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Target Goldseven aka Spy Technique
The movie seems to have been put together by ticking off a check list of scenes from James Bond movies, which comes as no surprise, it just seems a little more obvious in this one, but that’s not necessarily a drawback.
Only 13 seconds into the movie the audience is given an indication as to what sort of budget they have to work with, when the observer on the bridge of a freighter calls out “small boat dead a head”, followed by a shot of what is, very obviously, a model boat bobbing and burning on a pond, a small boat indeed! Fortunately there are not too many other instances when they feel the need to adopt quite such a threadbare “special” effect.
In fact the next several scenes are well put together and much more promising. The villains high-jack a shipment of some type of uranium, killing all the crew, and bring the freighter back to their private island, equipped with interesting underground lair (reminiscent of Dr No). Supervillain Conrad San Martin, equipped with a cravat / ascot, has a multitude of henchmen, dressed in matching black skivvies and trousers, and a lab full of scientists, where a man is tied to a table with a large beam weapon angled down toward him (reminiscent of Sean Connery in Goldfinger). Sadly the weapon itself is never seen in action, either to dispose of the agent on the table now (it happens off screen), nor when Tony is tied to it later (budget constraints again).
Via the magic of stock footage, we fly over New York City and find Tony on a luxury golf-course flirting with a woman. Tony’s boss arrives in a Roller to interrupt him and sends him off to find the missing uranium. Next stop is the Copenhagen docks, but the stock footage shows the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the background. However the sign on the warehouse door definitely says “Copenhagen” so who am I to argue. The warehouse is also clearly in a marina, not on the docks, as we can see private pleasure craft outside, up on the hard to be cleaned, not commercial trawlers. However there is nothing wrong with the action scene that ensues, so all is forgiven.
More stock footage takes us to Lisbon, Portugal. We get down to business in the modernist hotel, where Tony first encounters “International Woman of Mystery” Erica Blanc, in the “what are you doing in my room scene”, and comes under surveillance by the sinister assassin Fernando Cebrian. This is another sequence in the movie which is very nicely done, the chemistry and interplay between the two seems better than in most Eurospy, perhaps the dialogue is bit better, or perhaps its Tony’s acting or perhaps it’s just because I personally find him more likeable than most.
Then there’s another well-choreographed fight with a henchman, involving pseudo karate moves. I particularly enjoyed the moment when Tony, after being thrown across the room and over the back of a chair, picks himself up and takes the time straighten his lapels and brush off his suit jacket before returning to the fray. One of the aspects of this film I most enjoyed was the way they struck a nice balance in intermingling the action with the glamour and dialogue.
Later, in the nightclub scene, Tony is introduced to Franco Cobianchi, who plays the Portuguese equivalent of Rene Mathis or Felix Leiter, and has some clever gadgets of his own. Time for a car chase and shootout, during which evil Fernando is captured. After interrogating him Tony and Franco continue to discuss the case, revealing important information while Fernando is still in the room, which is worrying. Fernando later escapes, using nifty blade which pops out of the heal of his shoe.
Franco also has an attractive female operative, who has infiltrated Conrad’s luxury coastal mansion. He and Tony are able to listen in for a while, until she inevitably gets found out and is a killed, by way of a small poisonous eel. So now Tony has to put on a disguise and go in himself. The villains plan involves threatening to use an atomic accelerator to kill anyone who won’t pay up for an immunising serum. There’s also another secret organisation up the line who call themselves “The Snakes”, however we never learn anything more about them (perhaps they were being saved for a sequel which was never made?)
The film continues along in a satisfactory manner, apart from a motorcycle chase which begins in the dark and suddenly switches to daylight, until eventually Tony heads out alone in a fizz boat to invade the island lair single handed. However he doesn’t get far (spotted through a “Dr No-like” underwater window) and ends up tied to the table with the radiation beam weapon pointing at him. This proves to be a bit of a drawback, as Tony spends most of the finale tied to the table, when he should be up and about, kicking ass.
Next Franco and his valiant men arrive, in their own fizz boats, apparently dressed as waiters (at least that is what their white jacket with black trouser ensembles reminded me of). Some also approach the island in scuba gear (a la Thunderball). The customary “Battle Royal” ensues, but poor old Tony remains tied to the table through all of it.
As is also customary, evil Conrad forgoes the obvious option of shooting Tony in the head from point blank range, in favour of setting a timer switch for the radiation weapon and departing. Eventually Erica shows her true colours and turns it off. So this time we get a reversal of the “customary” gender roles, with Tony as the helpless “damsel in distress” tied to the railroad tracks, and Erica saving the day (With an assist from her friend Antonio Pica).
Conrad manages to escape in a fizz boat, with Franco and his merry men in hot pursuit. Later Tony and Erica also join the chase, in a helicopter, and Conrad is disposed of in suitable fashion, although the choreography of the ultimate struggle between Tony and Conrad proves to be “a bridge too far” for the stunt team budget and is staged in a very unconvincing fashion.
During the flight home it looks like Tony and Erica are going to get together, but she slips him a Micky-Finn and gets off the plane while Tony is asleep. When he wakes up the air-hostess tells him that "she was a Russian lady”. Not exactly the way it turned out for Roger Moore and Barbara Bach then.
Overall I found this to be rather enjoyable, for the most part the script was decent, the cast were decent, the mix of action and talking was good, the music was fine, but sadly the budgetary constraints let it down at times, leading to some frustrating and jarring lapses in quality.
Re. scores, I agree, what for some (like me) might be a quirk, might be what puts the wrong label on some Eurospy films.
Richard Johnson certainly was on the slimmer side. Maybe, if he had got the part, he would have to do some work in the gym, but on the other hand, Roger Moore wasn't necessarily hitting the gym throughout his tenure either – not to mention Connery in DAF…
I look forward to watching Fury In Marrakesh, if I can find – or rather, if I have a copy of it somewhere. I'm still not quite sure if I have ever watched it. It might be that it popped up on Youtube, but I never got around to watching it.
I've been looking for this one, @Gerard. Has it been released on DVD or (probably less likely) Blu-ray?
Currently available
Also currently available in 12 parts (but very poor quality)
Superseven Calling Cairo
Although all the Eurospies I seen have been romantically inclined, none of them has come close to challenging the alpha male bedroom exploits of Sean Connery era James Bond, in fact most of them are lucky if they manage to bed even a single lady over the course of a movie. That changes here, as when we are introduced to Roger, he is already in bed with a female of the species and, soon after, he kills her with his trusty fountain pen gun (before she can shoot him). Ten minutes in and he’s bedding his second, after the obligatory “what are you doing in my room” scene. He’s busy working on his third prospect when he comes across an old girlfriend, so he has to forgo a possible reunion there. However the third one never quite works out for him, so he comes up short of attaining the level of sexual prowess achieved by Connery-Bond or Moore-Bond (usually 2 or 3, occasionally as high as 4)
I think Roger is the first pipe smoking “International Man of Mystery” I’ve come across, but alas, it has no alternative function. However he does have a radio transmitter in his shaver, in addition to the trusty pen gun, both of which get plenty of use over the course of the movie.
This a polished production, sturdy and dependable, but somehow uninspired, missing some spark of energy which allows the better Eurospys to punch above their weight. The dialogue is functional but lacking any particular wit or sophistication. They have an occasional stab at “Avengers” style whimsy (with the Napoleonic mannequins) or “Swinging 60s Psychedelia” (when the henchmen put on swimming goggles and overpower Roger with infra-red light in some unexplained way) but those moments seem out of place with the rest of the film, which is a bit more “grounded”.
