Banco en Bangkok

Jean Bruce's Hubert Bonnisseur le Bath was France's answer to James Bond. Like Ian Fleming, Jean Bruce became rich thanks to his best-selling novels featuring OSS 117, i.e., Hubert Bath. Despite the French name inherited from his Gallic ancestors, Hubert Bath is an American who is a secret agent for the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA. Jean Bruce's books were turned into movies. Apparently popular in France at that time, they never found an international audience. Watching "Banco a Bangkok pour OSS 117" (English title: Panic in Bangkok), one understands why. The production values are quite bad. OSS 117 seems to be a carbon copy of James Bond. He is irresistible to women; he is good at fisticuffs, etc, etc. Kerwin Mathews who plays the lead role tries to be suave. Of course, he does not have Sean Connery's charisma or presence. The story is formulaic though it anticipates Moonraker, the James Bond flick. An evil Indian doctor, Dr.Guna Sinn (the name does not sound Indian) working in Thailand has developed a biological weapon that will reduce the world's population in accordance with his eugenicist beliefs. OSS 117 has to stop him with the help of a Thai sidekick and seduce the Indian doctor's sister Lila while he is at it.

I watched this movie as a boy many years ago. At that time, it seemed that the acting was adequate. I am sure that I won't think so now. Jean Bruce's books which have been translated into English were far superior to the OSS 117 flicks. Quite the opposite of Ian Fleming, whose books can't hold a candle to the films they engendered. Indeed Jean Bruce was a better writer than Ian Fleming. Read the OSS 117 books. Avoid the movies.

(Reviewed by Sundar Narayan)

This French drama has aged quite well. I remember watching it in the wake of the Bond craze during the early 1960s and it did not fare very well with me, as I was comparing it to Sean Connery's adventures, surrounded by international locations, exotic women and decors. Dubbed in English, "Banco a Bangkok" had little chance against the 1964 entry of the Bond franchise, "Goldfinger", which is regarded as one of the best in the series.

But seeing it again in French, with no reference in mind, "Banco a Bangkok" is an action drama in which finesse, sexual tension and exoticism merge in a gentle way. Car and boat chases, killings or martial arts fights are not lacking, but violence and sadism are handled sparingly, while the usual story of world dominance is told.

The action takes place in Thailand, among colorful characters: an American colonel, Hubert Barton or OSS 117, a code name never used in the plot; mister and miss Sinn, two Caucasian brothers who are supposed to be Thais; Eva, a blonde secretary out of a Bond vehicle, many Thais as assistants of heroes and villains, a free-lance ex-Nazi hustler called Karloff (only in the final roll-up), and a sect of fascist survivalists called The Chosen People.

For Kerwin Mathews (as Barton) this was one of the first movies he made in the last phase of his career, that would evolve into grade-B movies in Europe and the USA. Here he is aging well, with gray hair highlighting his boyish charm, and he seems to be having a good time in a quality product. Robert Hossein plays his usually wicked, handsome villain, while Pier Angeli is the antithesis of the scantily clad, stereotyped Bond girl, properly dressed in Thai fashion.

Sensuality is a game all over (I even felt a homoerotic undercurrent), the tone is light, the humor is kept in check, and the use of Thailand locations is effectively handled by co-director Jacques Besnard. Order Thai food and beer, and enjoy.

Those are both just alternative titles I made up. The original French title is "Banco a Bangkok pour" and looking up the different possible contextually dependant meanings of the word "banco" I decided on the one above. On the other hand "Dr Sinn" is the name of the main villain and could have been used as the title, in imitation of "Dr No". "Cardinal Sinn" would have been even better, but as he actually existed in the real World (representing the Phillippines) that would be inappropriate.

OSS-117 takes the form of Kerwin Mathews in this one, the first to be shot in colour.

Bangkok is the first exotic location for OSS-117 outside of France, an indication of increasing popularity reflected in the budget? No shortage of colourful locations to choose from here. One thing that struck me as a bit odd though, was the lack of traffic on the city streets, the Bangkok I have visited was always bustling and crowded with traffic, shoulder to shoulder and bumper to bumper. Perhaps that wasn't the image the local government wanted to present to the outside World back then?

The Villain and his followers feel that mankind is destroying the planet with nuclear energy, pollution etc. And the only way to stop them is to wipe them all out, using bubonic plague, apart from a worthy few (selected by themselves of course) who will get the antidote. An evil scheme which still resonates today, possibly more so?

