a kidnapped chemist, Willy Braque from Bénazéraf's Sexus, and sultry Sylvie Bréal (Alain Robbe-Grillet's The Man Who Lies). The bracing score was improvised by jazz great and noted heroin addict Chet Baker. Cinematographer Edmond Richard also worked for top-shelf filmmakers such as Orson Welles (Chimes at Midnight) and Luis Bunuel (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie). Based on the novel "The Scent of Fear" by French pulp writer Anne-Marie Devillers (pen name Dominique Dorn).
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