The McGuffin is a sample of a newly discovered element called “Baltonium”, which was hidden inside a camera lens, that has accidently been passed on to an unsuspecting tourist, while in the process of being smuggled.
There are plenty of exotic locations on show. Stock footage takes us to Paris (for the prologue), London (for mission assignment and fight training), Cairo (for all the expected spy movie activities), Locarno, on Lake Maggiore (in lieu of the Riviera) and finally Rome (although, in fact, none of the outdoor events in "Rome" take place in the historic city centre). I think the production probably did actually pay a visit Cairo and the lake in order to supplement the stock footage.
The casting provides a decent villain with a suitable array of distinctive henchmen and beautiful women.
Action arrives at suitable intervals, but is more enthusiastic than well-choreographed. The music performs its function, supporting the mood of onscreen events. However the ending is a bit of a disappointment. The villains’ boat breaking down out of the blue, for no good reason, is very lame. The rom-com epilogue is clunky, like much of the rest of the movie.
Overall this is competent but unremarkable.
Mannix clone Roger Browne returns as Martin Stevens, this time sporting a posh English accent, rather than a gauche American one (only kidding), at least in the dubbed version I watched.
This is the second of Umberto Lenzi’s collaborations with Browne (“Last Man To Kill" would be the 3rd) and improves on the first, by having a plot that is a somewhat of a departure from the usual Eurospy template, making it more intriguing.
Roger has just returned from retrieving a stolen McGuffin, but is immediately sent back out to again to murder 3 people, only one of whom is actually guilty of memorising vital information about said McGuffin. Roger initially shows some reluctance to kill apparently innocent men in cold blood, but eventually he gives in and accepts that orders are orders and there is no room for fair play or sentimentality in the spy business.
This got my attention and I was looking forward to seeing how they would handle the moral dilemma of Roger killing an unsuspecting and possibly innocent person in cold blood, however it never comes to that, as it turns out the three men are all professional assassins themselves, and they all seem to be aware that Roger is coming, and try to kill him first. So Roger can claim self-defence and rest easy with clear conscience. On the other hand, after the third near fatal encounter, Roger begins to smell a rat and becomes suspicious that everything is not as he had been led to believe…
Exotic locations visited via the wonders of Stock footage include Madrid (for the initial recovery mission), London (for debrief and reassignment) and Paris (first assassin), before we move on to actual shooting locations, Geneva (second assassin) and Athens (third assassin and the rest of the mission).
There are a colourful assortment of henchmen, including Spaghetti stalwarts such as Fernando Cebrian (with the musketeer beard), Sal Borghese (with the chin dimple) and Claudio Biava (the balding blond). Of the beautiful women, Emma Danieli is engaging and feisty as the photo journalist inadvertently caught up in the espionage machinations, Pilar Clemens is particularly sensual as the “Moneypenny” and Yuko Tani adds the archetypal inscrutable oriental touch. Daniell Vargas and Marino Mase are also effective in their roles.
The same level of technical competence is on display as in the original “Superseven” film, briskly paced, with a good mix of action interspersed with conversation, and with a soundtrack that supports the onscreen action rather than undermining it.
The henchmen in goggles and the strange red light from “Superseven” (that make anyone without the goggles pass out), make a second appearance, apropos of nothing. I mean I like the goggles gimmick, as they look creepy, but they just bare no relation or relevance to anything else in either movie.
Roger doesn’t have as much luck with the woman as he did on his previous outing though, he actually turns down Pilar, because work comes first, then he runs into another old girlfriend from a previous mission, but she gets knocked off before he can rekindle that relationship, and Chinese agent Yoko also departs, just as she is succumbing to Rogers charms. However he and Emma do get together in the rom-com epilogue and this time there are no interruptions. I’m not sure if the dialogue was actually any better or if it was just the new posh accent that made Roger seem more suave, but the final scene also felt like an improvement on the previous edition.
Above average this time around
https://new.static.tv.nu/16691252?forceFit=0&height=850&quality=50&width=567
NB I just noticed that Roger died only last month (11/10/2024) aged 94
RIP Superseven!
Tony Kendall and Brad Harris ride again, in the second edition of Kommissar X, this time in exotic Sri Lanka.
The camaraderie has developed, with Tony and Brad by turns bickering and bantering, frenemies who grudgingly respect each other’s abilities. The beautiful girls are plentiful, although, as usual, Tony doesn’t get any further than first base with any of them (at least on screen) and Brad remains all business.
The early scenes in the film flow very nicely and set things up perfectly, re-establishing the nature of Tony and Brad’s characters for those new to Commissar X, and reminding and reinforcing them for those already familiar with the boys from “Kiss, Kiss, Kill, Kill”.
As usual there is plenty of colourful action, but about half way through the plot gets a bit too complicated for its own good. Someone tries to kidnap a rich American land owner’s daughter (the Lincolns) and when that fails they threaten to make his land barren in some fashion. Either way the main thing is they want a million dollars. Tony is hired by the landowner and Brad is there to investigate the death of an American embassy guy (Baker) who was killed in the kidnap attempt.
There’s a mysterious secret society called the “Three Golden Cats” involved, a nephew who’s playing both sides (Dawson), a police chief who may or may not be under their evil influence (Khamar), a woman who wants revenge for her sister’s death (Michelle), a friend of hers (Champa), another landowner who has left the country (Farrell?) and, apropos of nothing, yet another local landowner (Barrett) who keeps a menagerie of animals. It all becomes rather difficult to keep track of.
In the end, it turns out there is also a mad scientist (Dr Flynn) involved, who is working on a deadly bacteria that even the Americans are not interested in developing further, so he has teamed up with the “Three Golden Cats” to extort some funding from his neighbours. The deadly bacteria is a bit of a McGuffin and never forms a significant part of the story, it’s all about grabbing the million bucks.
As far as the villains go, the henchmen are really the stars of the show, Dan Vadis (who later went on to work with Clint Eastwood in 5 films) is magnificent as “King”, the bald-giant-martial artist, and Siegfried Rauch as “Nitro” the American assassin who likes to carry vials nitro glycerine around in his jacket pockets (like James Coburn in “A Fist Full Of Dynamite”). The Kung Fu craze in the West was still a few years away when this was made, so it is leading edge stuff for 1966.
The first and best climax in the film is the much foreshadowed martial arts showdown between Brad Harris and Dan Vadis, which fittingly takes place inside a cave temple on top of the spectacular Sigiriya, the monumental rock which towers 180 feet over the surrounding land. It has been the site of everything from a monastery, to a fortress, to a palace, over its timeless history. It reminded me of the finale of “Way Of The Dragon” at the Coliseum, however it is clear that the local authorities weren’t prepared to let the film crew loose on a site of such cultural significance, which could have made the fight scene even more impressive, but I can understand their reluctance to do so.
After a second climactic action scene, at a jungle airfield, we have the customary comic epilogue, where the girls love Tony and Tony loves the girls, but somehow he doesn’t end up with either (but wins the affections of an elephant instead)
The standard in this sequel remains high so I recommend it
Frederick Stafford returns for a second go round as the French answer to James Bond.
