As WWII draws to a close, British spy Trevor Howard is walking the streets of Paris when he's set upon by a couple of baddies. Tank Commander Rod Taylor happens along and, somewhat inadvertendly, saved Howard's life. Years later, when Howard is tasked with plugging leaks at MI5, he hires Taylor to be The Liquidator.
Taylor's bumbling in the opening scene gives viewers the impression that we're about to see some broad comedy spoof of the Bond films. What follows after the credits is neither spy spoof nor remotely funny. In fact, it's a straight-up spy film. And a pretty good one.
Trevor Howard as the Liquidator's handler plays it no-nonsense, just like all the M's do in the Bond films. Jill St. John as the female lead isn't there for comedy. And neither are any of the supporting cast, including Wilfrid Hyde-White, David Tomlinson, Eric Sykes and. John Le Mesurier.
The plot has considerable grit to it and it deals with a mature subject matter, esp once the action switches to Nice.
OK, Akim Tamiroff is way over the top. But that's comic relief. John Ford movies had Victor McLaglen or whomever as comic relief. That didn't make those John Wayne movies comedies or spoofs.
I think what happened is that the producers watched the daily rushes and recognized that Taylor couldn't pull it off. Sure, he was handsome. But when he's objecting to something he's more peevish than p1ssed off. Instead of a tightly wound coil like Sean Connery's Bond, Taylor is more like a limp creme brule.
So they decided to salvage the production by (this is my guess based on the fact it wasn't released in the U. S. for a year) by re-shooting parts of Act 1 to emphasize Taylor's eye for the ladies and - most importantly - tacking on that goofy opening scene.
Taken as a legit spy film, it's very entertaining after the dubious start. If you fall for the "it's a comedy/spoof" gaslighting you'll probably be disappointed.
Taylor's bumbling in the opening scene gives viewers the impression that we're about to see some broad comedy spoof of the Bond films. What follows after the credits is neither spy spoof nor remotely funny. In fact, it's a straight-up spy film. And a pretty good one.
Trevor Howard as the Liquidator's handler plays it no-nonsense, just like all the M's do in the Bond films. Jill St. John as the female lead isn't there for comedy. And neither are any of the supporting cast, including Wilfrid Hyde-White, David Tomlinson, Eric Sykes and. John Le Mesurier.
The plot has considerable grit to it and it deals with a mature subject matter, esp once the action switches to Nice.
OK, Akim Tamiroff is way over the top. But that's comic relief. John Ford movies had Victor McLaglen or whomever as comic relief. That didn't make those John Wayne movies comedies or spoofs.
I think what happened is that the producers watched the daily rushes and recognized that Taylor couldn't pull it off. Sure, he was handsome. But when he's objecting to something he's more peevish than p1ssed off. Instead of a tightly wound coil like Sean Connery's Bond, Taylor is more like a limp creme brule.
So they decided to salvage the production by (this is my guess based on the fact it wasn't released in the U. S. for a year) by re-shooting parts of Act 1 to emphasize Taylor's eye for the ladies and - most importantly - tacking on that goofy opening scene.
Taken as a legit spy film, it's very entertaining after the dubious start. If you fall for the "it's a comedy/spoof" gaslighting you'll probably be disappointed.