A caccia di spie

A dated little movie,but which ,thanks to the cast ,remains entertaining today.It was Goldfinger time and it shows.The scene on the plane recalls the ending of the best James Bond of all time,Vikki broadly playing the part of Pussy Galore.

But it is difficult to believe that a doctor can become a secret agent overnight.But if you forget that (in the highly superior "North by Northwest ",Cary Grant portrayed the same kind of hero),you may find his adventures palatable.

Also notable for the presence of Catherine Deneuve's sister ,Françoise Dorleac,then one of the most promising French actresses who tragically died two years later.

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.

Director Val Guest got his fame for directing horror/science-fiction movies in the '50's. His movies never have really been the greatest but they were decent enough genre pieces, that are also quite well known, all over the world. With comedies he just never received much fame or praise and for a good reason, also especially when you look at this film. Though the right intentions are definitely there, this just isn't a good enough genre movie.

The movie is obviously trying to be a light entertaining espionage movie, perhaps even a genre spoof- and cold war spoof at times. The movie as a whole just isn't light enough in its settings and events to consider this really an entertaining movie, that doesn't successfully parodies or even entertains enough. The movie works in parts as a comedy and entertainment, especially in the beginning but its many more weaker moments really downgrade the movie and in parts even makes it a totally unwatchable and bad one.

The movie has a main plot line but it almost seemed as if they simply shot the movie as it was on the call-sheets, without paying much attention to development. Because of that the movie also becomes mostly uninteresting to watch and the events in the movie almost impossible to follow or care for.

The movie its main problem is really how poorly developed it is. Also with its seemingly important characters in the movie, that come and go and never get properly introduced or developed.

The movie has further more a great cast, filled with mostly some of the best British actors from its period. It are the sort of actors you perhaps not know by name but definitely by face. Of course David Niven is well known and he carries the movie well with his role and he also proofs how well he can handle the comedy genre but no matter how great he is, he feels out of place nevertheless, mostly due to his age. He just doesn't seem believable enough as a spy who gets the girls and charms his way through things.

The movie is shot at some nice far off locations but still the movie feels very low-budget. This is also due to some incredibly lame and fake looking miniature effects. Pay especially attention toward the ending when a character is jumping from a riding plane.

Not a complete train-wreck but not exactly a movie worth searching out either.

5/10

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I can absolutely not find a DVD or VHS to purchase of "Where the Spies Are". Please tell me where everyone is finding this film???? The reviews show it to be a fascinating time-capsule of 1960's Cold War craziness. The book is noteworthy. There are several different movie posters available which also suggest this was a hilarious film --even if paned by some noteworthy critics. Merely having David Nivin starring in any film should make it a gas.....so please tell me why is the dog-gone film so difficult to locate in cyberspace or real-world retail world??? I have searched Amazon, Netflix, eBay, and virtually every other vintage movie site. And now to add to my frustration, IMDb makes me write a minimum of 10 lines of absolute dribble when all I wanted to post was found in the first two lines. So I will keep adding to this silly comment until the minimum number of lines has been achieved. I need to know what site to visit to find this movie.

Spy stories were all the rage in the 1960s and Ian Fleming had suggested David Niven to play James Bond, however Producer Albert Broccoli wisely chose Sean Connery instead. The idea that Niven would be a good choice to play a British spy persisted at MGM, but, here, he seems more facile than debonair as everything conveniently falls into place, including beautiful Francoise Dorleac, four features before her tragic death. Mindful of the strong box office of "Where the Boys Are" (1960), this title was chosen for this James Bond mimicry. It was of little help and any idea of a sequel was shelved.