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Paulo Gozlino stars in this Eurospy, one of only two times in his career that he got to be the star in a movie, which surprises me, as I think he has a strong screen presence, radiating confidence, with charm or a hard edge as appropriate.
Reading his Italian Wikipedia page, he was primarily a dancer and choreographer, a profession in which he worked alongside his wife Elena Sedlak. This accounts for his superior level of smooth physical movement, which helps a lot in this role. He looks very comfortable in the actions scenes, whether running, leaping or climbing. I was immediately aware that here was someone who had legitimate athletic ability, an aspect of espionage where other actors don’t always manage to look convincing.
Being already involved in the entertainment industry would have made for a relatively straight forward transition into acting, and Paulo became a familiar face in Spaghetti Westerns, rising as high as co-star, but only on one other occasion did he get top billing, in “Flashman”, about a masked Superhero character, another role where his athletic dancing skills would have come in handy. Possessing swarthy good looks which remind me of Fernando Lamas, he could play hero, villain or frenemy equally effectively.
As far as his Eurospy career goes, he had earlier appeared in “The Fuller Report” in a supporting role alongside Ken Clark.
This film could serve as an object lesson to others on how to make a competent Eurospy, with straight forward direction, a sound script and action that does not try to stray beyond the limits of its budget. In fact I’m tempted to rate it one of the best I’ve seen because of that. It’s probably good enough to rank alongside the better episodes of “Dangerman”, “The Saint” or “The Man From Uncle”, which is about the highest praise I can bestow on any Eurospy.
Apart from being more coherent than most Eurospys, the plot has an added dimension which make it a bit more interesting than is usual, the scenario being a three sided struggle between Paulo, old war buddy Ruben Rojo and the “Gamma / Mafia”.
Ruben plays an American agent who has decided to “take the money and run” by stealing some MacGuffin documents that he has arranged to sell to the “Gamma / Mafia”, who in turn have made a deal with the Chinese. He fakes his own death in Hong Kong before escaping to Milan, where Gamma have bumped off his twin brother so he can take his place. But he doesn’t trust them and takes some precautions which make his part of the story just as interesting as Paulo’s. He surreptitiously plants a bug under the Gamma contacts desk during a meeting, so he (or his love interest Neves Navarro) can listen in and stay one step ahead, and arms himself with a sleeve gun, which he gets to deploy several times over the course of the film, which is one of the highlights for me.
The female roles in this one are better than usual as well, Betsy Bell gets plenty to do helping out Paulo, including saving his skin with some gun play, while Neves Navarro brings some gravitas to her partnership with Ruben and Fajda Nicol is all business as the Gamma henchwoman. Even Marysol Ayuso, as Paulo’s obligatory additional conquest, is no bimbo, coming across as a woman of the World with no illusions about her situation.
On that subject, while we can assume that Paulo may have previously bedded Elisabetta Wu, the woman he is going on vacation with at the start of the film, he is interrupted by the mission call from his boss, so she doesn’t count. He accepts Marysol’s invitation and switches off the room light, which makes one, and then when he is with Betsy and we cut to Paulo buttoning up his shirt in front of the mirror while Betsy reclines on the bed covered by a sheet, that makes two. So sexual prowess credentials are validated. In the end Paulo and Betsy fly off into the sunset together.
Surprisingly George Hilton turns up in a supporting role as another agent. Hilton was a frequent star of Spaghetti Westerns, so it’s almost as if the casting director got mixed up and swapped Paulo and George’s parts by mistake.
Good use is made of Hong Kong as an exotic location and the choreography of the Hong Kong fight sequence is noticeably superior to any of the European based ones. The only slip up is when Paulo’s plane lands in Hong Kong on a runway that appears diametrically opposed to that city’s then infamous location (a flat plain more likely to have been Milan airport, which is then re-used, as itself, later).
Back in Italy, Milan, Lake Garda and Genoa are also well utilised for their scenic possibilities. The European fight scenes are unsophisticated, but enthusiastic, in the style of Roger Browne.
There are no shortage of interesting vehicles on display, Paulo drives a Lancia Flamina, which he tells us is bulletproof and which can spray oil from its rear bumper onto the road to get rid of a chasing car, that being the villains Alpha Romeo Julietta 1, which then skids over a cliff and crashes into Lake Garda. Ruben drives a Chevrolet Corvair, Betsy drives a Porche and there is also a helicopter.
