Più micidiale del maschio

Director Ralph Thomas, whose credits include DOCTOR comedies, NO LOVE FOR JOHNNIE, HOT ENOUGH FOR JUNE, produced a masterpiece as rarely as a dud. His films tend to be quite enjoyable and DEADLIER THAN THE MALE certainly fits that description.

To that end, it is greatly enhanced by the presence of such sensational beauties as Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Suzanna Leigh and Virginia North, the first three all assassins of the highest refinement and tariff. Sommer, in particular, is absolutely to die for. Lovely legs, eyes, everything.

Richard Johnson delivers a highly polished private detective, Hugh Drummond, who is every bit as stealthy and classy as James Bond, who had been firing his way around the globe since 1962 in the figure of Sean Connery. Drummond is accompanied by his young and innocent nephew, Bob Drummond (Steve Carlson), who hampers more than helps.

However, in terms of acting the cherry on the cake comes courtesy of Nigel Green, who hides his hand until emerging as the cold, classly nasty villain who pulls the strings of the three beauties, much like the inverted precursor of Charlie and his angels in the 1980s.

Great photography, beautiful locales, and a script with sharp dialogue, repartee, and light humor.

I loved it! 8/10.

Saw this one when it was originally released in '67 and immediately fell in love with the curvy assassins. Well typecasted; actors are very believable. One of the few super spy movies that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the James Bond movies.

I'd forgotten this film. At the time, it felt like Bond light but revisiting it half a century later, it's a minor gem. Judged as a movie, it's barely a six but with the perspective of distance it's better. No obvious sets, as far as I could tell all the interiors matched the exteriors. Drummond's apartment in Albert Hall Mansions is really there. I knew the area and those apartments intimately in the 60s. Sure, it lacks the high camp appeal of the Modesty Blaise flick but this really is the way it was. The two girls have a much more complex role than in any Bond movie and their relationship is hilarious. We're in Killing Eve territory. Yes, the usual britflick issues surface in the fight scenes, particularly judged by current standards, but take it for what it is today and it's thoroughly entertaining. There was a second Bulldog Drummond film which I haven't seen but it lacks Nigel Green's wonderful villain and by all accounts is inferior. If you're tempted to read the books, know that they're very different. I like them but their mix of sadism, snobbery and xenophobia will offend delicate minds that need a safe space.

This splendidly entertaining spoof of spy thrillers, brings back detective Bulldog Drummond (debonairly portrayed by Richard Johnson) to do battle with a megalomaniac villain (elegantly laconic Nigel Green), who uses sultry female assassins (Eurobabes Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina) to do his dirty work. Stylish doses of brutality, sly humor and witty set pieces make this obscure thriller a real winner...a widescreen DVD is due out in May of 2003.

This above-average Bond knockoff deserves to be better known. It's too imitative of the Bond pictures of the time (especially "Thunderball" - minus the underwater scenes), and the plot slows down at times, but Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina make a terrific pair of sexy, teasing assassins (with Sommer being the sexier one and Koscina the more teasing one). Nigel Green also makes a smooth villain (although he should have hired more guards!). This picture should become more widely available, because although it's not perfect, it's much better than, say, the atrocious pseudo-spoof "Our Man Flint". (**1/2)