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The search for the missing Cellini antique switches
from Paris to Rome, and Jason King finds that chasing
gold can lead to certain death.
Having
discovered that the golden Cellini antique salt cellar
he recovered from the thief Frankie Luca (LEE PATTERSON)
is a fake, adventurer John Mallen (CLIFTON GREYN)
turns to Jason King for help.
King
(PETER WYNGARDE) is intrigued by the situation,
and agrees to continue the search. Frankie,
having set up the fake Cellini as a trick to put Mallen
off the trail, plans to sell the genuine antique to
Phillipe de Brion (ANTON RODGERS) for half a
million dollars. De
Brion has originally discovered the Cellini after it
had been missing for 400 years, but had been tricked
out of it through a valuer called Vaturin (MICHAEL
GWYNN).
Now,
Vaturin tells Frankie Luca of another buyer in Rome
who has offered one million dollars for the Cellini
- twice the sum agreed by de Brion.
Frankie
is greedy and determines to get both payments as his
reward for stealing the antique. He rigs an ingenious
electronic bomb, and when the wealthy de Brion sets
off for their meeting blows him up. But
de Brion had also planned on double crossing Frankie,
and instead of half a million dollars he was simply
carrying some plain paper in his case!
Frankie
arranges to travel to Rome with the Cellini, but unknown
to him the new purchaser, a wealthy Italian called Angelo
Andrea (HANS MEYER) a former member of the Mafia,
has sent a gunman to kill him and take the Cellini for
nothing.
King
and Mallen follow Frankie on board the Paris-Rome express,
but they are unable to prevent Frankie being shot and
thrown out of the window of the train. Mallen, though,
sees the killer leave Frankie's compartment.
When
they get to Rome, King and Mallen follow the killer,
and then trick their way in to Angelo's expensive villa.
They figure that Angelo's vanity will lead him
to tell them of the Cellini. While
they talk there is a caller. It is Martine (JOANNA
DUNHAM) Frankie's girl friend and partner, come
to avenge his death. She shoots Angelo, and is killed
in turn by one of his guards. Angelo
manages to stagger to the secret room where he keeps
his treasures, and dies looking at his prized Cellini.
His
cigar, however, sets fire to the room, and though King
and Mallen search desperately for a way onto the secret
hiding place, they are unable to prevent the villa from
burning to the ground.
It
is poetic justice. The Cellini, originally lost in a
fire in 1623 has returned phoenix-like to ashes. No-one,
it seems, has got anything from it. No-one,
that is, except King. He sits at his desk and begins
to type. It is a new 'Mark Caine' novel - and it's title
is "The Golden Cellini."
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