OSS-117 is always cool, calm and collected, with a dash of dry wit, and Kerwin plays this aspect of the character very well, probably better than Fred Stafford. The screenplay does a good job of allowing him to demonstrate his "trade craft" and careful, calculating nature.

Perhaps a bit too calculating in one early scene? Kerwin jumps in a taxi and some of the villains henchmen follow, with the idea of strafing the taxi with machine gun fire. Kerwin spots them and decides to lose them by jumping out of the taxi after it goes around a corner. But before doing that he gives the driver some extra money and instructs him to drive on as fast as he can after Kerwin decamps. Kerwin roles out the door and takes cover. The baddies drive past, continue their pursuit, strafe the vehicle, killing the driver and crashing the car. Kerwin then catches lift with a passing truck, and as they pass the site of the crash they stop and look at the wreck, where locals are standing around (and there is no sign that the driver has survived). Kerwin smirks at his own cleverness in eluding assassination, no sympathy shown for the fate of the innocent taxi driver. Now that is some cold-blooded merde!

As usual the soundtrack is often inappropriate, playing cheerful ersatz Asian flavoured Bosa-Nova jazz, which does little to generate suspense or tension during what should be exciting dramatic scenes.

The fights are well choreographed, but rather poorly executed (they would be performed much more convincingly in the Fred Stafford films that followed). Overall the film could do with some editing, with several car and boat rides going on far too long.

Robert Hossein looks the part as "Dr Sinn" and has a suitable "Ken Adam-esque" underground lair beneath a crumbling temple ruin. The elfin Pier Angeli plays his misguided sister, who eventually sees the light and falls for Kerwin, and Domenique Wilms is the villain's faithful mistress, who also eventually has a change of heart and pays the ultimate price.

After this one Kerwin decided to jump off the OSS-117 train to become "The Viscount", but the transfusion didn't take and his Eurospy career was over.

1964's French-Italian "Shadow of Evil" (Banco a Bangkok pour OSS 117 or Panic in Bangkok for OSS 117) was the second OSS (Office of Strategic Services) title for director Andre Hunebelle (first in color, following "OSS 117 is Unleashed") in the long running series of films that kicked off in 1957 (five years before "Dr. No"). Hollywood leading man Kerwin Mathews returns for the second and last time in the title role of Hubert Barton, the subject of 88 published stories by French author Jean Bruce dating back to 1949, four years before Bond's 1953 debut in Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale." Barton is dispatched to Thailand to replace an assassinated operative on the trail of an organization called 'The People Elect,' elitists out to use a new plague virus in place of vaccines to orchestrate a vast takeover of the entire world, killing huge numbers of animals as well as 'inferior people.' The obsessed villain is established early on as Hindu seer Doctor Sinn (Robert Hossein), whose lovely sister Lila (Pier Angeli) is quick to switch sides when Barton is endangered. Structurally, it truly plays out like a Bond film with OSS 117 briefed by a supervisor before his assignment, then filming on location to ensure authenticity, but even on his second go round in the part one wishes for greater charisma out of Kerwin Mathews, already a Hammer veteran with Christopher Lee's "The Pirates of Blood River" and Jimmy Sangster's "Maniac" on his resume (one more reunion with Pier Angeli for her final movie role, 1971's hideously cheap "Octaman"). Alas, these henchmen prove a bit too easy to defeat, from an intruder who leaps to his death rather than be interrogated, to a scientist falling victim to his own truth serum, revealing all to Barton at roughly the halfway mark; it's still diverting enough and certainly benefits from a rat infested climax, Robert Hossein returning as a different villain in 1968's "OSS 117 Double Agent."

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, aka secret agent OSS 117, sets out to stop an evil scientist about to unleash a virulent biological strain on the world that he developed during experiments on rats ...

Kerwin Matthews plays OSS 117 and he does a very good job, coming across smooth with the ladies (Pier Angeli being the main squeeze) and quite adept in the action scenes. There's an energetic, though a little unpolished, fight scene in a hotel room which has plenty of judo throws. At one point I thought he was going to lose the fight. The plot is busy enough- there's shootouts, speedboat chase, kidnappings, double-crosses, a bit of romance, and some adventurous escapades ...

However, languidness lingers a little in the first half, but thanks to Matthews, Pier Angeli and the Thai scenery it keeps one's attention until the second half where things pick again, the pace increases, action infuses a shot of adrenaline much needed. Remember seeing this on LWT in 1991 ( UK TV)