The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World (1965)
"Licensed to Kill" (original title)

Dauntless British agent Charles Vine is called upon to escort to London the famed Swedish scientist Henrik Jacobs to negotiate the sale of a secret formula. However, sinister forces ... See full summary »

Director:

Lindsay Shonteff

Writers:

Howard Griffiths, Lindsay Shonteff

Stars:

Tom Adams, Karel Stepanek, Peter Bull

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Adams	...	Charles Vine
Karel Stepanek	...	Henrik Jacobsen
Peter Bull	...	Masterman
John Arnatt	...	Rockwell
Francis De Wolff	...	Walter Pickering
Felix Felton	...	Tetchkinov
Veronica Hurst	...	Julia Lindberg
Judy Huxtable	...	Computer Center Girl
Carol Blake	...	Crossword Puzzle Girl
Claire Gordon	...	Hospital Doctor
Sarah Maddern	...	Hotel Maid
Mona Chong	...	Chinese Girl
Shelagh Booth	...	Governess
George Pastell	...	Russian Commissar
Denis Holmes	...	Maltby

Storyline

Dauntless British agent Charles Vine is called upon to escort to London the famed Swedish scientist Henrik Jacobs to negotiate the sale of a secret formula. However, sinister forces gambling for enormous stakes are already at work. With the aid of the most fantastic gadgets, Vine manages to extricate his charges from the most diabolical traps until the final battle in a mile-a-second showdown fought along the Thames dockside and culminating to a wild and unexpected climax.

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Plot Keywords:

spy | james bond spoof | spoof | spy spoof | parody | 

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Taglines:

Meet Charles Vine. He tries, spies harder...fights deadlier...and loves more dangerously!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1966 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World

Filming Locations:

London Heliport, Battersea, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alistair

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by O.K. Yevtushenko (1968)

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Soundtracks

"The Second Best Secret Agent in the World"
(U.S. version only)
Written by Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen
Sung by Sammy Davis Jr.

User Reviews

One damp spoof

Let's be frank. This is one damp spoof. I'll go into the details of this deadly dull affair if, for some reason, you're interested. Tom Adams is Charles Vine, an inexperienced agent whose assignment is to keep an eye on a scientist (Karel Stepanek) as he prepares his formula for Regrav, a process that reverses gravitational waves. Vine is `a double 0 number, licensed to kill' and he certainly does make use of that particular privilege. During the course of the film Vine kills more than a dozen people. It's not the number that gives one pause, it's the callous and somehow nonchalant way he goes about it that is perturbing. Vine is, by his own confession, in it for the money but one suspects he gets a certain pleasure out of taking lives as well.

Stepanek (Our Man in Havana), as the Swedish scientist, gives the best performance of the movie but that's not saying much. The entire production is so lifeless that the actors seem to just want to get it over with, and one can hardly blame them. The film starts off with a bad taste killing when a nanny pulls a machine gun out of her baby buggy and slaughters a man in front of her two infant charges. Then we are treated to a lame theme song by Sammy Davis Jr. and it's all downhill from here, folks. The film suffers from poor pacing, badly choreographed gun battles and worse fight scenes and the whole thing feels much longer than its 95 minute running time.