Passeport pour l'oubli

An amusing, tongue-in-cheek, British satire on the spy genre with David Niven at his debonair best. The comedy is dry and subtle, taking aim at the British and Russian spy-film caricatures. Niven plays the bumbling amateur who makes good but was recruited because all the other spies have been unfortunately lost - that's MI5. John Le Mesurier plays the part of the harassed, penny-pinching, civil servant with aplomb. His use of understatement in suggesting that the purpose of the visit was just to find Rosser and nothing more and his reference to the radio in a biscuit tin, exemplifies the absurdity that underpins the satire. Françoise Dorléac plays the sexy double agent with a light touch. A good support cast with Nigel Davenport excelling as the hard-drinking expatriate Brit. and Ronald Radd suitably menacing as the Russian spy master. In the 1960's the Lebanon was considered an exotic location, essential for this kind of film. As in the Bond films, the travelogue element with a "holiday" romance was an important part of the overall attraction.

When one of their agents is killed the British intelligence agency known as MI6 is suddenly confronted with a huge manpower shortage in Lebanon. This results in their contacting a person who served with them during World War 2 as a combat physician by the name of "Dr. Jason Love" (David Niven). But in order to recruit him for this special assignment they have to offer him something that is very rare-a 1937 Chrysler LeBaron. He eagerly accepts and heads off to Rome where he meets an attractive secret agent at the airport by the name of "Vikki" (Françoise Dorléac). Wanting to spend a little time with her he reschedules his flight to Beirut. He then watches in horror as the flight he was supposed to be on explodes in mid-air and realizes that this assignment may not be as simple as he was led to believe. At any rate, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly good spy movie for the most part. Although it slightly resembled a "James Bond" film it was a bit more light-hearted in comparison and wasn't quite as polished. Even so it was still somewhat enjoyable and having an actress as beautiful as the aforementioned Francoise Dorléac certainly didn't hurt in any way. Slightly above average.

Something dreadful is about to happen in Lebanon, but John Meseurier doesn't have any agents he can send there, so he recruits doctor David Niven, who flies to Beirut, has an affair with Françoise Dorléac, and winds up being kidnapped and tortured.

MGM thought they had an answer to James Bond in the Jason Love novels of James Leasor, but the result is a peculiarly weightless movie. There's not much fun, except for Mlle Dorléac and a sequence in which Niven charms Lebanese auto mechanic Eric Pohlmann with tales of his Cord roadster. We are expected to believe that a random English doctor can scale buildings with the ease of a mountain climber, and even the torture scenes seem to be wasted; Niven has no information on the local espionage scene. The movie is competently handled by Val Guest, but the show didn't set any box office records and the series never happened.

David Niven is well cast and plays a fine neophyte operative. The film lacks a steady dose of suspense, however. On a more mundane plane, there are varied misspellings of Russian, most obvious being the Russian for Aeroflot emblazoned across the jetliner (Niven's robe has it spelled correctly).

Accurate in many respects as regards spycraft and the extensive MI6 registry card indices. Also that arabic scenario - set in Beirut which is where Kim Philby escaped to Russia.

David Niven plays a reluctantly doctor persuaded to spy in exchange for a '37 Chrysler LeBaron to replace his 1937 Cord Phaeton.

They even had a dig at the, then, new James Bond: Niven; "I hope you realise I'm not a superspy or an agent in black"; LeMesurier:"well that kind of exhibitionism always ends in disaster". The accurate view of MI6!

Notable for a poignant appearance of the beautiful but doomed Francoise D'Orleac.

The plot is undemanding: Who do I trust? is the pretty girl who seduced me a double agent? The baddies attempt to assassinate the friendly head of an oil state but it all goes wrong for them. can Niven escape the baddies? affable enough but not a masterpiece.