Some Girls Do

Even though the comparisons with James Bond are inevitable, I don't think they are fair. I enjoy the Bond movies and however similar, the two Hugh Drummond films from the 60s have their own, unique style. They're played a little more for humor and lack some of the big budget special effects. But fans of the better known Bond films should find something to enjoy in either of the lesser known films Deadlier Than the Male or Some Girls Do.

I can just about sum up what I like about Some Girls Do by using what I wrote for Deadlier Than the Male as a guide. However, if push comes to shove, I actually prefer Some Girls Do to the first film in the series. The 60s feel, Richard Johnson's Drummond, the villainous James Villers, scenes stealers like Ronnie Stevens and Robert Morley, terrific locations, and the implausible yet wonderful gadgets and traps, including a small army of female automatons, are all a delight. As with the first movie, my absolute favorite moments are those with the two female killers. Daliah Lavi and Beba Loncar make the movie worth checking out just to see them. Lavi, in particular, is one of those women that seem to have only existed in the 60s that I enjoy watching so much.

It's too bad they only made two of these films. I would have liked to see this series continued.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Some Girls Do; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.75 Direction: 1.50 Pace: 1.50 Acting: 1.50 Enjoyment: 1.50

TOTAL: 7.75 out of 10.00

One thing lept off the screen and into my soul as soon as the movie started. Joyfulness. For some reason, we appear to be missing this element in most of today's pictures, even the comedies. But in Some Girls Do, the gaiety is in every frame, in every performer's performance, and in every twist and turn in the story. It was a true delight and pleasure to watch.

The story is quite simple; a terrorist plans to make millions when he stops the production of the world's first supersonic plane. What makes the narrative so engaging and thrilling are the twists and turns the writers weave into the script; and boy, aren't they plentiful - and they keep coming right up to the end credits. Some are easy to deduce or guess, some are difficult, and others are plain wacky - though logical, in their own way. And the reason why most of them work is down to the first-rate character-building of the writers. Every individual in the story has their own traits and personality, this aids in creating a captivating and enchanting narrative. Throw in the comedy elements of slapstick, verbal gags, witty comebacks, and double entendres, and you have a delightfully enjoyable and amusing picture.

Ralph Thomas' direction adds to the film's cheerful mood. He keeps every scene colourful and full of interest - it also doesn't hurt that the beautiful girls' shorts are short and the minis mini. His timing is superb as he deftly shoots sharp and exciting action sequences and hits all the right beats for the slapstick components. The special effects don't look too terrible because of his speedy cutting. Even though our heroes aren't in a speedboat race, the green screening and quick editing techniques make it more realistic and believable. The only scene which niggled me was when the plane was in flight. This segment should have been reminiscent of The Thunderbirds. Sadly it looks cheap and tacky because the model team keep the aeroplane on a forty-five-degree climb, wobbling its wings. I could, all too easily, reenvision the painted-out rod at the jet's rear, where the puppeteers manipulated its movements. For me, it was the only disappointing moment in the whole movie.

The cast is excellent. I especially loved Sydne Rome as Flicky. Rome got lucky enough to get one of the best characters in the story, and the viewers get lucky because she is perfect in the role. She is witty, sassy, "blonde", and wickedly smart. Her male counterpart would be James Villiers, who does an equally brilliant job portraying the bad guy, Carl Petersen. The one person I had a slight issue with was the lead, Richard Johnson, as Hugh Drummond. He isn't as powerful and distinguished as Drummond calls out to be. He could have done with a bit more oomph and pizazz. However, he isn't terrible, and that is always a bonus.

Some Girls Do is a Boys Own Adventure style movie with blitheness running through its veins. As such, I'd recommend everyone to treat themselves to a viewing. Everyone, at one time or another, deserves to feel this type of euphoria. That said, the story is well written, skilfully constructed, superbly filmed, and splendidly performed, which should be enough to grab the attention of any movie watcher, particularly the Thrillers and Espionage fans out there.

Now you've aided the robots with their seduction techniques, take a time out and look over my IMDb lists - Holding Out For A Hero, The Game Is Afoot, and Guilty Pleasures to see where I ranked Some Girls Do.

Take Care & Stay Well.

A series of unexplainable accidents befall the people and companies responsible for developing the world's first supersonic airliner (SST1).

