As Officers of the Iranian Imperial Army, Yul Brynner (Col. Salem) is charged by Jack Hawkins (Gen.Bahar) to unmantle the Opium Traffic in Iran. Yul Brynner’s character leads the Persian Quashgai Tribes against a Bakhtiary Rebel Tribe in this film inspired by an Ian Fleming novel.
The movie is known by the three different names listed here:
Danger Grows Wild, The Opium Connection, and The Poppy Is Also a Flower
This film was made by the UN to help bolster efforts to stop drug trafficking and abuse. Directed by Terence Young ( known as the First James Bond Director) Full of stars, most of whom worked for scale to cut down costs. The cast included E.G. Marshall as the hero of the piece, Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson, Hugh Griffith, Georges Geret, Jack Hawkins, Rita Hayworth, Trevor Howard, Grace Kelly, Jocelyn Lane, Marcello Mastroainni, Amedoe Nazzari, Jean-Claude Pascal, Anthony Quayle, Gilbert Roland, Harold Sakata, Omar Sharif, Barry Sullivan, Nadja Tiller, Marilú Toló, Howard Vernon and Eli Wallach. See Full Cast
PLOT:
This exciting adventure provides an interesting look into the manufacture and trafficking of opium and heroin. The original story was written by Ian Fleming(author of James BOND Novels) who died shortly before he was to pen the screenplay. The story is set in Iran and opens as an American undercover agent is murdered in the desert while attempting to buy opium. Two more agents are sent to Teheran to investigate the death and stop the powerful drug ring behind the smuggling. Once there, they run into the dead agent’s girlfriend, who soon after suddenly disappears. Unfortunately, they cannot find her and so focus on their other job. To figure out where the drugs are going (and hopefully get a lead on the missing girl) they steal a bunch of opium and lace it with radioactive tracers so they can track it with Geiger counters. They then follow the drugs as they are slowly dispersed throughout Europe. After many twists, turns and blind alleys, the agents eventually succeed. This film was originally made for TV and contains cameos from many stars who worked for little pay because they strongly supported its anti-drug message. Those stars include Grace Kelly (who introduces the film)
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