The producers do a good job of creating the right of ambiance of sophisticated electronics and gadgetry. Gamma have a man-in-the-chair who appears periodically, sitting in front of a microphone at a three piece silver control panel with an array switches, buttons, plugs and dials, and four blank white monitor screens mounted above, from where he conducts surveillance and relays information and instructions. Mario Donen, as lead henchman, communicates with Gamma’s big boss, Jose Marco, via a wall mounted panel of dials, lights, gauges and speakers and observes activity in his nightclub via another panel of dials with a sliding automated peep hole located behind his desk. The finale takes place at a factory which is part electricity substation, part theatrical sound stage and part machine shop. Numerous characters make use of hand held micro radio transmitters to communicate with each other. Finally there is the crushing room, with its metallic walls, floor and ceiling, the deployment of which gives the film its title.
There’s even a half decent torch song in the nightclub sequence, although they don’t really make the most of it, not featuring either in the opening or closing credits.
“How cruel his eyes, and kind of mad,
Oh I Love Him Still,
Oh man of mine, who loves to kill..”
With a bit more work I think that could have been something?
Bondian banter
Marysol – “They won’t find you here, don’t worry”
Paulo – “If they find out you’ve helped me, you could get into serious trouble”
Marysol– “Women in my line of work always help men on the run. Do you like rum?”
Paulo – (sculls drink) “Thanks, what’s your name?”
Marysol – “Sonya, yours?”
Paulo – “Bill”
Marysol – “Bill what?”
Paulo – “Is that at all important?”
Marysol – “No, not really”
Paulo – (looks out the window and checks that the coast is clear) “They’re gone, its best I left”
Marysol – (giving him the look) “It’s that uncomfortable with me?”
Paolo – (smirks and moves in) “What do you think?”
They clinch and Paulo turns off the light
I've been watching Eurospy's these last few weeks too – the first of the Charles Vine films, Licensed to Kill and Coplan FX 18 casse tout (The Exterminators).
My thoughts on Licensed to Kill are more or less the same as what you wrote in your own review. It has major flaws with the plot, and, what I found most annoying, the lifeless direction. It's so dull! Luckily the film is entertaining enough, and worth the watch. I'm a bit surprised that this one got sequels though. I have a download of Where the Bullets Fly, so I will watch that one soon. I've yet to find Somebody's Stolen Our Russian Spy/O.K. Yevtushenko. If you can point me to where I can find it, I appreciate it!
Coplan FX 18 casse tout (The Exterminators) is much better in the direction department. This time, Francis Coplan is played by a Brit, Richard Wyler. To summarise the plot, Coplan is here sent to save an atomic scientist, in the meanwhile uncovering a plot by terrorists and a secret atomic site in Turkey. The film drags a bit in the middle, but offers a lot of what you'd expect in a decent Eurospy: Decent action and stunts, some womanizing and nice location shots. An elaborate mountain base makes for a Bondian finale – much like they did in the follow-up, Coplan sauve se peau (Coplan Saves His Skin).
Coplan ranking
Coplan FX 18 casse tout (The Exterminators)
Coplan prend des risques (Coplan Takes Risks)
Coplan sauve se peau (Coplan Saves His Skin)
Action immédiate (To Catch a Spy)
If I can find the two other titles of the Coplan series, Coplan Agent Secret FX 18 (FX 18 Secret Agent), starring Ken Clark, and Coplan ouvre le feu à Mexico (Mexican Slayride), starring Lang Jeffries, I'll do a complete ranking.
https://archive.org/details/somebodys-stolen-our-russian-spy-1968
With the Coplan films, are you aware if they are available with subtiles at all?
I've managed to locate a copy of "Coplan Prend Des Risques" but it doesn't have any subtles...
Thank's @seve! I did a quick search for the movie on archive.org, but didn't find it. Maybe I didn't type in the title right or something.
I will send you a DM where you can track down the Coplan films (those I have been able to find, that is).
In this film, George Martin (real name Francisco Martínez Celeiro) stars as a jewel thief that gets mixed up in a plot involving a criminal organisation that has created a serum that causes hypnotic effects of mind controlling. The Americans and Soviets join forces to stop them. An antidote has been created, however the professor who created it is killed at a jewelry showing in Hamburg. It's here we first meet Gary the jewel thief, as he helps the professor's beautiful lab assistant, Monica (Vivi Bach) escape being killed herself, with the antidote formula safely hidden in a briefcase.
