Le rouble à deux faces

Two international movie legends top the billing in The Day The Hot Line Got Hot. Robert Taylor and Charles Boyer play the operational chiefs of the CIA and KGB respectively. For Taylor this was his farewell performance on the big screen.

It was a middle-C type note to go out on. The Day The Hot Line Got Hot is a comic spoof on spy films that doesn't quite get off the ground. Someone for some nefarious reasons of their own splices into the famous telephone hot line between the White House and the Kremlin set up during the Kennedy presidency so that JFK and Khrushchev could talk one and one so that there would be no nuclear wars set off by accident. If you remember the hot line figured very prominently in a failed attempt to prevent nuclear war in Failsafe.

Anyway the individual who taps into the hot-line sent messages to both the US president and the Soviet premier that were the equivalent of an international Bronx cheer. They then kidnap the operator forced to send said messages and ship Marie Dubois to Barcelona in one of those old style steamer trunks.

Where things begin to go wrong as the trunks get mixed up and doesn't tourist George Chakiris get a big surprise when instead of his clothing, Dubois tumbles out. Now it's a case of saving the plan which was put in motion for a most interesting reason.

Taylor may have been in the first stages of the cancer that eventually killed him. Charles Boyer has the look of a man waiting for his paycheck to clear, both of them took these roles on possibly for a nice vacation in Spain where the story was filmed. There are a lot interesting jokes about spy training and double and triple agents, in fact that's the key to the whole story.

In any event fans of Taylor and Boyer should see this others will be disappointed.

At an IBM center in Stockholm, Eric (George Chakiris) , who operates one of the machines, asks his boss to send him to another center in Barcelona . Meantime , the most ultra-secret telephone number of all is that of the "Hot'Line' that links the heads of state of the United States and Moscow. A conniving double agent (Gerard Tichy) manages to rob the top secret phone number and then starts to implement chaos by phoning Washington and Moscow . Later on , Eric buys a trunk in a store at the same time that three old women buy another one just like it. The three old women prepare the trunk to accommodate a human body inside . But this trunk is mistakenly taken at the airport by Eric who, once he arrives at the hotel in Barcelona and opens it, finds a pretty girl , Natasha (Marie Dubois) , who had been previously kidnapped by the three elderly ladies . After that , the three old ladies relentlessly chase them . Then two chiefs , one of the CIA , Nicholson (Robert Taylor) , and another of the KGB , Vostov (Charles Boyer) , arrive in Barcelona , Spain , where's developing and increasing international crisis that finds its solution on the stage of the Chinese theater .

One of the countless spy films that were shot in co-production during the sixties, trying to emulate the success of the James Bond series. Performed by two ancient legends in the twilight of their careers , being Robert Taylor's final film before his death on June 8, 1969 . It is indistinguishable from many other titles at the same style. It barely provides the minimum entertainment required in these cases , concerning a motley grup of misfit characters who are caught up in the chain of events and eventually a troupe of Chinese acrobats collide head on in a finale battle . It results to be an average parody of Euro-spy movies, a very popular sub-genre in the 80s. However, here the intrigue developed is very silly and unbelievable , dealing with Russian and American agents and double-agents , spy leaders , a traitorous agent , a kidnapped girl , an innocent young man and a trio of old ladies who seem to have escaped from an asylum and who work for the Russian agency committing some murders . In fact, the only novelty of the film is this trio of elderly women that would rival those who starred the classic film ¨Frank Capra's Arsenic and the old lace¨with Gary Grant.

It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography shot in Barcelona by Manuel Berenguer , an expert cameraman who had an important career photographing international coproductions , such as : Murders in the Rue Morgue , Simon Bolivar , Krakatoa: East of Java, Crack in the World , Bikini Paradise , Pyro, The Thin Red Line , among others . However, Barcelona is wasted because the exteriors of the city are hardly seen , being mostly photographed inside the scenes and mainly at a second-class hotel . As well as evocative and atmospheric musical score by composer Paul Misraki . This is a mediocre Spanish/French co-production from Production Companies Alfonso Balcázar Producciones Cinematográficas and Intercontinental Productions/Alexander Salkind regularly directed by Etienne Périer , though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . He was a director and writer who shot all kinds of genres , being known for Bridge to the sun (1961), Meurtre en 45 tours (1960) , Too many lovers ! (1957) , Un si joli village (1979), La part du feu, L a main à couper , Boys and Girls , Louisiana , Maigret , The Day the Hot Line Got Hot and his best film was the thrilling Zeppelin (1971) . Rating : 4.5/10 . Well worth seeing for completists of the long careers starred by these giant actors : Robert Taylor and Charles Boyer .

I caught this turkey on late night T.V. and was frankly embarrassed for Taylor and Boyer, two distinguished performers who deserved to end their careers with some kind of dignity and grace. The whole thing was like someone's home movie of a recent nightmare. The movies also illustrates the truth of the adage: "Dying is easy;comedy is hard." Robert Taylor (for one) has never shown any kind of comic flair. The best that can be said of his performance here is that he made the wise decision to play his role "straight", with no attempt to be 'funny" in the delivery of his lines. About the only appeal this film might have would be for devotees of bondage films who enjoy watching the three giggling old ladies tie up and terrorize the heroine.