So what do you expect from a movie with a title like this? A deadly femme fatale who kills repeatedly and without remorse? You'll get that....but only twice, at the start and at the end of the film. Patsy Ann Noble is perfectly cast, and she is equaled, if not surpassed, in the hotness department by the two other female cast members, Wanda Ventham as the good girl and Caron Gardner as a ditzy conquest for the bad guy; this film comes from the era where the thick, strong, curvy, healthy look was the "in" look for women. But the story, after setting up an intriguing locked-room mystery, meanders, the underwater scenes are - as usual - boring, and there is FAR too much screen time given to an old drunk character, who turns out to be of no consequence to boot - was this actor a friend of the producers or something? This film would have been better without him. ** out of 4.
13 Reviews
Second rate British spy drama filmed in Malta
Leofwine_draca7 May 2017
DEATH IS A WOMAN is a second-rate British spy drama filmed in Malta to give it an exotic Mediterranean flavour. The story sees espionage taking place when an agent is shipped in to uncover a drug smuggling ring involving the transport of heroin shipments, and our man's job is to find out who's doing it and stop them in their tracks.
What sounds like it should be a light and breezy affair is in fact plodding and unworkable, suffering from wooden male leads and a leaden pacing. There's a dearth of action to boot that makes this tough to watch at times, and it's only the Swinging Sixties trappings that saw me through it. That, and an exemplary female cast, all of whom parade around in their bikinis and look exquisite. Actresses featured include Wanda Ventham, Patsy Ann Noble, and the arresting Caron Gardner. Watch out for typecast heavyweight Michael Brennan's cameo as a murderous butcher.
What sounds like it should be a light and breezy affair is in fact plodding and unworkable, suffering from wooden male leads and a leaden pacing. There's a dearth of action to boot that makes this tough to watch at times, and it's only the Swinging Sixties trappings that saw me through it. That, and an exemplary female cast, all of whom parade around in their bikinis and look exquisite. Actresses featured include Wanda Ventham, Patsy Ann Noble, and the arresting Caron Gardner. Watch out for typecast heavyweight Michael Brennan's cameo as a murderous butcher.
Richard Hammond has really let himself go
dsewizzrd-1090611 August 2019
Weird Z grade melodrama set in Malta. Patsy Ann Noble play a villain, but not weirdly, any song, what she was principally known for at the time.
Francesca murders the partner of a casino and then the other one ends up dead. An undercover policeman investigating a drug ring is suspected by local police as being the murderer. The plain solution is found near the end.
There is an odd bar room scene with Richard Hammond looking likes he's really let himself go, I haven't seen anyone depicted on screen before that looks so completely wasted. He appears to the the only real actor though, the others are completely wooden.
There is good incidental music throughout but the film appears to quite roughly made, even with noises from the camera crew in some scenes.
Francesca murders the partner of a casino and then the other one ends up dead. An undercover policeman investigating a drug ring is suspected by local police as being the murderer. The plain solution is found near the end.
There is an odd bar room scene with Richard Hammond looking likes he's really let himself go, I haven't seen anyone depicted on screen before that looks so completely wasted. He appears to the the only real actor though, the others are completely wooden.
There is good incidental music throughout but the film appears to quite roughly made, even with noises from the camera crew in some scenes.
"Games? I never play games."
lost-in-limbo19 November 2011
Striking title
stunningly exotic Mediterranean backdrop
beautiful women led by the voluptuous, but venomous Trisha Noble. Other than that, this unusual 60s British spy drama while seductive is methodically languid and openly predictable in its murder mystery layout. Blackmail, murder, drugs, money and women. It's a shame the plot isn't as entertaining like its scenery and intrusively bombastic musical score, as it's quite a stiltedly talkative stop and go affair with much narrative distractions and suspicions, but very little in the way of sustained suspense and thrills. An undercover English agent is sent to the Mediterranean islands to investigate dope smuggling, but instead finds himself the main suspect in a murder case when that man he is investigating ends up dead. So he goes about trying to clear his name, by finding the killer/s. The suspects are there, but it's just trying to connect the dots to how they did it. Director Frederic Goode executes some stylish camera shots getting plenty of local flavour, but outside of those strokes it's safely mechanical all round. The cast give able performances with Mark Burns, William Dexter, Shaun Curry and Wanda Ventham. But it is indeed Noble who steals the limelight ("You must admit. She's quite a dish"). A hypnotic, if too laid-back psychedelic 60s spy fare.