The opportunistic Gary quickly sees an opportunity to make some money, and decides to
double cross Monica, replacing it with a copy. He soon finds himself kidnapped by the organisation, and makes a deal to hand over the briefcase in exchange for $500,000 from a predetermined spot, where he escapes getting killed. From here we follow Gary and Monica in a multi-national scheme, trying to save the world.
Martin is very likeable as a James Bond-like jewel thief, portraying the character with charm and cockiness. I also like that we get a character who's motives we cannot trust, at least from the start, and it makes a nice change from the usual spy character. The film balances humour and action well, and we get some nice stunts, foot chases, car chases and all the elements that makes a great Eurospy film. The interlude between the two agents of the US and Soviet secret services also makes for a fun element, although not perfect.
The plot is silly in the way you'd expect from an Eurospy, but it doesn't hurt the film, which is really entertaining. Recommended!
This is not really a Eurospy, but is clearly heavily influenced by the genre, which was at the peak of its popularity at the time.
Christopher Lee plays the titular character, an Asian supervillain bent on World domination (shades of DN?), 7 years before he became an actual Bond villain in TMWTGG.
Rather than a “James Bond” style primary protagonist, we get a “Sherlock Holmes” style one, more in keeping with the pre WW2 setting, and with that in mind the producers hired Douglas Wilmer, fresh from playing Holmes in the 1965 TV series, for the role of ace detective, Nayland-Smith, along with Howard Marion-Crawford, who played Dr Watson in the 1954 series, as his faithful assistant Dr Petrie.
Then, to cover the more modern espionage angle, they recruited Heinz Drache, who had previously appeared in the Eurospys “Coffin From Hong Kong”, “Shots In Three-quarter Time” & “Chinese Puzzle For Judoka”, and Roger Hannin, veteran of many French Eurospys, most notably as “Agent Tiger”. These two also serve to broaden the appeal of the film in two major potential markets, Germany and France. On the other side, the villains’ ranks are boosted by handsome Harald Leipnitz, who appeared in “Agent 505, Death Trap In Beirut” and “Countdown To Doomsday”.
On the female side, Tsai Lin managed an appearance in YOLT, sandwiched in between her recurring spots in the FM franchise as Fu Manchu’s right hand woman, Ling Tan. Among the “Brides”, Poulet Tu was also in YOLT, Sally Sheridan was in OHMSS and Carole Gray made appearances in “The Saint”, “The Third Man” (TV series) and “The Avengers”. However lead Marie Versini somehow managed to miss out on all the Eurospy fun.
Special mention goes to the ubiquitous Bert Kwouk, as FM’s left hand man, Feng, who’s track record includes GF, YOLT, CR ’67, a regular supporting spot in the obscure series “The Sentimental Agent”, several episodes of “Danger Man”, “Callan” & “The Adventurer”, single episodes of “The Saint”, “The Avengers”, “Man Of The World”, “The Champions” & “Jason King”, movies “Madame Sin” & the spy-spoof “Our Man In Marrakesh”, as well as his signature role, as Kato, in the “Pink Panther” franchise.
In this edition FM plans to rule the World by threatening use of some sort of radio wave weapon. In order to make the weapon he has been kidnapping the beautiful daughters of the scientists and engineers he needs to coerce into helping him.
These are the so-called “Brides”, who he and Ling Tan control via some sort of hypnosis, which only seems to work when they have direct eye contact with their victims. Shades of Piz Gloria then?
FM also has an army of energetic, but rather ineffectual, Asian henchmen, dressed in matching outfits of black, with red sash belts and headbands. It takes them three attempts to successfully kidnap Marie, firstly when 4 of them prove to be no match for Heinz, then Douglas manages to drive them away at the Hospital, before they finally succeed, after Tsia Lin manages to put Heinz down for the count with a cosh, while Douglas is caught up in a diversion. Later they take another beating from Roger (it must have been a clause in everyone’s contract; - that they must each have a scene where they get to beat up on some henchmen) and even come off second best in a battle royal with the Brides, before Lin and Lee intervene.
The fight action is frequent and enthusiastic, but not strong on technique, as the Kung-Fu craze had yet to arrive.
FM has an underground lair on top of a mountain in North Africa, which is an amalgam of an Egyptian tomb set, a Chinese temple set and a Sci-fi control room set, which all add the requisite exotic colour, much needed when the only outdoor shots are of a gray wintery Southern England. Apart from that, there is a snake pit to supply a gruesome threat of torture or death, and a very unconvincing explosion involving a cruise ship.