A very polished production, as usual, but let down by the sound track, also as usual. The on screen action is fine, but the music rarely provides any assistance to help generate suspense or tension. Either ersatz Asian travelogue, Bosa Nova jazz, or missing altogether. The scene where the Combi van is crashed being a classic example, with a cheerful tune played during what should be a moment of great peril.
Japan provides suitable exotic locations (a year before “You Only Live Twice”) and a somewhat stylish super-tanker makes for a decent villain’s lair in the finale (although it only has a medium size door in the side, big enough for a launch size boat, rather than a ship swallowing front maw like the one in “The Spy Who Love Me”).
There are several excellent fight scenes, the screenplay is good, with a decent plot and adequate dialogue.
Frederick makes friends with a couple of attractive women. Marina Vlady brings the beautiful ice queen who eventually melts, and Jitsuko Yoshimura brings the cute and perky, but also sensual, local flavour (as when she playfully bites Fred’s finger while bidding him farewell).
Eventually, after all the usual spy shenanigans, being followed or chased, chasing or following, getting knocked out, escaping from traps and ambushes, Fred identifies the bad guys, locates the lair and saves the day in suitable fashion.
Best Bond-esque quip
Marina – “Have you ever been called a cad?”
Fred – “No. I kill people before they have time to say it.”
Ingrid Schoeller becomes the first female to headline a Eurospy movie (at least, as far as I know).
This was Umberto Lenzi’s first attempt at Eurospy, made just before he began teaming up with Roger Browne. It is set mainly in his perennial favourite exotic location, Cairo, and includes much of the stock footage that he would continue to recycle across all his Eurospy movies;- panoramas of the Nile, pyramids, markets, black & white taxis’ and dubious cabaret acts. Also the customary stock footage of Westminster from the Thames that always precedes the mission assignment scene. Zermatt rounds out the locations and provides a contrast of scenery for the finale.
Ingrid is 008, an American agent who is teamed with British agent 006 and a half, played by Alberto Lupo, who doesn’t look remotely British. 007 James Bond is also mentioned several times in passing. She’s vivacious, insightful and competently deals with all the usual spy action, including fighting and defeating no less than 4 henchwomen at the Institute of Beauty, while also good naturedly fending of the attentions of Alberto (once even resorting drugging him to sleep, when they are sharing a room and posing as husband & wife). Meanwhile Alberto seems to have trouble keeping his mind on the mission, expends plenty of energy, but often ends up needing to be saved by Ingrid.
Evano Staccioli makes for a memorable villain and swarthy, dimple chinned, Sal Borgese takes a turn at being lead henchman, equipped with a black glove that can fire knives.
The plot, dialogue, direction and music are all solid by Eurospy standards and played at a “Roger Moore-esque” level of seriousness. There are a couple of minor twists at the end, as Ingrid outwits Alberto to take sole possession of the McGuffin. As is customary in a Lenzi spy movie there is a humorous epilogue, that signs off with Ingrid and Alberto about to embark on another joint mission.
Imagine a James Bond movie without 90% of the action, or a Hitchcock movie without 90% of the suspense, and you have “Assignment K”. This is a polished “A” grade production which fails to grasp the fundamental principles of the genre it is working in.
In the first third of the film, affable Stephen Boyd romances the beautiful Camilla Sparv around the ski fields and Gashauses of Kitzbuhel, while various interested parties watch them, and otherwise pass microfilm around amongst themselves. And that’s it. No chases, on foot or by car, no dramatic confrontations of any sort. The tradecraft on display is nice, but it’s just not enough.
Things pick up a bit after that, with Camilla being abducted by the villains, but the soundtrack is not helping things along, being either non-existent or overdoing the cocktail jazz aspect, at the expense of helping to generate any tension.
The villains want to pressure Stephen into revealing the other members of his information smuggling network, however, before Stephen swept her off her feet, we know Camilla was socialising with “Rolphie”, a man who we have subsequently seen exchanging glances with, and participating in surveillance activities for, the villains, therefore, as seasoned spy movie fans, we must give serious consideration to the possibility that Camilla could be a “honey trap”. Stephen’s London handler, Michael Redgrave, tell Stephen she’s been cleared by security, but somehow I remained unconvinced. On the way out the door, Stephen himself remarks, “Oh, thanks, not that it matters anymore, I’ve lost interest”. At this point viewers may find themselves wholeheartedly agreeing with him.
Leo McKern makes for a memorable villain and if you look in the dictionary under “henchman” you’ll find a picture of Jeremy Kemp (you may also find him if you look up “German Officer”). John Alderton also makes an impression as an undercover courier, as does Jane Merrow as the female henchperson. However Michael Redgrave seems wasted in his role as the “MI6” handler, stuck in a bare office.
Despite having a double twist ending, the movie never really takes off or manages to cause the heartrate to increase, so the downbeat ending seems entirely fitting.
Secret Agent Super Dragon
In many ways this is one of the best Eurospys I’ve seen, only let down by a lack of ambition, probably attributable to a limited budget. By which I mean that everything they do is very polished, but they don’t attempt anything they can’t carry out to that same standard. So there are no car chases, crashes, explosions or spectacular set piece stunts of any kind i.e. nothing that would cost serious money to stage properly, where the only alternative would involve the use of obvious models, cutaway shots or other cheap tricks to try and disguise.
Events take place firstly in the modest American town of Freemont, Michigan, where the student body has been acting strangely, before moving on to the films only exotic location, Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The villains’ masterplan is to secretly feed everyone a drug which has minor apparent effects, but which will eventually cause death if they aren’t given the antidote. Once the World is hooked, the World will have to pay for that antidote. They have been using obscure Freemont as a laboratory to test the effects of the drug, but still manage to catch the attention of the American Secret Service. Ray is retired and living to good life, but the death of his friend, the agent who was looking into the case, brings him back.
Ray Danton impressed me with his confident swagger and he is able to project a persona that is at once cheerful yet still suggests an edge of danger, the iron fist in the velvet glove quality which I think Sean Connery had. A trait that often got Ray parts as a suave but cold villain. He humorously taunts the people he interrogates while slapping them around in a casually sadistic fashion, more reminiscent of Connery-Bond than say Moore-Bond (or any other subsequent incarnation of Bond to be honest)
He’s also the first Eurospy I’ve seen who actually manages to achieve true Alpha male status on a par with Connery and Moore, although nothing much is shown on screen. It seems likely he has bedded Margaret Lee (the “Moneypenny”), if not during the movie then before, then he certainly beds Marisa Mell (the female-villain-who-later-turns-out-to-have-been-coerced) and he ends up with Solvi Stubbing (the Dutch restaurant manageress) for the romantic epilogue. Finally, a worthy rival for Bond in the sexual prowess stakes!
When we first meet Ray he is meditating by his pool, practising a technique for slowing his metabolism, which comes in handy later in the film, and which reminded me of something similar in one of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films. The director does a good job of establishing Ray’s character in the early scenes as both confident and competent. During the pool scene and later in the scene where he searches the dead agent’s apartment, he shows Ray as calm and unhurried, thinking things through and demonstrating his trade craft.
Ray has a beefy “Q” who travels with him, bringing a suitcase full of gadgets and he, along with Margaret, help out when additional manpower is required. Ray wears a bullet (and knife) proof vest, and carries self-inflating flotation devices in his jacket pocket (who doesn’t?). He also has a pen with a light which allows him to read otherwise invisible messages written on mirrors, a tape recorder in his cigarette lighter, a watch he can use to beep Morse code to another similar device, and jacket buttons that contain homing transmitters.