"It doesn't matter who he is or who's he working for. He's trouble. "
"It doesn't matter who he is or who's he working for. He's trouble. "
Only for Those Who Are into Black Bedsheets
loza-114 June 2015
A lot of money must have been spent on this film, which was filmed on location in Malta in full glorious colour. The result, however, is an utter disaster. For a start, one wonders why the film makers hired Anita Harris to sing the film's one song, when they had an excellent girl singer playing the villain.
The acting is not good. Only one character, who plays a drifter, stands out. The rest of the cast are not good actors, and they struggle with an unexciting script.
Some of the underwater scenes look good, and are probably the best parts of the film. Patsy Ann (Trisha) Noble, who comes from Australia, looks as though she swam her underwater scenes herself, and did not use a double. Great frogwoman she may be; as a singer she is flawless, (whether she sings in English or in French) and has perfect vocal technique. But I don't think she is a good actress at all, and I am surprised that her acting career lasted so long - and in America, too. The only significant features of her character, Francesca, is that she is a dead shot with an harpoon gun, and that she sleeps in a bed with black bedsheets.
The plot is forgettable. So, if you have something better to do, you would be better doing that instead.
The acting is not good. Only one character, who plays a drifter, stands out. The rest of the cast are not good actors, and they struggle with an unexciting script.
Some of the underwater scenes look good, and are probably the best parts of the film. Patsy Ann (Trisha) Noble, who comes from Australia, looks as though she swam her underwater scenes herself, and did not use a double. Great frogwoman she may be; as a singer she is flawless, (whether she sings in English or in French) and has perfect vocal technique. But I don't think she is a good actress at all, and I am surprised that her acting career lasted so long - and in America, too. The only significant features of her character, Francesca, is that she is a dead shot with an harpoon gun, and that she sleeps in a bed with black bedsheets.
The plot is forgettable. So, if you have something better to do, you would be better doing that instead.
Nice Views, Pity There's Little to Watch
jjcarr-4901526 June 2018
Dennis (Mark Burns), a British agent of some sort, is on "the island" (Malta but it's not named) to carry out an undercover investigation of two crooked casino owners. The suspicion is that they get guests who run up gambling debts to become the sort of smuggler Customs won't suspect. Dennis runs up a debt in the hope he'll be induced into the racket.
The film opens with the murder of one of owners by Francesca (Patsy Ann Noble), a femme very fatale indeed, and her lover Joe (Shaun Curry ), who want all the ill-gotten gains for themselves.
The other owner, Malo, is found dead just after he'd given Dennis an advance in return for his passport. The local police naturally suspect Dennis. The thing is Malo was found in a locked room, seven floors up with no sign of the murder weapon. The solution to this locked-room mystery is about as good as this film gets.
Priscilla (Wanda Ventham) is sent out from the UK to help Dennis while posing as his fiancé. So far, so good. But that's as good as it gets. We get to see sunny skies and sparkling seas, we get to see another of Joe's girls topless in a scene that seems to be included because they'd an actress who'd go topless back in 1966 or maybe to get a 1960's X rating, we get to see the good girl and the bad girl in their bikinis, and - not much else. The film is padded out to barely feature length with Anita Harris singing a song, multiple sequences of our hero darting down side streets trying to dodge the most visible police tail in history and of our villainess swimming underwater.
Cut out the padding and the topless scene and you'd have had a good hour-long episode of a Sixties TV series.
Fodder ... for Austin Powers!
spookyrat122 June 2019
This hilarious for the wrong reasons, C-grade effort is typical of many of the cheap productions of the mid 1960's, seeking to exploit the growing popularity of spy movies, especially those associated with James Bond. However there is little in Death Is a Woman to even indirectly link it to the far more polished and entertaining Eon Productions 007 films of the 60's. It features a no- name cast, helmed by a no-name director, with a screenplay written (I kid you not about this ... It must be close to a world record!) by the one, the only, Wallace Bosco, who at the time of the film's general release was a sprightly 86 years old! The young fella was born in 1880 for goodness sake!
