The (?) in the summary means that this flick sits awkwardly between two chairs, the straight spy flick and the spoof, being neither exciting enough nor funny enough to succeed as either. There is one novel idea (the inside of a truck disguised as a submarine!), a fairly impressive tank. vs car collision (hint: it doesn't go well for the car), and the otherwordly beauty of Diana Lorys, but the male lead is just passable and the script is often sloppy in its flow. Apparently this is the third Charles Vine film made in the 1960s, the earlier two are pretty hard to track down, but when I do, hopefully they will be better than this one! *1/2 out of 4.
3 Reviews
Poor Exploitation Of The Charles Vine Character
sep105125 June 2002
The main enticement to watch this obscure 1968 film is to see Tom Adams reprise the role of British secret agent Charles Vine (which he created in the 1965 film Second Best Secret Agent In the world. The latter was an amusing James Bond spoof and, on recent viewing, continues to hold up quite well despite the years. He repeated the role in Where Bullets Fly and thus this film represents the third and final film but I hesitate to say in the series. This film is largely made in Spain, with local talent and without the directors or writing talents of the earlier films.
Aside from those of us who want to say we watched all the Charles Vine films there isn't any real reason to see this movie. The plot is confusing, as with most James Bond type films, but not particularly interesting. The performances are flat, whether due to the Spanish actors in an English language film, or simply due to the script and budget. The latter largely limits the action scenes to fist fights and firing off guns. More importantly Tom Adams, without the wit of a script, simply comes off as stone faced and one dimensional.
For the record, the plot starts with the kidnaping of Russian ambassador Yevtushenko (Bernabe Barta Berri, the only actor with a glint in his eye and willing to have fun with the material) from a ship. Apparently the Russians are supposed to blame the British and vice versa. Actually its the Albanians (Major Kovacs played by Tim Barrett) in conjunction with the Chinese (Lycee played by Gene Reyes). British secret agent Charles Vine (Tom Adams) is called in to investigate. He tracks them down to a yacht and attempts to free Yevtushenko ensue before Vine is also captured and shipped off to Albania. There he is tempted by General Borodin (Antonio Molino Rojo) to defect to Albania. Naturally Borodin's assistant Galina (Diane Lorys) commits her body to convincing Vine. However, what Albanian girl can resist a British secret agent and, just as naturally, she joins Vine and Yevtushenko in escaping to the Greek border (pursued by a motley collection of Albanian tanks). I've left out a few sub-plots (i.e. poisoned darts, WW11 OSS agents left behind German line (don't ask!) and multiple females throwing themselves at Vine) but I don't think it makes much difference.
Technical credits were poor on the tape I obtained but, since I doubt this film ever had a commercial North American distribution, who knows the history of the original print. I should also note that this tape was advertised at 84 minutes runtime and the IMDB database lists an original runtime of 108 minutes.
Obviously the producers took an off-the-shelf spy script and tried to commercialize it by exploiting the Charles Vine character. However, without a script or dialog Tom Adams performance is strictly dead faced instead of deadpan.
Aside from those of us who want to say we watched all the Charles Vine films there isn't any real reason to see this movie. The plot is confusing, as with most James Bond type films, but not particularly interesting. The performances are flat, whether due to the Spanish actors in an English language film, or simply due to the script and budget. The latter largely limits the action scenes to fist fights and firing off guns. More importantly Tom Adams, without the wit of a script, simply comes off as stone faced and one dimensional.
For the record, the plot starts with the kidnaping of Russian ambassador Yevtushenko (Bernabe Barta Berri, the only actor with a glint in his eye and willing to have fun with the material) from a ship. Apparently the Russians are supposed to blame the British and vice versa. Actually its the Albanians (Major Kovacs played by Tim Barrett) in conjunction with the Chinese (Lycee played by Gene Reyes). British secret agent Charles Vine (Tom Adams) is called in to investigate. He tracks them down to a yacht and attempts to free Yevtushenko ensue before Vine is also captured and shipped off to Albania. There he is tempted by General Borodin (Antonio Molino Rojo) to defect to Albania. Naturally Borodin's assistant Galina (Diane Lorys) commits her body to convincing Vine. However, what Albanian girl can resist a British secret agent and, just as naturally, she joins Vine and Yevtushenko in escaping to the Greek border (pursued by a motley collection of Albanian tanks). I've left out a few sub-plots (i.e. poisoned darts, WW11 OSS agents left behind German line (don't ask!) and multiple females throwing themselves at Vine) but I don't think it makes much difference.
Technical credits were poor on the tape I obtained but, since I doubt this film ever had a commercial North American distribution, who knows the history of the original print. I should also note that this tape was advertised at 84 minutes runtime and the IMDB database lists an original runtime of 108 minutes.
Obviously the producers took an off-the-shelf spy script and tried to commercialize it by exploiting the Charles Vine character. However, without a script or dialog Tom Adams performance is strictly dead faced instead of deadpan.
"In this game there aren't any rules!"
ShadeGrenade2 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The first two films in the trilogy of Charles Vine spy thrillers were 'Licensed To Kill' ( 1965 ) - retitled 'The Second Best Secret Agent In The Whole Wide World' in America - and 'Where The Bullets Fly' ( 1966 ). The final entry - known in some quarters as 'Somebody's Stolen Our Russian Spy' - was shot in Spain and Portugal, and features a mainly all-Spanish cast. It was never released theatrically due to the company going bust and, after being found in a film laboratory in 1976, was sold to television.