The villains’ are a serviceable, but not particularly memorable, bunch. However the inside of the secret lair is nicely done, lots of shiny corrugated metal walls and numerous sliding doors reminiscent of the opening and closing credits of “Get Smart”. Several futuristic desks decorated with switches, dials and flashing lights, and no less than two long meeting tables, one where the villain’s #2 holds a “Spectre” style meeting to berate his panel of lab coated scientists, and another where the head villain holds a “Goldfinger” style meeting, in order to deliver his triumphant oration on the masterplan to his business partners. (except, unlike “Goldfinger “, he doesn’t kill them afterwards). This second is an elegant oval covered in baize, with a centre piece that revolves to reveal a map of… Michigan!!!
There are a number of good technical fight scenes, most of which Ray eventually loses, due to being out numbered. Twice the villains do the “over-elaborate-attempt-to-kill-the-hero” routine, both nicely done, although the second one perhaps stretches credulity a bit too far. However the same thing can be said about “You Only Live Twice” so it’s not a biggy.
There’s also a memorable, nasty torture scene, with Margaret the intended victim. However, unlike in “Casino Royale”, Ray manages to turn the tables and it’s the lead henchman who gets shallow fried for information while Ray cracks wise.
Direction, plot, dialogue and music are all of a decent quality, but the ending is an anti-climax. As mentioned above, there seems to have been no budget for a big finish, no huge fiery explosions, not even a “Battle Royale” between the villains henchmen and Dutch police, just some unconvincing two a fro deal making, a bit of faked helicopter action (the only such attempt in the film), and a quiet little shootout in a windmill, before the customary rom com epilogue.
Bond-esque quip
Ray makes numerous quips of varying quality throughout the film but I think the best actually goes to fellow agent Marissa Mell
Marisa – “Anything else?”
Ray – “Yes, one little thing, are you a natural red head?”
Marisa – “You’ll have to take my word for it… (walks to the door and turns) for now”
Earlier
Marisa – “So you’re the famous Super Dragon?”
Ray – “That’s right… would you like my autograph?"
Marisa – “If that’s all you can offer a lady”
Ray – “Well, in public yes, but in private I try to be a little more generous”
Neil Connery took time off from his career as a plasterer to appear in this Eurospy, where he was joined by Bernard Lee (M, as an M equivalent), Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny, as a field agent called “Maxwell”), Daniela Bianchi (“From Russia With Love”, in an equivalent role) Adolfo Celi (“Thunderball”, in an equivalent role), Anthony Dawson (“Dr No”, promoted from enemy agent to “Alpha”, the equivalent of the head of Spectre), Yee Wah Yang (Minor Bond Girl in “You Only Live Twice”, in an equivalent role), Anna Maria Noe (in the “Lotte Lenya” role) and Guido Lollobrigida (cousin of Gina, as a henchman).
Neil sports a beard, of the sort Errol Flynn adopted for Robin Hood, and lacks the magnetic presence of his older brother, however if you can put that out of your mind he does an adequate job, considering he is a novice actor. (or an outstanding job, for a plasterer). His character is not a professional agent and has to be coerced into helping out, due to his special knowledge of the case at hand. A plastic surgeon by trade, he has no gadgets but can hypnotise people and bend them to his will, or make them reveal information (which is as useful as any fancy physical gadget James Bond ever had), is proficient at reading lips (another invaluable skill for a spy), speaks numerous languages (even if some of them are archaic), is an expert martial artist and an archery champion.
The rest of the cast are all very effective in their familiar roles, but Adolfo Celi in particular stands out (if you look up “Bond Villain” in the dictionary, I can imagine his might well be the picture you would see). He positively radiates evil power and wealth in every scene he appears in.
This has a better budget than most Eurospy and is predominantly played straight and serious, with only sporadic unfortunate lapses into spoof scenes, which appear jarringly out of place.
Other than that the film does a good job of creating effective ersatz Bond situations. There are the usual high class parties and auctions, several Spectre style meetings, with the usual unfortunate consequences for some of those attending, and no less than three “Battle Royales’” involving henchmen, who are all dressed in different sets of matching outfits on each occasion.
The music by Ennio Morricone is very dramatic, although it must have come as close to infringing the copyright of existing Bond score music as it is possible to get.
The Villains are all part of a secret organisation called “Thanatos” and their scheme is to use a nuclear powered magnetic wave generator to disable all mechanical and electronic devices in order to rule the World. A subplot has evil Adolfo also planning to eliminate Anthony and take over control of Thanatos. The plot hangs together reasonably well, but the dialogue lacks any wit or finesse and is probably the main fault which leaves the film feeling rather dull and mechanical.
Exotic locations include Monaco, Malaga, Tetuan (in Morocco) and Fenis Castle (in Italy, near the Swiss border, but described as being “20 miles out of Munich” in the movie). Adolfo has an impressive luxury yacht in Monaco harbour (with an attractive female crew), and a palace in Tetuan. Thanatos has an outstanding headquarters, above ground a large Castle, and below ground an underground cavern lair (could even be partially real) of melted candle stalagmites and tites, with added modernist “Ken Adam-esque” control room, bridges and balconies (not real).
The film features a distinctive array of interesting American cars, including a Studebaker Champion Regal, a Ford Mustang, and Corvette C1, but there are no car chases.
Yet despite having many of the right ingredients, somehow it doesn’t quite add up. A combination of misleading moments of spoof, when the rest of the film is otherwise not at all humorous, a script full of flat, unimaginative dialogue and perhaps Neil not having the charisma or experience to carry the movie.
So it was back to the plastering for poor old Neil, his 15 minutes of fame were over, although he continued to get occasional parts in the coming years (and I’m looking forward to going back to find him in an episode of “Only When I Laugh”)
NB Lois Maxwell recalled she earned more money for the film than her combined award wage payments from all her appearances in the Eon Productions 007 films put together (shame on you EON!)
Neil could have chosen to look like this in the movie
Would it have been an improvement?
You be the judge
Thanks for both links, @Seve!
I love continuing reading your Eurospy reviews. I've seen all of the last films you've reviewed here, with the exception of 008 Operation Exterminate. I never warmed to Secret Agent Super Dragon and OK Connery aka Operation Kid Brother. I quite like Ray Danton, but the films itself wasn't that interesting to me. It's been a long time since I watched it, so it's probably worth seeing it again. OK Connery was just a mess though (IMO) – a must watch for Eurospy fans, but still a mess of a film. The spoof scenes are way to jarring for my liking.
I reviewed OSS 117 Terror In Tokyo this summer, and it's one of my favourites of the OSS 117 series. The fact that it predates You Only Live Twice utilising Japan as a location, and maybe served as an inspiration for The Spy Who Love Me, makes this a movie a lot of Bond fans will enjoy too – and not just Eurospy fans.
I'm due a rewatch of the Kommissar X films, but I remember Death Is Nimble, Death Is Quick (aka Three Golden Cats) as one of the better ones in the series. They are all entertaining though. A film I also really like is Assignment K – in fact, it's become a yearly tradition for me to watch it before or during Christmas. I won't argue any of the points you mention about the film though, because I agree with them all – it's just happens that I really like it despite of all it's flaws. I quite like the cocktail jazz aspect of the score too; you can argue that it's very misplaced, but it somehow works for me.