Australian 60's pop singer Patsy Ann/Trisha Noble is the femme fatale of the title and I don't agree with the user reviewers who single her out for worst featured performance. She's no better, nor worse than the rest of the troupe. This was her first of 5 film roles, but she did go on to being a regular guest star in plenty of 70's American TV shows.
For the curious viewer here are some other things that struck my fancy about this film.
Shot primarily on an unnamed Malta, it does feature some occasional scenic island and coastal panoramas. I'd bet London to a brick the producers had some deal going with the Malta Tourism Board.
For a spy film it has an incredible lack of action. It would have to be one of the dullest and deadest (Yes, pun intended!) secret agent films I've ever witnessed. There is a fight in a nightclub that has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. It looks like a couple of stunt men choreographing their routine with the microphones turned right down, rather than the genuine article. For variety, the second half of the film has some fairly long underwater sequences, for what reason, I'm not really sure. The cameramen seem to want to concentrate on the fish and scenery, rather than the actors and their actions.
For the music lover there are 2 songs sung; one at the above-mentioned night club and one over the end credits. Suffice to add that neither will live in my memory, nor give Shirley Bassey much competition and that perhaps it was a little odd that Patsy the (very experienced) pop singer didn't at least do one. (Could it have been because she played a villain?) And we mustn't move on from music without commenting on the incredibly overbearing, intrusive and entirely inappropriate soundtrack by the Shakespeare husband and wife duet, John and Joan. John apparently was a record producer of some note for a fair number of British 60's pop artists. All I can add, judged on his efforts in this film, is that he should have stuck with his day job. For most of this "spy thriller", the sound track sounds like something one might associate with a 60's travel feature short. I guess we can rest easy knowing the Shakespeares succeeded in at least capturing the feel of the time period thereabouts.
The movie poster featuring our Patsy is kind of funky.
Strictly recommended for the curious and those with a penchant for 60's pap!
Australian 60's pop singer Patsy Ann/Trisha Noble is the femme fatale of the title and I don't agree with the user reviewers who single her out for worst featured performance. She's no better, nor worse than the rest of the troupe. This was her first of 5 film roles, but she did go on to being a regular guest star in plenty of 70's American TV shows.
For the curious viewer here are some other things that struck my fancy about this film.
Shot primarily on an unnamed Malta, it does feature some occasional scenic island and coastal panoramas. I'd bet London to a brick the producers had some deal going with the Malta Tourism Board.
For a spy film it has an incredible lack of action. It would have to be one of the dullest and deadest (Yes, pun intended!) secret agent films I've ever witnessed. There is a fight in a nightclub that has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. It looks like a couple of stunt men choreographing their routine with the microphones turned right down, rather than the genuine article. For variety, the second half of the film has some fairly long underwater sequences, for what reason, I'm not really sure. The cameramen seem to want to concentrate on the fish and scenery, rather than the actors and their actions.
For the music lover there are 2 songs sung; one at the above-mentioned night club and one over the end credits. Suffice to add that neither will live in my memory, nor give Shirley Bassey much competition and that perhaps it was a little odd that Patsy the (very experienced) pop singer didn't at least do one. (Could it have been because she played a villain?) And we mustn't move on from music without commenting on the incredibly overbearing, intrusive and entirely inappropriate soundtrack by the Shakespeare husband and wife duet, John and Joan. John apparently was a record producer of some note for a fair number of British 60's pop artists. All I can add, judged on his efforts in this film, is that he should have stuck with his day job. For most of this "spy thriller", the sound track sounds like something one might associate with a 60's travel feature short. I guess we can rest easy knowing the Shakespeares succeeded in at least capturing the feel of the time period thereabouts.
The movie poster featuring our Patsy is kind of funky.
Strictly recommended for the curious and those with a penchant for 60's pap!
Death is watching this film
malcolmgsw27 February 2017
This film was distributed by Associated British Paths who were on their last legs as is evidenced by this abysmal film.This is the company that made many fine films in the fifties including The Dam Busters and Ice Cold In Alex.Now they were reduced to making films like this.It is a very pale imitation of the James Bond films.Notwithstanding the fact that there is some location filming on Malta it would seem that every expense was spared.The film is poorly written acted and directed.It is quite difficult to believe just how badly Patsy Anne Noble tries to act.It shows how desperate the producers must have been.It is also difficult to understand why the film was given an X certificate.Presumably the brief nudity qualified it.However this would have reduced its potential audience.Mind you that must have been small enough to begin with.
