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While living in South Africa my dad and I watched many classic films together, and those are special memories. We managed to record "House of Cards" using our very first VCR (in 1983) and I spent many evenings re-watching it until my brother recorded something over it... I was devastated and have been hoping to find it ever since.

Twenty years later I am still a fan and I give it 10/10 because that's my childhood-based feeling for it. No other film I've seen has stayed with me as intensely.

It's difficult to say exactly why I love this film because the memories are so old. My feelings include: excitement, curiosity, urgency, pleasure, amusement, fun, the motivation to see it may times and the crush I have had since on George Peppard! The images are a little mixed: I remember a boat on a lake, a car racing along a winding road and many desperate escapes. Also images of Paris and the Seine. Orson Welles is totally creepy. My visits to Italy have been influenced by scenes from the film - even visiting the Colosseum in Rome.

Hopefully my memories aren't too tainted by all the films I've seen since, if I come across this one again I'm keeping it far away from my brother.

I saw this movie with my dad when it first came out at the now long-gone Cinema Theater on Miami Beach.

What I recall most about it was the rare beauty of Inger Stevens. What a beautiful, lovely, sexy, talented actress. It is really a sad state of affairs that her personal demons ended her life so young. I recall hearing about her death on the t.v. news and how I cried a few tears; even though I was a young child of 9.

The movie is fast-paced, exciting, well-acted, and the Paris of the 1960s is in all it's glory.

Unless this movie comes out on DVD, it will be lost to the ages. Most likely it's about forgotten, except for those lucky enough to have seen it. I even have the original movie poster of this film hanging on the wall of my apartment.

Inspired by the events linked to the Algeria war.The fascist organization recalls Ordre Nouveau (which was not fiction) and the O.A.S. whose purpose was to give Algeria back to the FRench ,particularly to the Pieds-Noirs who had to leave the country after the Evian agreement (June 1962).

John Guillermin 's thriller remains very vague politically.Some characters appear or disappear without any real purpose .Some appear completely nude (Perrette Pradier) probably to please the viewer.The screenplay looks like a parboiled cross between "the jackal" (Zinnemann,1972)and "the man who knew too much" (essentially the color version 1956).

That said ,if you are not too demanding ,it's passable entertainment.George Peppard is a convincing hero with a Bondesque sense of humor (sixties Bond of course)and Inger Stevens who prematurely died two years after is attractive.Orson Wells has a very very small part and as the film is unworthy of his talent,he seems eager to collect his money and run away from this muddled story.

There's a song in French during the cast and credits which is heard again at the end.This bland song has nothing to do with the story ,not Francis Lai's best.

Guillermin's most salutary quality is his sense of space he would display again in "towering inferno" and in "death on the Nile".Here he uses the banks of the Seine to good effect .Ditto for the banks of the lake and the fountain in Rome ,or the arena.

This is one of those films I have fond memories of from my childhood. I remember I used to tune it in every time it appeared on TV. Yes, now being an old fart and having finally seen it again after it's long absence, I was somewhat disappointed, but not entirely. There are still some wonderful things about it. Primarily the score by Frances Lai, the beautiful photography and scenery (it made me want to go to Paris for a long time), Orson Welles as the villain, but mostly the wonderful Inger Stevens as the female protagonist. What hasn't survived the test of time are the silly plot and George Peppard. I used to like him in his TV show (Banacek, NOT the A-Team), but then I heard an interview with Pat Neal which told about what a bastard he was in real life, and I can't find myself liking any of his performances now, even though I may like the movie. Anyway, I do still enjoy the movie, and am glad I was finally able to find it again.

I understand those who don't like George Peppard in this film. His performance as something of a superman among a regular bunch of crooks is almost unbearable and adds to the film's character of general superficial abominability. Orson Welles' performance is interesting, and Inger Stevens is all right, but the script is very stereotype. Nevertheless it deals with some serious problems, the constant universal problem of a superior race wanting to take charge of the world and turn it into a superstate, the idea of a world government has always been a present issue in history, and was never more actual than today. Still, the issue gets lost in atrocities and too many murders, constantly excelling each other in inhuman cruelty, and there is the objection: An important issue gets drowned in effects, an all too common problem in modern films. What makes film worth watching in spite of all this is the wonderful photography and cinematography - the filming of Paris makes this film enjoyable in spite of the inhuman domination.