Bulldog Drummond ( Richard Johnson) is sent to investigate and, with the help of Peregrine Carruthers, uncovers a plot masterminded by Carl Petersen (James Villier) who stands to gain eight million pounds if the aircraft is not ready by a certain date. To help him sabotage the SST1 project by means of "infrasound" (extreme low frequency sound waves) which can be directed at people or objects with devastating results are a number of "robots" (actually rather beautiful girls with "electronic brains").

Some Girls Do, was Richard Johnson's second outing as Hugh Drummond and, though he lacks a little charm than in the first one, I just loved his "Britishness",, his coolness amidst the wacky and outlandish things around him. I actually found this one more entertaining than Deadlier than the Male - ok, the plot just stumbles on to the next event and things aren't so clear, and it's not perfect, but its vibrancy, the nice locations, some impressive sequences of speedboating and the hand gliding as well as the bevy of beauties such as Joanna Lumley, the sparky Adrienne Posta, Virginia North, and Sydney Rome and Dahlia Lavi make this rather fun.

Another unique feature is that the villain here hasn't got a squad of lard-brained henchmen as usually found in this sort of film, but he has women to do his dirty work. To be more accurate, fembots!! Well, it's the 1960's- shades of Avengers. Like these wacky concepts. Didn't the last Bond film have DNA-targeting nanobot bioweapon). Unlike that film, which took its self way seriously with a sour-faced Putin lookalike as Bond, Some Girls Do revels in its outlandish with a tongue-in-cheekiness and doesn't try to be anything but a feel good escapist fare.

This sequel for the 1966 trash classic "Deadlier than the male" is quite a disappointment compared with the original spy movie. There are good bad movies and there are bad bad movies. This one's medium bad. The film has a great storyline (in exploitation terms), but suffers from being quite unfunny and kind of lustless in acting and directing. If you expect something like an "Austin Powers" flick back from the original sixties, you will be disappointed. The production design and the costumes are uninspired and look as if they'd belong to a cheap british early-seventies TV series. Even those female robots have a boring look and could have been designed much, much spicier. The movie lacks highlights like the great Robert Morley's hammy appearances, provided only in the first half of the movie. And this first half is a bore, anyway, especially due to the unfunny comic relief of Drummond's sidekick. The second half runs better, with more action and more funny scenes in it. The best scenes belong to Daliah Lavi as the bad girl, while pretty Sydne Rome (as the good girl) is absolutely colorless. Poor production, poor fun -at least in this case. Watching this movie is not a complete waste of time, but it comes close to that. So you are recommended to watch "deadlier than the male" for a third time instead.

This movie should not be mistaken as a budget imitation of a James Bond film, as it possesses it's own distinctive characteristics. Yet, for it's time (1969) it is just as adventurous and entertaining with Richard Johnson performing the role of (Bulldog) Hugh Drummond, similar to your James Bond Secret agent, but with a touch of humour and to some extent, a bit of sarcasm. Like Bond, Drummond is well skilled, serious and intelligent and is out to investigate what is behind a series of murders disguised as accidents, that are carried out by what appears to be beautiful young women (hence it's title Some Girls Do). Robert Morley performs the part of Miss Mary and is later found dead after having given classes to potential chef students in perfecting the art of cracking eggs open into a bowl.

Drummond is also targeted when flying a glider and is meant to crash down when his parachute has been tampered with by the beautiful robotic women who watch from below, but manages to skillfully and successfully release open the parachute, landing down safely as if nothing had happened.. A fine performance by Sydney Rome as the typical James Bond type girl, but Drummond is not at all fooled by her pampering and charming behaviour, as he is very intelligent in sensing her motives.. She does play the bimbo but is very cunning, as most Bond style girls are.

In a nutshell I did enjoy this movie and am not surprised that any criticisms are really more to do with it's comparisons to modern released movies. However, I am very surprised that the character of Bulldog Drummond was not pursued in later years like with remakes of `A Thomas Crown Affair', `The Avengers', `The Saint' etc. I believe that the character of `Bulldog' Drummond could have been further modernized and made into a big hit in the late 1970's upto the 1990's with newer adventures, as it had all the charm and character of serving action/adventure style movies, but on a larger scale. I would have kept one foot in the 1960's and another one in the 1990's keeping that style in an evergreen sense.