"Nicholas Whistler" (Dirk Bogarde) is an unemployed writer who is having great difficulty with his chosen career. So when he goes to collect his unemployment check he is told that there is a job interview he has to attend first. Thinking that it's just a formality and that he won't actually be hired he is surprised when the man in charge of a large glass manufacturing corporation named "Colonel Cunliffe" (Robert Morley) offers him a job as an executive assistant on the spot. And since the pay and benefits are much more than he is accustomed to he accepts almost immediately. What he doesn't know is that Colonel Cunliffe heads a spy agency for the British government and that he needs someone to send to Czechoslovakia to obtain top secret information. In that regard, Colonel Cunliffe neglects to tell him of his actual status as a spy. Neither does he tell Nicholas of the dangers involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay spy-comedy which might have been better if it had been done in a more serious manner as the humor seemed to fizzle around the middle half of the film to be taken over by action and suspense from then on. As a result, the viewer is left with either a mild comedy on the one hand or a mediocre spy film on the other. But nothing of any real significance. Regardless, Sylva Koscina (as the chauffeur "Vlasta Simoneva") was clearly capable of handling her role in either capacity as she dominated every scene she was in with her beauty and charm. Be that as it may, while this may not have been a great film by any means, it was adequate enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly.
Review of Agent 8 3/4
