The Shoot Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Shoot Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 9, 2026

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Adventure Calls! Karl May at CCC set from Eureka! Entertainment.

Eureka! Entertainment has been releasing box sets with an unusual tether: Germany's Central Cinema Compagnie-Film GmbH, otherwise known under its acronym CCC, a studio founded by Artur Brauner in 1946. Brauner had just survived the Holocaust and desperately wanted to make films depicting the horrendous Nazi era, but post World War II Germany was simply not in the mood for such fare, and early Brauner efforts like Morituri (not the Brando - Brynner spy opus from years later) bombed pretty spectacularly, leaving Brauner not just seriously in debt but perilously close to declaring bankruptcy almost as soon as his studio had been founded. That resulted in a rejiggering of sorts where Brauner realized he had to appeal to the "unwashed masses" before moving on to so-called "message films". While Brauner did in fact offer some Nazi adjacent material in the 1950s with films like 1955's The Plot to Assassinate Hitler, he also significantly broadened the studio's output, ending the decade by offering a Fritz Lang "two fer", The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb. Brauner continued to coax legendary expat German directors back to Germany to work for him at CCC, and he also started to produce what might be called "franchises", though rather interestingly some of these perceived series were built around authors rather than characters, including the films Eureka! released in its Terror in the Fog: Wallace Krimi at CCC set in 2025. That said, there was at least one franchise built around a memorable character who is in fact at the center of the other CCC related set Eureka! has offered home media enthusiasts, Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960-1964. This third CCC set from Eureka! returns to "author territory", highlighting the work of Karl May, a man many in the United States may not be overly familiar with, but who was evidently pretty much required reading for German schoolchildren. As some of the supplements on this set get into, many of Brauner's May adaptations were marketed as big "family films" which were released during the holiday season to help maximize attendance. That said, several of these films do in fact feature some recurring characters, and all of them star Lex Barker, in several cases playing the same supposed character May more or less claimed was based on himself, though offered in the various films under a couple of different aliases.

Karl May was evidently something of a fabulist, claiming that many of his stories (often written in the first person) were slightly (or maybe not) fictionalized accounts of things that had actually happened to him. These supposed "adventures" included tales set in the west where the hero was named Old Shatterhand, and also ostensibly much further east (like, a whole 'nother continent), where the hero is now known as Kara Ben Nemsi. That very moniker was a cheeky construct by May which basically translates as "Karl, son of the Germans". One way or the other, while the literary lines separating Shatterhand from Ben Nemsi may be distinctions without much difference, there's arguably even less separation here, despite some obvious changes, due to the fact that Lex Barker is once again on hand as the focal character, no matter what his name or location might be.

The title of The Shoot may therefore somewhat hilariously sound like a Western, indeed even The Shootist, but it is actually a reference to a "nickname" for the film's villain, and rather weirdly (as even some introductory comments from Sir Christopher Frayling get into) is intended to allude to the baddie's yellow skin (that may or may not have come from the Slavic word žut, which does indeed mean "yellow"). As Frayling mentions, there's actually no racial (i.e., Asian) component to the epithet, and in fact it's not even a plot point of any note in the film, though it's perhaps salient to note that at least two alternate titles for the production overtly mention the word "yellow". The plot involves Kara Ben Nemsi and loyal sidekick Hadschi Halef Omar (Ralf Wolter) attempting to bring the titular culprit to justice after he steals and kidnaps his way through rather scenic territory.

This is an expansive action feature that is just one example of Brauner luring expat Germans of note "back to the fold", so to speak, in this case director Robert Siodmak. The film also has a more overtly comic undertone than the Shatterhand outings courtesy of a couple of supporting characters, both of whom turn up in the next Ben Nemsi outing, Through Wild Kurdistan .

The Shoot Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Shoot is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment's Masters of Cinema imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As tends to be the case with the Masters of Cinema line, Eureka! really doesn't provide any substantial technical information, though kind of weirdly (at least from a marketing perspective) their website does mention 4K scans of the original negatives for all of the films in this set. This is one of the most colorful films in this set, and greens especially are vibrant enough to almost hop off the screen a lot of the time. There's maybe just a slight hint of the same yellow undertone I mentioned in the review of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death, but it's not as prevalent nor as immediately observable. Fine detail on sets and costumes is appealing throughout. Some day for night material is on the murky side (something this presentation shares with some others in the set that utilize the same technique). Grain resolves without any issues.

The Shoot Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Shoot features LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks in either German or English (see above for a disclaimer on the English track). Once again, the German track is probably going to be favored by most audiophiles, despite the obvious (and at times pretty funny) mismatch between lip movements and sounds emanating from them. The German track is healthier overall, and scoring and effects in particular have a more energetic sound than on the somewhat anemic English track. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Shoot Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Eureka! has packaged The Shoot and Through Wild Kurdistan together on one disc with the following supplements, some of which are accessible via the Main Menu, and others of which are accessible once an individual film has been chosen:

Main Menu

• The Shoot Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 3:22) is accessible here as a standalone supplement. It's also available under the film's Play Menu, as seen below.


• Through Wild Kurdistan Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 3:12) is accessible here as a standalone supplement. It's also available under the film's Play Menu, as seen below.


• Making Karl May's Orient Cycle (HD; 21:15) is an archival documentary, though made some time after the production of the films in this cycle, based on the fact that Brauner is announced as being well over 80. In German with English subtitles.


• Newsreel Footage (HD; 00:51) is brief footage of the Golden Screen Awards. In German with English subtitles.


• The Shoot Trailer (HD; 2:55) rather interestingly given some comments above overtly calls the character Barker plays Old Shatterhand.


• Through Wild Kurdistan Trailer (HD; 3:44)

The Shoot

• Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 3:22) is authored to proceed on to the main feature.


• With Optional English Dubbed Audio comes with the following disclaimer:

  The optional English dubbed audio was created for a shorter cut of the film, so some scenes will briefly switch to German audio.

Through Wild Kurdistan

• Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 3:12) is authored to proceed on to the main feature.

The Shoot Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maybe a little like Old Shatterhand, this "first" Kara Ben Nemsi film is probably better than its sequels. Rip roaring action propels this film past a few stumbles. Technical merits are generally solid, and the overall supplements on the disc very appealing. Recommended.