Assignment K has also recently got a very limited and now out of stock Blu-ray treatment, with last year's release from Imprint Films. I managed to get a copy, and while it’s fantastic to see such an obscure title receiving a Blu-ray release, I can’t help but wish the picture quality was better. I guess this is the best the film will ever look though, as I very much doubt this is a title that will see any further restorations in the future.
Roger Browne deserves a mention too (RIP!). I've only seen two of the titles you mention – Superseven Calling Cairo and Rififi In Amsterdam – bot of which I really enjoyed. They are not up there with the best Eurospy films has to offer, but he was a memorable leading man in both films, I think. Much more so than a lot of other leading men of the genre. I look forward to checking out more of his films.
A funny side note: Roger also featured in some reaction videos on Youtube not that many years ago. I had to laugh when an older Roger first popped up in my Youtube video suggestions. Here's one of them.
It can be a fine line sometimes, in retrospect I may have been a bit jaded when I reviewed Assignment K. There's still plenty to like about it, but they were probably aiming more for "Harry Palmer" rather than "James Bond", in which case my "Eurospy" expectations were not realistic.
More of Roger is available on Youtube
The Spy Who Loved Flowers
Kill Agent Gordon (very poor quality copy though)
Agent 3S3 Passport To Hell
This is another one where the director, Sergio Sollima, has some ability and the scriptwriters are competent, but sadly, as is often the case in the Eurospy genre, the production is hamstrung by budgetary restrictions. The plot has interest and the dialogue is decent, but there is no money for any big set pieces or a spectacular climax, which is a shame. Plenty of fisticuffs, one slice of car v truck carnage, but no big explosions and no Battle Royales.
George makes for an agreeable hero. His mission is to hunt down and kill Mr “A”, the head of “The Organisation”, a private spy network, who have been knocking off both American and Russian agents. Half way through the movie he beds two women in quick succession, one we were expecting and building towards, the other completely out of the blue, thus proving his secret agent sexual prowess credentials satisfactorily.
The director shows some flair in filming of the fight scenes, almost modern in terms of the camera angles employed and the quick cut editing, but unfortunately they also come across as abrupt and disjointed, as this was Sollima’s first feature length movie and he was still learning his craft. (Alternatively, sensors or distributors may have had a hack at the version I was watching?)
Everyone else is also well cast, Jose Marco, inspires “friend of the hero” competence as the “Mathis” / “Felix Leiter”, Georges Riviere is sinister as “B”, #2 man in the villainous secret organisation, Franco Andrei as his lieutenant / rival, reminded me of a thick set Tony Kendall, while Bruna Simionato as the good girl and Senya Seyn as the bad girl were both engaging and alluring.
Vienna and Beirut (plus a village and a rocky island, supposedly also in Lebanon, but probably somewhere in Spain) serve as the exotic locations, nicely contrasting snow and ice with sun and sand.
The music is always dramatic and very good at times. but at other times atrocious (at least to my ears)
One of several I’ve watched recently that I think could have been top drawer, if they had only had some money to spend on spectacle.
The Peking Medallion (the only one of its several titles which actually reflects the nature and style of the film)
In this one the Germans give us an unusual combination of Eurospy and “Indiana Jones” style treasure hunt, but it works well enough and is quite entertaining.
Robert is a freelance photographer who stumbles into a struggle for possession of an ancient medallion, which in turn can point the way to a hidden trove There are already four interested parties before Robert arrives on the scene, a Tong led by Nancy Kwan, a gambling gang led by Christian Marquand, Werner Peters, a corrupt police chief who can call on the manpower of the local constabulary to do his bidding, and “International Man Of Mystery” Maurizio Arena, along with his wife, Eurospy veteran Elke Sommer (perhaps the real reason behind how this movie came to be made).
Robert looks the part and brings his distinctive voice to proceedings, as well as his rather limited acting ability, but, this being a Eurospy, that is no more than par for the course and not a deal-breaker. As a romancer Robert repeatedly fails “James Bond bedroom etiquette 101”. Every time a female tries to use her “womanly wiles” on him, just at the point things are about to get interesting, he always chooses to reveal to her that he knows what she’s up to, which makes her angry and thus terminates the tryst. He makes the same rookie mistake with Heidi Bohlen, Nany and Elke. Now the way it’s supposed to be done is, as Sean Connery or Sonny Chiba could explain to him, first you go along with the charade and bed the woman, then you tell her you know what she’s up to and make her angry.
In the first two thirds of the film they do a good job of catching the flavour of Eurospy, with many colourful sets, including an elaborate bordello brothel, a casino club built atop a barge and a Tong mansion headquarters equipped with a torture chamber worthy of a Bond movie. Shades of “Get Smart” as a one piece garage door, disguised as an elaborate oriental wall panel slides slowly up and back, next, behind that, a set of wrought iron gates move aside to the left and right, revealing the torture alcove. The victim is tied to a thick wooden “T” with arms stretched out on either side, which can be pivoted up to an angle that allows the audience to see the suffering better. Then a grotesque metallic oriental demon head is lowered over the victim while acid is dripped onto them from its mouth.
Torture is something of a feature of this film, as, apart from two visits to the Tong torture chamber (first a failed henchman and later Elke), there is also some torture of Maurizio with a blow torch, and another nicely lit outdoor night torture scene, which involves dragging the Robert around the harbour behind a fizz boat. So this is a must see movie for any sadists out there.
The film is set in Macao (according to the German title, “The Hell Of Macao”) but those who know identify all the location footage as being in Hong Kong. In any case it’s a colonial city that borders on Mao era China.
Dusty Springfield sings the theme song, which is another plus and the music overall is good, assisting to create the appropriate mood of each scene, rather than undermining it.
The fight scenes are decently choreographed and the action is distributed evenly throughout.
The main weakness of the film is the middle third, which consists of nothing more than Robert wandering into ambush after ambush, never seeming to consider if it’s an intelligent course of action. A strategy of “shaking the tree” is one thing, but wilful stupidity is another. Fortunately for him there are four sets of allies / antagonists who take turns at saving him from each other.
The final third of the movie goes full “Indy / National Treasure / Da Vinci Code” after Robert suddenly decides to make use an enormous mechanical gadget that he has clamped to a table in his hotel room, to decipher the medallion (I’m not sure what to call it, or how Robert managed to fit it in his luggage). Eventually the various interested parties pursue each other to the customary hidden cavern beneath the ancient temple and engage in the usual round of double crossing, which leads inevitably to a catastrophic cave in and the loss of all the booty.
Just time for a rom-com epilogue where Robert, Elke (and Werner) commiserate, before running off together, frolicking toward the beach, while Dusty sings them out.
Bondesque quips
Nancy – “What are you doing?”
Robert – “You know what I’m doing, the point is, how am I doing?”
Heidi – “I don’t get many visitors”
Robert – “Oh come now”
Heidi – “Well, not many that I’d like to know better”
Robert – “The least I can do is help restore your confidence”
I very much think Assignment K isn't a movie for everyone, that's for sure – and the Harry Palmer comparison is fitting too. The Ipcress File happens to be my favourite film (I also love to novel), and I do enjoy these spy films that might not be as fantastical as Europsy films sometimes (or very often!) are.
Thanks again for Youtube links. It's a shame the upload of Password: Kill Agent Gordon is of such poor quality. I've never seen any better quality uploads of that film, though.
