The main title theme song was utterly fantastic, but the movie ahead was a relative disappointment and snooze-fest. After such a great start, what happened? Actually it's not that bad, just blandly mediocre, and not the worst of the series (that title going to The Ambushers hands down).
Karl Malden does give a delightfully over the top performance, Dean is his usually breezy self and Carmilla Sparv makes for a sexy femme fatale. I even thought 70s TV stalwart Tom Reese was an interesting henchman. But Ann Margaret is not convincing. She is easily the weakest of the 4 movie Helm female sidekicks. Her character just comes off as silly, like she's still in an Elvis movie.
The setting on the French Rivera creates a cool atmosphere and the plot about a kidnapped scientist had the potential to be interesting if not for that nonsensical helio beam angle. There are some cool gadgets, like the gun that works on a delay, but the novelty of them wore away quickly after each was seemingly used over an over. The plot development attempts to string together a loose bunch of disjointed scenes and set pieces so there is never any real tension or suspense. Interestingly enough however, several ideas (the faking of Helm's death, the Hovercraft, disposal of the henchman via magnet) were incorporated into future James Bond movies.
In short, this movie was one of potential unrealized and a starlet misplaced. It's worth a look for Martin or 1960s spy spoof fans (I'm both), but most others would find it terribly silly, uninteresting and plodding I'm afraid.
Karl Malden does give a delightfully over the top performance, Dean is his usually breezy self and Carmilla Sparv makes for a sexy femme fatale. I even thought 70s TV stalwart Tom Reese was an interesting henchman. But Ann Margaret is not convincing. She is easily the weakest of the 4 movie Helm female sidekicks. Her character just comes off as silly, like she's still in an Elvis movie.
The setting on the French Rivera creates a cool atmosphere and the plot about a kidnapped scientist had the potential to be interesting if not for that nonsensical helio beam angle. There are some cool gadgets, like the gun that works on a delay, but the novelty of them wore away quickly after each was seemingly used over an over. The plot development attempts to string together a loose bunch of disjointed scenes and set pieces so there is never any real tension or suspense. Interestingly enough however, several ideas (the faking of Helm's death, the Hovercraft, disposal of the henchman via magnet) were incorporated into future James Bond movies.
In short, this movie was one of potential unrealized and a starlet misplaced. It's worth a look for Martin or 1960s spy spoof fans (I'm both), but most others would find it terribly silly, uninteresting and plodding I'm afraid.