The Assassination Bureau (1969)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Basil Dearden

Writers:

Robert L. Fish (novel)
Jack London (unfinished novel)

Release Date:

April 1969 (France)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Zeppelins. Bombs. Bordellos. Burials. You name it. We have it.

Plot:

The Assassination Bureau has existed for decades (perhaps centuries) until Diana Rigg begins to investigate it...

Plot Keywords:

Assassination | Corset | Secret History | 1910s | Gadget

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Oliver Reed	...	Ivan Dragomiloff
Diana Rigg	...	Sonya Winter
Telly Savalas	...	Lord Bostwick
Curd Jürgens	...	General von Pinck
Philippe Noiret	...	Monsieur Lucoville
Warren Mitchell	...	Herr Weiss
Beryl Reid	...	Madame Otero
Clive Revill	...	Cesare Spado
Kenneth Griffith	...	Monsieur Popescu
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Baron Muntzof
Annabella Incontrera	...	Eleanora
Jess Conrad	...	Angelo
George Coulouris	...	Swiss Peasant
Ralph Michael	...	Editor
Katherine Kath	...	Mme. Lucoville

Also Known As:

The Assassination Bureau Limited

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Black Park Country Park, Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Heathfield

Trivia:

Last feature film of Eugene Deckers.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Ivan Dragomiloff is poisoned, he knocks over the cup he drinks from onto the marble floor. The sound it makes is not of metal such as gold, maybe plastic.

Quotes:

Ivan Dragomiloff: What are you doing here?
Miss Winter: I thought this was a hotel!

When Assassination was mere Amusement

To enjoy and even admire this period piece, set just before the industrial revolution of the 20th century, one has to understand what it is. It's certainly not a parody of James Bond or some off cue thriller; it's high comedy, a farce of magnificent proportions, aided & abetted by fine action. You have to get in on the joke with Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas and the rest, all obviously enjoying themselves, but not at our expense. Let them amuse you and bemuse you, and you'll have a grand time. By this point, over 35 years after this was filmed, it may be difficult for younger viewers to follow along with Reed and realize when he is winking at them during one of his outrageous pronouncements. He's the head of the organization of the title - it is what you think it is, no pretensions there - its business is killing people, for money. But that is about the only thing which is up front in this picture. Everyone is not who they seem to be, usually having a decent public face and the secret hidden one - the one catering to the less moral side of all of us.

This is probably my favorite Oliver Reed performance. He grabs the role of the debonair gentleman assassin and turns it into uniquely his own. Some of his dry line delivery, particularly when sparring with Rigg, is priceless; my favorite is when they meet and she informs him who she wants killed; he soon demands her reasons, yelling "Is That it? Is That It!?!" Later in the film, she calls him annoying. "I have been told that," he replies, but never have we heard the line spoken that way. He needs to carry the picture, outsmarting and fooling all the other sneaky assassins out for his blood with disguises, role-playing and careless bravado. This is where the picture really shifts into high gear, turning into a duel among a group of master killers who, luckily, do not yet have the advantages of 20th century weaponry. The supporting cast are all terrific, including Savalas as Reed's main nemesis, Jurgens as a German general and Noiret who, besides being an assassin, also runs a brothel (no limits to the French).

The script and dialog are continually witty throughout, many of the lines classic and too numerous to mention here. Again, some of this may be lost on anyone under 30 years old; in a way, this brand of humor can now be termed sophisticated - no gross bodily function joking. It does revolve around death, so a kind of dark farce results, of course - yet it's not morbid. That's probably because most of the victims deserve their ends as presented here; they made their beds, as it were. The dialog is complemented by inventive turns in the plot; there's actually quite a bit of suspense as the story turns & twists here and there, especially during the sequence in Venice, where the order of characters being killed is not as expected. The finale is also suspenseful - you may wonder how Reed will pull it off, stopping an entire zeppelin and its crew. And please keep in mind the special FX are over 35 years old, as well. Just glorious stuff.