I haven't had the chance to see the Agent 3S3 films myself (luckily they're on Youtube), but I have seen George Ardisson in Operation Counterspy. That film was rather forgettable (at least I can't remember much of the plot), but George Ardisson was a good lead. I hope to catch these two films soon. I also see Countdown To Doomsday is available on Youtube, but as with many Eurospy film uploads, the picture quality is really bad.
I have a download of the The Peking Medallion which I'm yet to watch. I didn't even bother to read the plot itself when I found it on Youtube some time ago; I just downloaded it to be watched at the first available moment. Based on this review I have to bump it up on my list of films to watch, @Seve!
His did “Mission To Hell, “Tell Me Who To Kill”, “In Enemy Country” and this one…
“Upperseven, The Man To Kill” aka “The Spy With Ten Faces”
Finally we encounter a Eurospy who is the alpha-male equal of Connery-Bond and Moore-Bond in sexual prowess. Upperseven manages to bed the required 3 women during the course of his mission, the first to attain that level of “bedroom black belt” that I have come across. Not only that, but on the way he also passes “James Bond bedroom etiquette 101”, when romancing old acquaintance Rosalba Neri. While she is in the bathroom freshening up, he discovers a surveillance camera in her wardrobe, but rather than immediately confronting her with the evidence of her treachery, he plays along and beds her, before slapping her around and destroying the film and camera. Not satisfied with that, he then he throws a raincoat on her, drags her out into the lobby of the apartment building and pushes her out the front door into the darkness, where she is shot down by a waiting assassin. The muzzle flash gives away the assassin’s position and Upperseven is able to shoot him. Now that is as cold as Connery-Bond at his most callous!
Paul is a suitably imposing figure, although prone to looking around in every direction in a theatrical way, the kind of suspicious behaviour which would tend to give him a way as being a spy. He specialises in disguises, several of which are worked into the story, with mixed results in terms of effectiveness. In particular his adoption of British Naval whites while in Cape town proves to be a singularly ineffective disguise for the purposes of tailing one of the opposition without being spotted. On the other hand it’s under similar such false pretences that he is able to bed villainess Vivi Bach, who mistakes him for her beloved. Paul makes sure to turn out the light, so it’s nice and dark, before peeling off his mask and getting down to business.
He claims the disguises help keep his true appearance a secret from the enemy, but as he spends much of his time undisguised, I doubt the effectiveness of this. Evil Rosalba seems to have no problem identifying him and main villain Nando Gazzolo and co are more interested in being able to penetrate his disguises in order to recognise him during a mission, rather than when he is off duty.
He’s got some useful gadgets, a lighter that can emit knockout gas as well as a flame, and a cane that can emit intense flashes of light from its end, in order to momentarily blind an armed opponent, as well as be wielded as an effective weapon for striking and despatching henchmen in the usual way. Later he is provided with a belt that can be set to explode with sufficient force to completely destroy a villain’s lair.
The plot must surely have seemed rather politically incorrect to audiences at the time, in the 1960s, even more bizarre by the 1970s, and yet would be perfectly reasonable in today’s political climate. Apparently Apartheid South Africa wants to finance a Pan African alliance, among nations newly independent after colonialism, in order to prevent growing Chinese influence in the region. The USA has agreed to act as a front / middleman, so an exchange of South African diamonds for US dollars has been arranged. Due to the high degree of tension between USA and Russia at the time, it was customary for movie makers to substitute China for Russia in such stories, but why South Africa would care either way remains a mystery.
In any case Paul is charged with ensuring the safety of the gold while Karin Dor (who would later appear in “You Only Live Twice”) keeps an eye on the cash for the CIA. On the other side main villain Nando, girlfriend Vivi and henchman Guido Lollobrigida are working for the Chinese and plan to steal both the cash and the gold to help finance the building of a secret Chinese missile base.
There are an unusually high number of exotic locations crammed in, all but one of which are actually visited. Copenhagen, London, Basel, Johannesburg, Cape town, and Rome, but probably not Ghana, where the villain’s lair / secret missile base is purported to be.
The exterior of villain’s lair is suitably space age in appearance, with silver domes and stairwells leading underground. It looks cheaply made, but I appreciate the effort. Below ground it’s a satisfactory combination of concrete tunnels, sliding silver doors and the usual converted industrial site, filled with extensive pipework, along with control panels covered in dials, gauges and switches.
The fight scenes are plentiful and well-choreographed and the budget is sufficient for numerous fiery explosions, but the car chases are disappointing. It’s one of those where they clearly couldn’t afford to destroy any vehicles, so they drive slowly and bump into each other gently, side to side, otherwise relying on quick cutting and editing to give the impression of action. However there are some very nice cars on show, including several of those American cars with extravagant fins, an MG roadster and the ever popular Citroen DS, while Upperseven himself drives a Mercedes 300 SL (but sadly it’s not the “gull wing” model).
The music is superior to most Eurospy, being the work of Bruno Nicolai, who is considered by many to be second only to Ennio Morricone among Italian movie score composers of the 1960s. There is one strange interlude though, where, after making love to Paul, Rosalba strums a guitar and sings a love song to him, while the audience also get to see an assassin taking up position in the bushes outside the apartment to ambush Paul. As mentioned earlier, her reward for this romantic gesture is a sadistic slapping followed by a violent death.
There are a number of events which seemed to me to be un-necessary, over-elaborate or disproportionate, relative to their significance to the plot. For example the scenes involving the preparation and smuggling of counterfeit money inside stuffed toy dogs. Or poisoning the Basel water supply, causing a city wide emergency quarantine, in order to help facilitate a bank robbery. Or the explosive helicopter rescue of the old diamond cutter from a rock breaking prison gang, who then turns up trying to lead Paul into an offshore island ambush (presumably Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela had only recently taken up residence?). These seem to have been included purely to provide some additional interludes of action and spectacle. However that is not a major drawback in a Europsy, where style always trumps substance.
When all the smoke finally clears, following a token debrief, Paul and Karin drive off together in the Merc into a rom-com encounter with a traffic cop… fine.
https://bilder.fernsehserien.de/epg/2043/aa698313e36f7e68b49d4e3bc51e544c8aafdfe1_b.jpg
Like you @seve I too find the score by Bruno Nicolai one of the better Eurospy ones. And the theme song is suitably Bondian:
However it didn’t work out and he fell back to earth, like Icarus, never to rise so high again. Let us consider why...
Topaz (1969)
Firstly Topaz isn’t really a “James Bond” style Eurospy movie, it’s more of a “Harry Palmer” style Cold War film. Perhaps in the wake of Bonds monumental box office success, old school espionage thrillers fell a bit out of favour for a while? Audiences seeking fast moving Bond style escapism were left disappointed. By 1967 even Harry Palmer was reduced to appearing in the dreadful spy spoof “Billion Dollar Brain”, which was so jarringly different from the first two films in the series that it killed off the franchise, which only ever partially recovered, in the 1990s, as inferior “made for TV” movies.
Secondly Hitchcock seemed to finally lose his magic touch in the mid-1960s, with “The Birds” being his last universally acclaimed classic (Although personally I rate “Frenzy” very highly). He made two espionage films “Torn Curtain” and this one, which are both decent enough, without being outstanding, and both of which are closer to “John Le Carre” than “Ian Fleming”. They are more grounded in the actual process of spying, moles and defection, so have more in common with “Notorious” than his own previous espionage work, such as “The 39 Steps”, “Sabotage”, “Foreign Correspondent”, “Saboteur” (with its exciting climax, climbing around atop the Statue of Liberty), or “North By Northwest” (where Mt Rushmore performs a similar function). The latter all feature protagonists who are civilians that become caught up in espionage, rather than actual spies. “Everyman” characters who were, perhaps, more relatable for the audience and also featuring action which is more kinetic, involving chasing, being captured and escaping etc.
