El ojo espía

And very ingenious for 1965, a real competition for the original James Bond series, although made on a low budget. Original gadget the radio and knife hidden in a human hump, obviously fake. Some Chinese spies, dressed in black suits, black hats, tie, not even blinking, American spies, Russian spies (Comrade Kommissar), transplanted camera-eye, dehydrating pills, pistol-camera, smart lines, a cool babe (Tania Béryl), action in Berlin, Paris, Amman, Portofino, and a secret formula that everyone wants, tattooed on the scalp of the heroine played by Pier Angeli (it would have been much more interesting if it was tattooed in the groin area). Dana Andrews is cool and credible as the head of American spies, Gastone Moschin is funny as the villainous boss Boris, and Luciano Pigozzi, the Italian equivalent of Peter Lorre, present in many films of the same genre in the '60s, is credible as an assistant villain. Nice music by Riz Ortolani. Worth 8 stars!

"Colonel Lancaster" (Dana Andrews) is the director for a team of American spies during the Cold War who just happens to be scheduled to receive an eye implant so that he can regain his sight in one eye. What he doesn't know is that the Russians have invented an ingenious device which will not only give eyesight back to Colonel Lancaster--but will also transmit everything he says or does back to them which gives them invaluable information. One specific case involves a scientist who has invented a new weapon which the Russians, Americans and Chinese all want to get their hands on. Unfortunately, the scientist is killed trying to escape to the West and as a result his daughter, "Paula Krauss" (Pier Angeli) now becomes their main target because they think she has the vital information they all want. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it I will just say that this was a decent spy movie for the most part. One noticeable flaw, however, was the lack of character development which caused some confusion here and there. But other than that I suppose it was okay for the time spent and I rate it as about average.

Saw film at a double-feature second run house in the '60s. The spy-in-your-eye alternate title refers to an implanted micro television camera in a spy's eye. I can't remember if it was Dana Andrews. There's a tunnel under the Berlin Wall for the west to spy on the east that figures in the plot. Of course, the tunnel is discovered. There's a gimmick character who's hunchback deformity conceals a radio transmitter. Never understood why, if they could get the camera that small, why not the radio? I remember it fondly, but then I was 12 years old. Representative of '60's spy cycle, but at least they referenced real cold war players instead of made-up spy organizations. Don't know if its available.

Dana Andrews was one of those second rank movie stars who was finding roles becoming scarce in the USA and went to Europe for work. He's top billed and the title character in Spy In Your Eye, but the action and possible romance are left to Brett Halsey and Pier Angeli.

Halsey is given the assignment to bring out from behind the Iron Curtain Pier Angeli who is the son of a scientist who's been doing all kinds of work before he died in lasers developing that death ray gun the tool of so many futuristic space heroes like Flash Gordon and Rocky Jones.

In the meantime Andrews has sacrificed for God and country one of his eyes. But not to worry Dana has had a bionic eye installed which not only makes him see better, but it transmits video when needed. When the Reds start pirating his eye broadcasts things go wildly wrong for our intelligence before they're set right. Lee Majors never had these problems.

This is James Bond type stuff on the cheap. The film is also badly edited and you have to read between the lines a lot to figure out what's going on.

One thing though a lot of European and Mid Eastern cities were used for location shooting. On travel the budget did not stint.

James Bond this is not.

I saw this in the theaters on the big screen in brilliant color. Unfortunately all that remains is a red DVD in my collection and a faded one on Y/T. The story moves along at a Bond-like pace with gadgets galore and sets not matched in many other imitation Euro-Spies. During the filming, they used many different European locations including the Baalbek ruins in Lebanon. Pier Angeli is her usual vulnerable self and Brett Halsey is the spy who figures everything out in the end. If you can find a good copy, watch it.