Overall it’s a decent “Hammer level” B movie production.
Haven't had the chance to watch many Eurospy films lately, though I did watch the 1965 Italian-Spanish co-production, Operation Poker (Operazione Poker/Operación Póker: agente 05-14) featuring Roger Browne, last night.
Of Browne's Eurospy credits that I've watched, this is one of his lesser films, in my opinion. In Operation Poker, Roger Browne plays CIA agent Glen Forest, AKA OS 14, in a mission that involves a Vietnamese delegate who goes missing travelling for talks with the U.N. – and a dead scientist's missing invention – an x-ray device small enough to fit on a tie-clip, which is now in the hands of the scientist's assistant, who has been using this device for his own gain at casino poker tables.
The writing is a bit of a mess in this one, and I did have to scratch my head a few times throughout the film, but this is far from the only Eurospy with questionable writing. We do however get several interesting scenes – some of which involves the killings of several of the agents that escorted the Vietnamese delegate to Europe – including a gas-bomb hidden in one of the agent's shower, and a remote-controlled boat running down and exploding when hitting one of the agents after he tries to swim ashore after first being lured on to the remote-controlled boat.
Roger Browne plays CIA agent Glen Forest as you'd expect him to; he more or less played a similar character in all his Eurospy films. Interestingly, Eurospy regular Ken Clark was apparently the first choice for this part, but was replaced by Browne a few days before the start of filming. There's no mention of why in the Wikipedia article about the film, but the quote is taken from an Italian book, 007 all'italiana, which might explain the reason. Anyway, Roger Browne is just fine as the lead in this one.
There score has some decent tracks too, and can be found on Spotify. Operation Poker, although not up there with the best the genre has to offer, is worth a watch.
Just finished watching Desperate Mission, which I agree is a polished Eurospy. Germán Cobos is a suitable lead as Robert Manning, Agent Z-55, and the film has everything you want from a Eurospy production. It would have been great to watch a better quality print/upload of the film, as the night scenes were almost impossible to follow.
Compared to those two, 008: Operation Exterminate is a rather poor attempt at the genre. In the film, American agent MacDonald – codename 008 (played by the very beautiful Ingrid Schoeller) must join forces with British agent Frank Smith, Agent 606 (played by Alberto Lupo) to locate and destroy an anti-radar device, and retrieve the plans of its design.
The pairing of a male and female lead works fine, and besides a few poorly written parts, Schoeller and Lupo work well together on screen. The film is very much helped by the exotic locations, but the cinematography leaves much to be desired. The plot is fairly standard, with a lot of the film dealing with the villains trying to kill the two agents time after time, which gets a bit exhausting. Adding a twist and the very end of the film that doesn't really work makes this a rather disappointing film.
Next ut will likely be a revisit of Ken Clark's trilogy of Secret Agent 077 films!
I'm not going to write a review of the films, but it struck me watching these films how enjoyable they are. Unlike the French OSS 177 films of the 60's you do not get the same big budget experience, but very much the same amount of entertainment, which makes these a must watch for fans of the genre.
A few notes on Ken Clark as Dick Malloy/Agent 077. It must be mentioned that his acting is… rather wooden (as previously pointed out in @Seve's review on page five in this thread), but he does have a certain charm despite of this. He is also more than capable in the fight scenes; He doesn't move in a "panther like fashion" like Sean Connery did on screen – at times he almost looks clumsy – especially when running, which is something I hadn't noticed before watching these films these past couple of nights – but he's believable in the same way Connery was. He throws some heavy punches.
Can't remember ever seeing Connery running like this!
Ken Clark also made Tiffany Memorandum (1967) with the same production company and directed by Sergio Grieco, the director of the two first Agent 077 films. It's been a while since I last watched that one, so I might give it a rewatch very soon.
Mission Bloody Mary (1965): Italian production of CIA Agent 077 Dick Malloy. The evil organization is Black Lily. They've got the nuclear bomb, and Malloy wants it back. Ennio Morricone arranged and conducted the title song "Bloody Mary" which I still can't get out of my head a week later. Medium-level spy fun. France, Spain, Italy, Greece. 5.9 IMDb user rating.