As for Frederick himself, his acting in the film has often been criticised, so I watched closely and personally I find that there is really nothing wrong with his acting. I think he responds to events and dialogue with subtle changes in facial expression as well as most. However where he falls short, in an English speaking movie, is in his verbal delivery of dialogue in that language. Although the alias “Frederick Stafford” was conceived in Australia, where he had emigrated, Fred’s real name is “Friedrich Strobel von Stein”, and he was born and grew up in Czechoslovakia, before studying in Switzerland. He was fluent in 5 languages, however I believe that being able to speak proficiently in a second language is quite a different thing from being able to "act" convincingly in it. I found Fred to be much more relaxed and natural using French in the OSS 117 movies, than he is using English in Topaz. In English he hasn’t mastered the intonation.
And he isn’t the only one to have trouble with the language in this movie, French actress Danny Robin (the wife) starts out strongly, but soon begins to stumble and sound clunky in her own delivery, and the same goes for Per-Axel Arosenius (the defector), Michel Subor (the son in law), Karin Dor (the other woman), Michel Piccoli (Granville), Phillipe Noiret (Jarre) and many others in this film, which features a high ratio of non-native English speaking actors. They all struggle to act convincingly while speaking English and frequently fail. Now I don’t mean to be too critical of them, as they all speak admirable English per se, but I’ve noticed previously, in other films I've watched, that when there is more than one or two non-native English speakers in the cast, the accumulated effect creates an impression of bad or wooden acting. One exception this pattern is Dutch actor John van Dreelen, a veteran of many English speaking productions, over many years, across his career.
Finally, at 2 hours and 22 minutes in length, it is longer than most, and while not necessarily too long for a Hitchcock film, in this case, I think you could easily cut out half an hour of footage without losing anything important.
Overall a disappointment, slow and mediocre by the Master’s high standards.
NB Fred's final Euro-movie role was "Fear Runs Deep" in 1976.
In 1977 Stafford returned to Australia after 15 years, where he announced that he intended to make four films in Australia, including one about the pyjama girl murder; Our Man in Sydney, a detective thriller, and Andamooka, about life on the Australian opal fields
Stafford died in 1979, at the age of only 51, in a crash involving two light aircraft above Lake Sarnen, Switzerland. A Morane-Saulnier Rallye, piloted by Czech-born Pavel Krahulec, M.D., in which Stafford was a passenger, collided with a Piper, piloted by businessman Alois Fischer of Thoune, Switzerland.
RIP Fred, an "International Man Of Mystery" till the end
I'm not sure if Topaz really fits into the Eurospy genre... while it may be one of Hitchcock's lesser works, it still is a Hitchcock and not one of those typically cheaply produced James Bond knock-offs.
But be that as it may, I don't share your criticism of Fred's (and Karin's) English-language skills. Fred wasn't playing an American or Brit, but a decidedly French agent, and Karin portrayed a Cuban. Now when they decided to have them speak English in the movie, isn't it even generally considered welcome that they speak with some accent? I always took Stafford's to be a French accent, and it may actually be - since, as you pointed out, he was fluent in French. Dor's accent may not be in any way that of a native-Spanish speaker, let alone specifically Cuban, but hey!, aren't some shortcomings at least better for the roles than sounding like someone from the Midwest or Oxford (not to mention Yorkshire or Ireland)?
Thankyou
Truedat, I really only reviewed it because Fred was in it and it completed the set of all his Spy movies, as well as charting his remarkable rise from non-actor to Hitchcock
I would agree in principle, but in practise I found it didn't work for me. Having watched the film a several times now, I wanted to try and break down the reasons why this film didn't work as well as some others in Hitchcocks catalogue, and I feel that having so many non-native English speakers using English may have been a factor.
One or two would have been fine. and I have watched many great films that feature one or two of non-native English speaking actors, but this one had a dozen or more. On the other hand if they had all been as fluent in English as John van Dreelen, I wouldn't be making that observation.
Also remember that, much of the time, they are meant to be French people speaking French to each other, or Spanish people speaking Spanish to each other, with the audience accepting the actual use of English via the magic of "suspension of disbelief".
However, much of the English-speaking audience thinks otherwise. My standard example here is Stauffenberg, with Tom Cruise in the title role. When it came out, lots of people protested that Cruise (and most of the other actors, who practically all portrayed German characters) didn't even try to speak with a German accent. They are so little used to having dubbed films that they cannot suspend their disbelief unless some fake accent reminds them that the people in the movie are meant to be conversing in another language than the English presented. And for those viewers, a natural accent in the English used by someone to portray (e.g. as in this case) a French person is actually an asset, not a liability.
Lol, yes, it does ring a bell somewhere, but I couldn't recall if it was with you or someone else
I understand what you are saying, as I am indeed one of those people who prefers an accent rather than neutral English, so the interesting thing I have learned from watching this film is how important intonation and pace of delivery are as well.
As Ironic or contrary as it may seem, I've discover that, in a situation where the foreign actors have not mastered the correct intonation of the language, or are unable to deliver their lines at the same speed as a native speaker, I find them less convincing than English speaking actors faking a foreign accent (Perhaps because I probably won't recognise that it is fake).
Again I want to stress that I can happily overlook such shortcomings when it is only one or two actors in a production, but in this case it is the majority of the cast and became a distraction.
The effect was particularly evident for me in the final third of the movie, for example at the private dinner, where John van Dreelen has to carry a room full of Frenchmen labouring ponderously over their English, while he breezes along delivering his lines at the pace of a native English speaker, while still having a clearly "European" accent.
The fourth edition of this free-wheeling franchise is still full of energy and vitality, although I found the plot development was rather ragged at times, with some components not always stitched together as smoothly as one might hope for.
Turkey provides the requisite exotic locations this time, firstly history soaked Istanbul, and later, via the magic of cinema, the spectacular rock formations and cave dwellings of Cappadocia are suddenly within easy driving distance.
Istanbul has always been a classic location for espionage stories and has become almost overused in more recent times (The World Is Not Enough, The International, Skyfall, Taken 2, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and now Mission Impossible; Dead Reckoning) but back in the 1960s, it was still relatively fresh, particularly from an action movie standpoint. "From Russia With Love" in 1963 and the heist movie “Topkapi” that came out in 1964, may have attracted the producers’ attention.
The action scenes continue to make inventive use of the locations, whether running across the rooftops of Istanbul, zig-zagging between the domes, or sliding down the channels between the wind-scoured rocky spires and chasing dirt bikes along the steep ridges or around the bases of same.
The fight scenes continue to be well choreographed, although now trending toward the more comedic style familiar to the English speaking World as “Trinity” or “Terrence Hill & Bud Spenser” style, which began to emerge about this time.
Instead of just the customary bantering duo, this time around they add a third likeable hero, who contributes just as much as the regulars to defeating the villains. Tony and Brad are joined by Rudolf Zehetgruber who played Barrett, the animal collecting landowner in “Three Golden Cats”. He returns here, with a significantly beefed up role. His name is now Almann, a vet who lives on a boat, so he still loves animals and has a few around, including the bear cub from his previous appearance.