Colonel Yevtushenko ( Barta Barri ), a defected Russian spy soon to be exchanged in a diplomatic swap, boards a boat in the Mediterranean. Another vessel, apparently ablaze, cuts across its path. It is a ruse. The Colonel is captured by Major Milo Kovacs ( Tim Barrett ) of the Albanian Security Bureau, who is in league with Chinese agent Ly-Chee ( Gene Reyes ). Kovacs reasons that the British will blame the Russians for the Colonel's kidnapping, who in turn will blame the British. In the meantime, Kovacs will have extracted every drop of knowledge from the Colonel's head concerning British and Russian intelligence services.
British agent Charles Vine ( Tom Adams ) is walking down a Spanish street when a pretty girl in a sports car almost runs him down. She invites him to go to the beach, and he accepts. No sooner has Vine got his swimming trunks on than she shoots him with a drugged dart. When he wakes up, he is in a flat owned by Rockwell ( Antonio Jimenez Escribano ), his superior. A new assignment awaits him, namely either to rescue Yevtushenko or, failing that, kill him. Vine is teamed with the lovely Pandora ( Maria Silva ). No sooner are they on the case than he gets captured, and has to pretend to defect in order to stay alive. Along with the Colonel, and a beautiful Russian spy named Galina ( Diana Lorys ), they escape, and the last third of the film is long one chase involving jeeps, helicopters, and speedboats ( anticipating 'Goldeneye' by twenty-seven years, Vine gets at one point to career around in a stolen tank! ).
The earlier films took Vine no further than the English countryside, so it is a little startling to see him abroad. This is basically a poor man's 'From Russia With Love'. Adams is as laconic as ever, and gets a few good lines ( told he will be executed in the afternoon, he replies: "That's rather put me off my lunch!" ) but does not have the same calibre of actors to play off against, in particular Antonio Jimenez Escribano is no 'Rockwell', lacking the warmth John Arnatt brought to the role. Having played bowler-hatted assassin 'Seraph' in the previous film, Tim Barrett returns, this time promoted to lead villain. Like Michael Ripper in 'Where The Bullets Fly', he seems ill at ease in such roles. Diana Lorys though is devastatingly sexy as 'Galina'. Eric Chapman plays 'Potts', a British soldier Vine encounters who does not know World War Two is over! The only cast member to really shine is Barta Barri as 'Yevtushenko'.
By way of gadgets, Vine has a homing device on his person and wristwatches that explode when you try to wind them. The locations are nice, and the action scenes are okay, but overall this is nothing special, which is a pity as Vine deserved a far better send-off. Though the films have been shown on television down the years, to date no official D.V.D. release has appeared.
Ten years later, 'Licensed To Kill' director Lindsay Shonteff resurrected Vine ( with a slight name change to 'Bind' ) for 'No.1 Of The Secret Service' starring Nicky Henson.
Colonel Yevtushenko ( Barta Barri ), a defected Russian spy soon to be exchanged in a diplomatic swap, boards a boat in the Mediterranean. Another vessel, apparently ablaze, cuts across its path. It is a ruse. The Colonel is captured by Major Milo Kovacs ( Tim Barrett ) of the Albanian Security Bureau, who is in league with Chinese agent Ly-Chee ( Gene Reyes ). Kovacs reasons that the British will blame the Russians for the Colonel's kidnapping, who in turn will blame the British. In the meantime, Kovacs will have extracted every drop of knowledge from the Colonel's head concerning British and Russian intelligence services.
British agent Charles Vine ( Tom Adams ) is walking down a Spanish street when a pretty girl in a sports car almost runs him down. She invites him to go to the beach, and he accepts. No sooner has Vine got his swimming trunks on than she shoots him with a drugged dart. When he wakes up, he is in a flat owned by Rockwell ( Antonio Jimenez Escribano ), his superior. A new assignment awaits him, namely either to rescue Yevtushenko or, failing that, kill him. Vine is teamed with the lovely Pandora ( Maria Silva ). No sooner are they on the case than he gets captured, and has to pretend to defect in order to stay alive. Along with the Colonel, and a beautiful Russian spy named Galina ( Diana Lorys ), they escape, and the last third of the film is long one chase involving jeeps, helicopters, and speedboats ( anticipating 'Goldeneye' by twenty-seven years, Vine gets at one point to career around in a stolen tank! ).
The earlier films took Vine no further than the English countryside, so it is a little startling to see him abroad. This is basically a poor man's 'From Russia With Love'. Adams is as laconic as ever, and gets a few good lines ( told he will be executed in the afternoon, he replies: "That's rather put me off my lunch!" ) but does not have the same calibre of actors to play off against, in particular Antonio Jimenez Escribano is no 'Rockwell', lacking the warmth John Arnatt brought to the role. Having played bowler-hatted assassin 'Seraph' in the previous film, Tim Barrett returns, this time promoted to lead villain. Like Michael Ripper in 'Where The Bullets Fly', he seems ill at ease in such roles. Diana Lorys though is devastatingly sexy as 'Galina'. Eric Chapman plays 'Potts', a British soldier Vine encounters who does not know World War Two is over! The only cast member to really shine is Barta Barri as 'Yevtushenko'.
By way of gadgets, Vine has a homing device on his person and wristwatches that explode when you try to wind them. The locations are nice, and the action scenes are okay, but overall this is nothing special, which is a pity as Vine deserved a far better send-off. Though the films have been shown on television down the years, to date no official D.V.D. release has appeared.
Ten years later, 'Licensed To Kill' director Lindsay Shonteff resurrected Vine ( with a slight name change to 'Bind' ) for 'No.1 Of The Secret Service' starring Nicky Henson.
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