Services spéciaux, division K

A surprisingly stylish spy flick, based in Munich and London.

It has a few twists (some of them predictable) but the aspect that intrigued me most was the information exchange.

It's all done with tremendous subtlety, and you could easily watch the entire film and miss most of the exchanges.

I had a similar experience with "Funeral in Berlin".

That's what I like about a spy film, when you can watch it superficially and miss what is really going on. So the film becomes a shill for real life spying, where the public see relative normality, but the spies, though present in the normal life of the public around them, are functioning on a completely different level.

I would have to watch this film several times to pick out and understand all of the communications.

The film was made in 1968, and is very much of that era (which I like).

An almost decent production after the James Bond model. Stephen Boyd has not the strength and the charm of Sean Connery or Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan, he is in the category of George Lazenby, a slightly better than the latter. The story is in the Bond spirit, but much simpler and more predictable. The other actors are somewhat OK. Robert Hoffmann and Jeremy Kemp have small roles. Leo McKern and Michael Redgrave stand out. And the Scandinavian "beauty" named Camilla Sparv is better at marrying very rich and influential men in the world of film than in acting.

This film essentially involves a man by the name of "Philip Scott" (Stephen Boyd) using his position as an executive at a toy company as a cover for operating his own independent spy organization to help the British Secret Service in Europe. In this particular case he has been tasked to retrieve some microfilm from sources behind the Iron Curtain which detail Soviet missile technology. To that effect, this requires him to travel to both West Germany and Austria and while there he becomes attracted to a beautiful Swedish woman by the name of "Antonia 'Toni' Peters" (Camila Sparv) and while getting better acquainted with her also uses their relationship to further conceal his clandestine activities. What he doesn't know, however, is that another secret organization has developed suspicions about him and are following his every move with the hope of turning the tables on him to their own advantage as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a rather dull and mundane spy film which seemed to focus too heavily upon quite normal and routine activities. Admittedly, both Stephen Boyd and Camila Sparv performed their roles in a solid manner but the overall lack of action and suspense was much too noticeable and for that reason I have rated this film accordingly. Average.

The main problem with this slow-moving spy film is that it can't make up its mind whether to aim for the world of James Bond or Michael Caine's Harry Palmer movies. Stephen Boyd's spy, a relaxed genial man-about-town figure in the style of Roger Moore and his immediate associate, a rather shabby civil servant operating from an empty office, played by Michael Redgrave, seem to belong in two separate films. And 'Q' would certainly look down his nose at the home-made bomb his counterpart, played by Geoffrey Bayldon, comes up with here.

The usually reliable Val Guest has to take most of the blame, both for the uneven direction and contribution to a script that has pretensions to being taken seriously at times, but is nowhere strong enough to be. As he had just been worked into the ground shaping, with some success, the chaos that was CASINO ROYALE, he was probably a little jaded with the genre. He also wastes excellent character actors Jeremy Kemp and Leo McKern, though the latter does make an impression against the odds. The revelations at the finale lack any impact. In fact a much bleaker ending had been filmed, with Camilla Sparv's Toni being thrown into the river and drowned, her stunt-double being none other than the future star of saucy seventies' comedies, Sue Longhurst.

I quite enjoyed the 1960's ambiance, including the relationship between Boyd and the alluring Sparv, set against the glamorous background of Kitzbuhel ski resort. Much of it is quite engaging, but ultimately neither exciting nor memorable.

When I looked up information about this film on IMDB, I realized that writer/director Val Guest was also one of the ones responsible for the god-awful "Casino Royale" (1967), a disjointed and unfunny from start to finish. And, as this ALSO is a spy film I assumed it would be terrible. However, the film ended up being the total opposite of his later fiasco...as the spy in this one was much more realistic (for good as well as bad).

The Irish actor, Stephen Boyd, stars in this as a British spy. You really don't know much about who he works for and if he's even one of the good guys for much of the story. Instead, the first portion focuses mostly on his vacation in the Alps and the time he spends with a pretty Swedish woman. Only later does the spy aspect of the film occur...and some rival group wants to get information out of him...or kill him.

The film has a lot of mediocre reviews and I can understand this. The story is NOT packed with action and excitement and seems to emphasize realism instead. And, I can only assume real spies are a bit dull most of the time! But I appreciated this realism and thought the film worth seeing.