As usual there are numerous beautiful women, which are sometimes quite hard to keep track of, I must admit I found “Jenny” (Rossela Bergamonti) and “Leyla” (Olga Schoberova) hard to tell apart, but I think Jenny ended up in hospital for the duration just about the time Leyla first appears. They are both involved inadvertently, after witnessing something they shouldn’t. Sabine Sun is one of the main villains, while Christa Linder, who shows up to drag Tony out of trouble a couple of times, is out for revenge, having had the customary sibling killed by the villains (in this case a brother). As usual Tony flirts a lot, but never gets the girl, although once he returns to his room to find Rossela in his bed, however she has been drugged unconscious by the baddies, and later he shares a bath with a naked Olga, but it’s only to help him hide from the police and he remains fully clothed.
The MacGuffin is a container of LSD which the villains want to steal and sell to a buyer, who may or may not want to use it to disable NATO forces. The main villain is of the surprise twist variety, so I won’t say anymore, which means the three henchpersons do most of the heavy lifting, action wise. As in “Death Be Nimble” there is a big powerful one, played this time by the appropriately named “Samson” Burke (born Samuel in real life) who is shown to be an expert oil wrestler, a crafty, slippery one, played by Herbert Fux and the third is the aforementioned Sabine Sun. All make a colourful impression in their roles.
With the help of Turkish NATO forces (and a donkey) the traditional battle royale (with cheese) against the Villain’s tribe of bandit allies is won and the baddies all get their just desserts.
If I find the time, I hope to watch a few Eurospy films during Christmas. Might write my own thoughts about them too.
Please do, I've also watched "Three Blue Panthers" aka "Kill Panther Kill", and have a copy of "Three Golden Serpents" aka "Island Of Lost Girls" which I haven't got around to yet
Ragan (not to be confused with the Aussie break dancer)
Ty is back in another fringe Eurospy, this time long on melodrama but short on action. Again he's not a secret agent as such, but the basic structure and many of the events that take place are typical of the genre. The Director does an admirable job of creating the appropriate ambiance, but is clearly hamstrung by lack of finance.
Counter revolution is afoot, and Ty is the only pilot who can take a plane load of commandos in and land it in difficult mountain terrain, in order to rescue the previous leader who is being held prisoner up there.
The strongest aspect of this film is the acting, with Ty allowed plenty of face time to show off subtle facial movements that indicate his thought processes, similar to what Steve McQueen liked to do in movies he controlled, while at the other end of the scale, Ricardo Palacios is charismatic and amusing as his overweight ally “Flower”, and Jose Maria Caffarel also produces memorable turn as the deceptive “Uncle”.
Palacios in particular demonstrates that it is possible to be both broadly comical yet still remain credible as a serious and competent operator, which is a very difficult trick to pull off, but for mine, he manages it here.
Gustavo Rojo, as the unscrupulous “Velludo” is a bit over the top, but is so passionate and emphatic that he gets away with it, and I particularly enjoyed the way he made use of his cane in the opening scenes.
On the other hand I found Rosella Como and Antonella Lualdi, while both being suitably attractive, to be a bit wooden. In any case Ty beds one, while the other is already an ex-girlfriend who he drives off into the sunset with at the end, so he adequately shows off his “International Man of Mystery” credentials in that department. However he manages to do this without coming off as a shallow womaniser, as, having previously been jilted by Anabella, it is clear that he is fully committed to Rosella, until she meets with an unfortunate demise. Only then does he reconsider Anabella, who has previously been pleading, to no avail, that she regrets her previous actions and really does love him.
As mentioned above the big issue is the lack of action, clearly there is no budget for it. No exotic locations are on display, even via stock footage. There are a handful of very nice vehicles (an E Type Jag, an Alpha Romeo Giulietta and an ancient Roller) but only one perfunctory car chase, ending with an explosion involving a finned America vehicle from the early 1950s. Early fighting and shooting scenes are also brief and unsatisfying. Later attempts to edit footage of the aeroplane landing and taking off on a narrow mesa location during the climactic mission are unconvincing. There’s a barely adequate Battle Royale between the two sides in the revolution, but the issues around shooting the aeroplane undermine it. Instead the time is filled by extending political discussion, planning or personal relationship scenes beyond what is necessary.
The theme music is very odd, a chaotic concoction featuring a choir of voices chanting the name of the titular character over and over as the lyrics, with fast paced drumming by assorted percussion as a background, and occasional bursts of flute, electric guitar and sundry brass instruments thrown in at random intervals.
Overall this is one that starts out very promisingly, delivering competently in the areas which don’t require money to do well, but gradually fades away, as the lack of money becomes increasingly apparent, and fails to deliver a satisfying payoff in the end.
The “Kommisar X” boys are back, this time visiting exotic… Canada eh! In particular the Calgary Stampede and the Montreal edition of the World’s Fair. There is also a sizable waterfall used in the finale, but surprisingly it’s not the World famous ones at Niagara. Overall I felt they could have found a bit more local colour to spice things up, the (then) recently completed Skylon tower, also at Niagara, would have added something, or a visit to the old 17th century French quarter of Montreal.
Millions in jewels have been stolen and the chief thief caught, but then he is sprung by his gang. Plenty of double crossing action ensues. Brad and Tony are on the case and Siegfried Rauch, who may be familiar to some from being Steve McQueen’s main on track rival in “Le Mans”, is one of the bad guys. Erica Blanc and Franco Fantasia also shine among villains.
In general the fight scenes are spoiled by being too comedic for my taste, but the finale is pretty exciting, although a visit to the aforementioned Niagara Falls would have improved it (but maybe the local authorities wouldn't play ball?).
As usual Tony doesn’t get the girls.
The Island Of Lost Girls and Three Golden Serpents
The boys are off to Thailand this time. A popular Europsy destination and very well used again here, with plenty of fascinating footage of Bangkok canal life. In between the plentiful plot holes there is also plenty of enthusiastic action, with the fight scenes being taken more seriously again (apart from a brief one involving Brad and a midget doorman).
The plot is a bit underwhelming by Eurospy standards, a young woman is kidnapped by a gang of white slavers and, after consulting Brad, who is in town for an international police conference, her wealthy mother hires Tony to get her back. They are also brown slavers, so we are shown many bare native breasts along the way. They run a nightclub (where we get to see a female black American lounge singer incongruously perform a Christmas song, apropos of nothing), a crocodile farm, which is not utilised correctly (i.e. unlike “The Man With The Golden Gun”, crocodile action is hinted at but never delivered) and a secret island, where the captured girls are held, drugged and pimped out to visitors.
Along the way several of the more prominent leading villains are disposed of in lack-lustre fashion, which is always disappointing, and unfortunately this one also has a particularly lame finale, as instead to engaging in a Battle Royale with the Thai army, who arrive by parachute, along with Brad, the villains immediately give up and try to flee across a tidal mudflat. The possibilities of a Thai long-tail boat equipped with a flame thrower are completely wasted and the only girl Tony had developed any sort of romantic bond with is killed off, so all he is left with is Brad and the promise of “One Night In Bangkok”. (Of course he still has the girl he left behind in his apartment in New York, but that seems poor reward for all he has gone through)
A frustratingly disappointing effort, as when I break it down, it seems to me that with only a few relatively minor adjustments it could easily have been up to their usual standard.
Interestingly I've never heard of Ragan before. I must give that a watch. I see it's available on Youtube.