Enjoyable whimsy. Diana Rigg disappears and is replaced by an innocent paid impostor, Liz Fraser, who has no idea why she's been hired for the job. Steed (Patrick MacNee) and Fraser try to track down the villains, who happen to run a knitting circle for elderly female persons. Some of them are programmed to go around stabbing people with their knitting needles. Steed and Fraser, on the trail of Diana Rigg, visit one of their classes where an effete man is instructing them on the rhythm of knitting -- "Worm and parcel with the lay, turn and serve the other way," he sings -- or something like that. The wit is subdued and veddy British. Steed winds up getting coshed with large vases by accident, several times. That's about the closest anyone comes to a pratfall. Some of the quiet gags may get past younger viewers. The trail of clues leads to a team of lawyers called Barret, Barret, and Wimpole. Then to a costumiers led by a team named John, Paul, George -- and Fred. (This is England, 1963.) After Diana Rigg is kidnapped at the start, very little is seen of her. Or -- well, she disappears for most of the film, but it would be inaccurate to say that little is seen of her. She appears at the beginning for a few seconds dressed in the tiniest swimsuit known to man or beast. It's short, but it's a very artistic scene. The whole thing is nonsense but an engaging divertimento.
Review of The Girl from Auntie