BOND LINKS/CONNECTIONS:
First and most important, the beautiful Asian-French actress Mitsouko appears in a major role. She's fantastic. (TB, pre-title sequence)
Film begins with agent and his girl, he's called away. "When will you be back?" "Keep the champagne on ice." {Dr. No, From Russia With Love, others)
Substitution of Air Force pilot with bad guy, plane crashes with bombs on board. (Thunderball)
Search commences for new atomic bomb "Bloody Mary". (Thunderball)
Agent's chief is in the field. (Many Bond films)
Cigarette pack is used to pass on item, here a car key. (The Man with the Golden Gun)
Chase over rooftops. (The Living Daylights, Quantum of Solace)
Extended fall down the side of a dome structure. (The World Is Not Enough)
Counting of bullets fired. Hood, exposing himself: "That's eight." Agent, firing on hood: "And that's nine." (Dr. No)
Hotel room checked for bugs with a gadget. (From Russia With Love, others)
Close-quarters fight in a train compartment. (From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die)
Character disconnects a train car to end a fight (here it's the good guy). (Skyfall)
Cuff link sprouts a knife. (Live and Let Die, watch sprouts a buzz-saw)
Cab driver "helps"/deceives agent. (Live and Let Die)
This one sheet poster is available at Walmart(!).
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Posterazzi-Mission-Bloody-Mary-Movie-Poster-27-x-40-in/1466888782
Of course, the Eurospys themselves are built on pinching ideas from Bond, but they have also come up with plenty of interesting variations and original ideas of their own, even if they are often contained in productions which are generally sub par overall
Last night I watched a Eurospy/Spy spoof that even mentions Thunderball in the film! For a while I have been searching for French and Italian international co-production James Tont operazione U.N.O. ( Operation Goldsinger – 1965) with English subtitles, but I'm yet to do so. I did however find an upload of the sequel, James Tont operazione D.U.E. (The Wacky World of James Tont – 1966), which parodies elements from Thunderball.
In this film, agent James Tont (played by Lando Buzzanca) of Her Majesty's Secret Service, successfully stops a Soviet break in at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow, before attending an International Secret Agents Convention in Geneva – a convention James Bond himself is unable to attend, due to being busy with Operation Thunderball.
Following a successful speech, Tont is tripped by a child spy, working for the younger sister of Mata Hari, as he's walking down a flight of stairs. Resulting in a broken leg, he is then sent recuperating at a health spa. At the health spa, Tont comes into conflict with another patient, Mr. Spring, the head of the Magnus international food corporation, over the beautiful Nurse Clarissa (played by Claudie Lange, who would later star in Crossplot with Roger Moore). Mr. Spring as it happens, wears a dark monocle, which obviously makes him look very much like the black eye patch wearing Emilio Largo. After several attempts at injuring each other, Mr. Spring successfully freeze Tont to death inside an isolation tank.
The Secret Service however, are successful in bringing Tont back to life, only to send the agent who is now well publicised to be dead, on a mission involving a scheme to attack an unknown religious centre, by a criminal organisation – which we learn is in fact the Magnus international food corporation, led by the very same Mr. Spring, who have also successfully used a gang of beatniks to steal components of a powerful weapon called a synchrophasotron. Posing as beatnik "Bingo Kowalski", Tont successfully charms Helen, Spring's agent who has used the beatniks, and infiltrates the Magnus international food corporation. From here, Tont must try and stop Mr. Spring's evil plans.
This film is just as silly as you expect it to be. The humour is a bit "hit and miss", but there are several good, funny moments throughout. The fact that the film also contains elements that predates YOLT, makes this film worth checking out!
Yes, definitely! Even though these films often stay close to the "Bond Formula", and don't necessarily offer much in terms of originality, they sometimes have small elements, scenes – even locations – that could be an inspiration for future spy films. Even Bond films for that matter.
In this film Roger Browne portrays Michael King, a master thief currently in Cairo, who is offered $100 000 by a rich banker to track down his missing adopted son who had been working as a university research assistant to a professor Marchison. King soon finds the son buried, and is offered an even larger sum of money to track down those responsible.
King does not need persuasion, and soon he's out and about killing bad guys, who are themselves trying to double-cross their leader, known as the Genius.
This is an odd, grittier film than Roger Browne's- and director Umberto Lenzi's previous Eurospy films, and while watching it, I was wondering if I could even post a review of the film here, because it felt more like a revenge film with Eurospy elements. We obviously learn that all is not what it seems throughout, but I'm not going to spoil any details. It was an entertaining film though, and although it seems like Lenzi have reused some footage from his previous Eurospy films also set in Cairo, it's always great to see some nice street footage, nightclub sets and everything we expect from the genre.
A bit different kind of film this, but it's fun to see some slight changes to the "formula".