The Double Man

The Double Man beat much of the competition into the Alps, when movies were helping to glamorise skiing holidays. While The Pink Panther had a ski lodge segment, The Double Man anticipates the cable car action and snowy settings of Where Eagles Dare and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Interesting to note that the director would soon be working on the iconic Planet Of The Apes.

Added to the admirable location work are the international cast. There are no stars besides Yul Brynner, but there are several actors I have a lot of time for. Clive Revill in particular adds a solid emotional punching bag for Brynner. His intense and downbeat performance is in contrast to his usual extroverted and comedy roles. Anton Diffring was too often cast as Nazi baddies, but could easily deliver menace without a uniform. He starred in several classic horror films of the period, like Circus of Horrors and The Man Who Cheated Death. A young Britt Ekland amply provides glamour here, before she broke it big as a Bond girl.

I grew up watching this movie on TV and always tuned in for the cast, the twisty plot and especially the music. It's a little OTT in places but frantically catchy, pumping up the excitement even when there's little of it on screen. The special effects work is subtle and really convincing in selling the central twist...

I'm very pleased to see that at least this is out now on DVD in Germany, with an English language voice track option.

A ruthless CIA agent arrives at an Alps ski paradise to track down his son's deadly accident he thinks is really murder, and finds himself in a complex web of intrigue.

Well-staged, quite surprising minor Cold War espionage with magnificent snow-bound photography and exciting action sequences, hampered by bursts of gratuitous violence and an unpleasant hero.

Although this is not a memorable film, I found it entertaining. Yul Brynner stars as a CIA man who is told that his son has died in a skiing accident in Austria. He, therefore, heads off to Austria to investigate if it really was an accident or something more sinister. A young Britt Ekland is the female lead who he seeks information from because she was one of the last persons to see his son alive. Various character actors of the time (made in 1967)such as Clive Revill, David Bauer, Ronald Radd and Moira Lister appear and the movie jogs along at a nice pace. There are some lovely location shots of the Austrian Tyrol and Yul does a good job in the lead role. Well worth a look!

Dan Slater (Yul Brynner) is a high level CIA official. His son dies in a ski accident in the Alps. He suspects foul play and goes to investigate. It leads to waitress Gina Ericson (Britt Ekland) and he suspects a trap. Of course, the Russians have actually laid out a trap.

This is mostly a lesser espionage movie. It's helped by Yul Brynner's stoic performance and the European ski resort location. There isn't a great deal of action. It's definitely not Bond. It's also not that realistic. It exists in a lot of middling middle. It's functional.

A good director, a pro cast, fantastic locations and solid cinematography. The bad: terrible music, lack of action, listless plot, an overly complicated scheme, less than interesting climax. Icy spy Yul seems to be emulating Charles Bronson: sullen and non-communicative. Britt Ekland has a thankless role and gets beat up. More of a mystery than a spy/action film.