So bad it really isn't good
timould15 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
A very clunky policier set on an unnamed island in Europe. The best sequence is probably the pedestrian chase, with The Prisoner-esque music and atmosphere. The underwater sequences are mainly good because they don't involve much acting. Really quite flimsy. I appreciate kitsch but I would recommend giving this film a miss.
The Maltese Beatnik
Chase_Witherspoon16 May 2020
Jazzy, beatnik themed 1965 time capsule from British Pathé with secret agent Mark Burns attempting to solve a murder in which he finds himself implicated. Joined by fellow agent Wanda Ventham posing as his fiancée, the pair must outsmart the seductive yet sinister Trisha Noble and her brawny bed partner Shaun Curry, before they pull-off a daring crime and disappear into the sunset.
The frantic pace set to a frenetic bongo arrangement and colourful Mediterranean scenery, almost compensate for a relatively thin plot, in which enchantress Noble's bronzed and bikini-clad rig saunters from scotch on the rocks, to scuba-diving into underwater caves leaving a trail of destruction in her voluptuous wake.
It's a visually attractive postcard light on sense, but somehow entertaining in spite of its plot weaknesses. Noble is better than you might think, and the set design and location work is all first-rate at depicting the mid-sixties Maltese tourist culture, its buzzing basement nightclubs, and azure blue sun-drenched coastline. A highly stylised cultural artefact worth preserving.
Stylish British crime of the sixties in amazing colours!
vinnienh27 November 2002
This movie has got it all: stunning photography, excellent (character) actors, bikinis, superb underwater-scenes......and: a great musical score! Although the story could have been more exciting this off-beat pearl of 60s UK-crime is definitely worth an 8 out of 10.
High Art, It's Not, Just Good Viewing
vogun-1756323 February 2018
Just a 1960's movie, with plenty of colour, action, cars, fashions (love the shirts guys), a soundtrack with bongos, killings, drug smuggling, secret agents, cheesy lines and girls in bikinis. What's not to like?
The 1960's was when they could now make cheap movies in colour, and the censorship laws were slowly being eroded, and this unashamedly cashes in on it, but not overdone.
Filmed in Malta (I understand) with much water involved. Patsy Ann Noble is looking good here as well as Wanda Ventham, who reveals all (the hussy). She also happens to be Benedict Cumberbatch's (born 10 years later) mother.
Other reviewers explain the plot adequately, and called it a second rate spy drama, and maybe that is why I like it. Frivolous fun, and if that's what you like, then watch it and enjoy. If you want a deep convoluted plot with tip top direction and acting then stay away. It's down to personal choice here.
The 1960's was when they could now make cheap movies in colour, and the censorship laws were slowly being eroded, and this unashamedly cashes in on it, but not overdone.
Filmed in Malta (I understand) with much water involved. Patsy Ann Noble is looking good here as well as Wanda Ventham, who reveals all (the hussy). She also happens to be Benedict Cumberbatch's (born 10 years later) mother.
Other reviewers explain the plot adequately, and called it a second rate spy drama, and maybe that is why I like it. Frivolous fun, and if that's what you like, then watch it and enjoy. If you want a deep convoluted plot with tip top direction and acting then stay away. It's down to personal choice here.
"A Good Sleuth Leaves No Pillow Unturned!"...
azathothpwiggins14 September 2021
DEATH IS A WOMAN is a fun British thriller with a decent story line complete with drug smuggling, blackmail, and murder.
A man named Parbury (Mark Burns) is wrongfully suspected in a pair of homicides, and must track down the real killer(s) before the cops pin it all on him.
SPECIAL MENTION FOR: Trisha Noble as Francesca. Ms. Noble is one of the most stunningly beautiful women on Earth, and makes it quite difficult to concentrate on the rest of the movie...
A man named Parbury (Mark Burns) is wrongfully suspected in a pair of homicides, and must track down the real killer(s) before the cops pin it all on him.
SPECIAL MENTION FOR: Trisha Noble as Francesca. Ms. Noble is one of the most stunningly beautiful women on Earth, and makes it quite difficult to concentrate on the rest of the movie...
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