OSS 117 - Teufelstanz in Tokio

The French answer to James Bond is back. And this time he travels to Tokyo and battles international terrorists. This film does have some things going for it: Frederick Stafford is a good enough spy lead (I'll take his OSS 117 over Timothy Dalton's 007 any day!), the cast includes a French mega-babe (Marina Vlady) and a Japanese super-cutie (Jitsuko Yoshimura), there are some enjoyable fight scenes, and the Oriental setting actually predates Connery's "You Only Live Twice" by one year! Despite all that, however, the film is a bit of a bore. It is VERY slow-moving and lacks a strong central villain. The filmmakers probably stretched the budget as far as it could go, but in comparison to the Bond pictures of the time, they still came up short. They just about beat "Diamonds Are Forever", though. (**)

US 24, an American Navy base in a small island in the Pacific, is annihilated. Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a French aristocrat that is also a secret agent, OSS 117, is sent to Tokyo to investigate who did it.

Soon, he finds out that a cypher girl in the American embassy had passed vital information to a Japanese gang. Eva Davidson confesses to him that she did that under coercion, and is now ready to cooperate.

OSS 117 will pretend to be Eva's husband, to better cover the contacts between her and the gang that is pursuing more information about a second naval base. Each step is a battle for his life, and he suspects that Eva may have not tell the whole truth. ..

Frederick Stafford returns as OSS 117 for another action packed spy adventure that has the usual intrigue, duplicity, and danger - starts with a nifty car chase before winding down to build a rather engaging story and interspersed between the espionage there's some really impressive and inventive fight scenes; the fight with the samurai, the one in the finale and sumo guy comes to mind. The finale action sequence with the hero clinging on the yacht via a harpoon is truly impressive. Dare I say the action is more impressive here than in some '60's Bond films. Top notch stuff.

Japan is the location and a year later 'you will Only Live Twice" will be set in the Land of the Rising sun, however in this OSS 117 entry Japan comes across less grand and is captured in a down to earth manner. Stafford makes a likeable and engaging agent who only uses violence in the last resort. Interesting that his agent doesn't smoke or drink. And unlike Connery in You will only live Twice he looks like he's enjoying himself and comes across focused. The only negative points are that some things happening appear vague and some tension is lacking, but nevertheless this is a very good spy thriller.

Polished but lacking some vital spark of energy, or perhaps it was just that I found it tiring having to read subtitles, as there doesn't appear to be a dubbed version available, unlike most of the Italian and German ones. I much prefer dubbing because it means I'm free to use my eyes for fully appreciating the visual aspects of the film. I'm just not much of a multi-tasker I guess.

However after a second viewing, I think I've put my finger on the problem, it's with the sound track. The on screen action is fine, but the music rarely provides any assistance to help generate suspense or tension. Even if most Eurospy themes are melodramatic and overwrought, they at least bring some energy and help set the appropriate mood, while the music in this one is either non-existent or more like travelogue music, lacking the punch and drama required (the scene where the Combi van is crashed being a classic example, with a cheerful tune played during what should be a moment of great peril.)

Japan provides suitable exotic locations (a year before "You Only Live Twice") and a somewhat stylish super-tanker makes for a decent villain's lair in the finale (although it only has a medium size door in the side, big enough for a launch size boat, rather than a ship swallowing front maw like the one in "The Spy Who Love Me"). There are several excellent fight scenes, the screenplay is good with a decent plot and adequate dialogue.

Frederick makes friends with a couple of attractive women. Marina Vlady brings the beautiful ice queen who eventually melts, and Jitsuko Yoshimura brings the cute and perky, yet sensual local flavour (as when she playfully bites Fred's finger while bidding him farewell).

Eventually, after all the usual spy shenanigans, being followed or chased, chasing or following, getting knocked out, escaping from traps and ambushes, Fred identifies the bad guys, locates the lair and saves the day in suitable fashion.

Overall a solid, if unexceptional, effort

Best quip Marina - "Have you ever been called a cad?" Fred - "No. I kill people before they have time to say it."

The O.S.S. 117 series of films are based on popular spy novels by author Jean De Bruce about an international spy named Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, the French version of James Bond. Hubert Bonisseur was portrayed by a number of actors (including John Gavin, who was later named Ambassador to Mexico by Ronald Reagan!) which is one of the reasons the series never caught on outside of Europe. Austrian actor took over the role Frederick Stafford took over the role pf O.S.S 117 for the third and fourth films, the latter which was set in Japan and retitled "Terror in Tokyo". In this film, Bonnisseur has to stop a group of industrialists from launching missiles laced with atomic bombs unless the United States government gives into to their ransom demands. Gorgeous actress Marina Vlady plays a woman in the US embassy suspected of leaking secrets to the enemy, and Yoshimura Jitsuko is a Japanese secret agent posing as a nightclub hostess. Bonisseur romances both women and while attempting to save the world from destruction. Not as exciting as the superior 007 films of the era but entertaining in its own way. Look for a great fight scene in which Agent O.S.S. 117 goes up against a humongous sumo wrestler.

After an American navy base is completely annihilated and a ransom message is sent to the United States, OSS agent 117 "Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath" (Frederick Stafford) is sent to Tokyo to investigate. Upon his arrival there his first order of business is to interview an intelligence clerk by the name of "Eva Wilson" (Marina Vlady) who is being blackmailed into disclosing top secret military information. After finding out as much as he can he then comes up with the idea of posing as her husband so that she can perhaps lead him toward this clandestine group. What he doesn't know, however, is that there are other parties interested in his presence with intentions which have yet to be ascertained. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent EuroSpy film which contained a good mixture of action and intrigue. In addition to that it also had a couple of attractive ladies like Jitsuko Yoshimura (as "Tetsuko") along with the aforementioned Marina Vlady to brighten the scenery as well. One drawback, however, was the English dubbing-particularly in the case of Tetsuko-which could have used a bit of improvement. Be that as it may, while not a great film by any means it was sufficient to pass the time and I have rated it accordingly. Average.